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2 days ago | themmadraw.com | Tim Bissell

UFC 316 comes to us live from New Jersey this weekend. I think it’s safe to say Donald Trump and Elon Musk won’t be sitting side by side in the front row for this one, pretending to enjoy the action. There will be lots of action to be had, though. This might be one of the weaker of the upcoming PPV cards, but I still think it’s pretty good. I love a Merab Dvalishvili fight and on Saturday we’ll see him run it back with Sean O’Malley.

1 week ago | themmadraw.com | Tim Bissell

Is this weekend’s UFC card so bad that it’s good? Feels like a great event to hate-watch with friends and reminisce about the good ol’ days when Anderson Silva was fighting for free on Spike TV. Our main event sees flyweight contenders Erin Blanchfield and Maycee Barber meet. That’s alright. The co-main is Mateusz Gamrot vs. L’udovit Klein. That’s alright, too. Maybe it’s decent, if you’re feeling generous (and you’re a KSW fan).

1 week ago | themmadraw.com | Nate Wilcox

This guest post is by Blake Avignon. “In business, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield” – Warren BuffettWhat seemed like a simple renewal has become a media rights landmine. The UFC’s exclusive negotiation window with ESPN quietly expired, and with it, the comfort of predictability. Now, every major player, from streamers to legacy networks to tech giants, is reevaluating whether the UFC is a core asset or a luxury in a changing sports economy. Start with Apple.

2 weeks ago | themmadraw.com | Nate Wilcox

Last week I posted on Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Fund Chairman HE Turki Alalshikh’s sudden announcement of a date and venue change for Canelo Alvarez vs Bud Crawford. It didn’t take long for Turki to complicate things even further by announcing one more change, removing TKO’s Dana White and Nick Khan from a promotional role in the fight. Sela is “a Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) company” that Turki used to put on Terence Crawford vs.

2 weeks ago | themmadraw.com | Zach Arnold |Nate Wilcox

How do they do it? How is UFC getting customers to pay MSG-level fight prices at arenas across the world for matchmaking that, until recently, was absolutely bottom-of-the-barrel in terms of fight quality? UFC 317 at T-Mobile Arena with Ilia Topuria vs. Charles Oliveira is a perfect example. It’s hard to get a floor seat for less than $1,000. Cage side seats are thousands of dollars. And that event is likely going to sell out in short order. Same story in locales like New Orleans and Chicago.