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The UFC has always been criticised for putting money above everything else with the most recent one coming after the promotion's President Dana White announced that the Notorious Connor McGregor will be returning to the octagon to take on the Undefeated Russian powerhouse Khabib Nurmagednov at UFC 229.
Dozens of op-eds and articles were written about the company has double standards and it's President lets off fighters like McGregor without severe punishment even when they have committed heinous crimes like public assault and damaging public property.
While One can keep on listing instances of the UFC ignoring ethics and rules when it comes to their biggest draw, the criticism of the company is severely misplaced in my opinion. The UFC is a company which is in the business of mixed arts to make money and for that, they need those stars who can draw larger crowds for the fights and increase pay per view buys. We can talk about ethics and the spirit of the sports all we want but the fact remains that the UFC is not a non-profit organization which promotes fight cards without the intention of earning money, just for the sake of sports.
Combat sports has and will always be about the big bucks whether one wants to admit it or not. Besides, the UFC has a lot of expenses to take care off from paying the USADA for its service which is quite expensive to paying their fighters their guaranteed contract money even when they don't get their 3 fights a year to a paying their top stars in millions for a single fight, it is only reasonable for the UFC to book their biggest star in order to generate maximum revenue from their pay per views.
The company has been going through some rough times and pay per views buys decreasing and with the Fertitta Brothers out of the picture, rumours mills are buzzing with the news of Dana White not happing with the company's current status after the sellout.
So, given the rough times the company has been going through, it is only natural for them to book perhaps the biggest star in the company's history Connor McGregor to get the company out of this tough time. Besides, the bus controversy at UFC 223 will only generate buzz for the fight on October 6 and this will undoubtedly be the biggest fight in the promotion's history.
Fans and the holier than thou journalist must keep that in mind and stop this practice of criticising a business organization when they try to earn more money because they are in the game to earn money and that is the hard truth.
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