2. Once Again, A Fight Night Card Rivaled A Pay-per-View In Quality
This is starting to be a regular occurrence, and it may eventually sound the death knell for the UFC on Pay-per-View in North America: once again, a free fight night card rivaled recent Pay-per-Views in fight quality. UFC Fight Night: Bader vs. Preux had just as many solid fights as recent cards that required dropping upwards of $50. To be fair, we haven't had many Pay-per-View events recently thanks to the cancellation fo UFC 176 due to injury, but lets be honest about this: on paper, names like Ovince St. Preux, Ryan Bader, Gray Maynard, Shawn Jordan, Sara McMann, and Ross Pearson are names that look just fine on a Pay-per-View card. Yes, UFC Fight Night: Bader vs. St. Preux lacked a title fight, but that's just about all it lacked. Slap someone with a belt on this card, and UFC fans would consider buying it. Or would they? When you give a card with this many names - and the same can be said for previous Fight Night cards, and upcoming ones as well - away for free, you set a certain level of expectation up with the fans. Really, was this card any worse than UFC 174, where both Bader and St. Preux also appeared. In the end, the UFC may want to look at their deal with FOX, see if they can get more money for a 100% exclusive run with them, and just air all their fights between FOX, FOX Sports 1, and UFC Fight pass.