5 reasons why the UFC should cut down their number of events in 2022
There might be just four weekends left in 2021, but UFC fans still have another three events to look forward to before the year is out, including this weekend's Fight Night. The big question, though, is can you get too much of a good thing?
The UFC has often come under fire โ particularly in recent years โ for putting on too many events, but should they cut their numbers down in 2022?
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While the UFC may have slots to fill with their ESPN deal and a huge, bloated roster to satisfy, the truth is that Dana White and the company might be better off cutting things down slightly next year.
With that in mind, here are five reasons why the UFC should cut their number of events down in 2022.
#5: Cutting the amount of UFC events would mean a trimmed and more elite roster
The UFCโs roster is currently as big as itโs ever been. Despite seemingly cutting fighters on a consistent basis, the promotion is currently home to nearly 700 fighters competing in a total of 12 different weight divisions.
When you consider that most of those fighters have contracts that require the UFC to offer them two or three fights each year, it quickly becomes understandable why the promotion needs to produce so many events.
But does the UFC really need so many fighters on its roster? Itโs a fair question to ask.
As the UFC adds more fighters to the roster, cuts will grow. We see a lot of this during The Contender Series seasons and they've been adding a ton of fighters this year. twitter.com/MMAFighting/stโฆ
On the one hand, with the amount of injury withdrawals that the promotion faces on each of its shows โ particularly in the era of COVID-19 โ it probably makes sense to keep such a huge bank of fighters to call upon.
However, most fighters would jump at the chance to fight in the UFC anyway, meaning that, theoretically at least, the promotion would still have a huge selection of athletes to choose from for a late notice bout.
Khamzat Chimaev, for instance, debuted in the UFC on very late notice in 2020, and is now one of the promotion's fastest-rising stars.
More to the point, being a โUFC fighterโ simply doesnโt mean as much these days as it once did โ when only the best of the best made it into the octagon and even some tremendous fighters were unable to find their way into the promotion.
Therefore, if the UFC were to trim the amount of events it produces down โ and in turn, were to trim their roster โ then theyโd end up with a more elite, higher quality pool of fighters overall.
Suddenly, being part of the UFC would mean much more than it does today, and in turn, the UFC would completely live up to its tag of the worldโs greatest MMA promotion.