Ultimate Fighting Championship is bigger and badder than
ever.
During a TKO-run financial call on Wednesday, TKO Group Holdings
President Mark Shapiro shrugged off any concerns that fans and
media have raised lately about the quality of its events. All
across social media, fans have lambasted the UFC’s matchmaking and
card creation decisions this year since the Paramount deal came
into play. The claims of fewer ranked combatants on the billing, a
smaller number of championship pairings and more fights with
athletes on long losing streaks have plagued the promotion as of
late.
Prior to UFC 328 on Saturday, the promotion has only run three
championship bouts this year: Justin
Gaethje vs. Paddy
Pimblett, Alexander
Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes
2 and Carlos
Ulberg vs. Jiri
Prochazka. Four more are on the books through June, with two of
those at UFC 328 and the other two at the UFC White House
event.
As a recent example of growing concerns from the fanbase, just 10
of the 24 athletes at
UFC Winnipeg in April posted winning records with the
promotion, with its headliner a match between a rising Canadian
star and a 39-year-old former title challenger on a four-fight
losing streak. Per Shapiro, the UFC is ignoring all such criticism,
while declaring that things have never been better for the
company.
Making money hand over foot
Based on the financial statements, the UFC argues that they not
only remain at the top of the mixed martial arts mountain by a wide
margin, but that the revenue keeps growing year-over-year. Shapiro
and the other decisionmakers at the company believe everything is
hunky-dory, although viewership numbers of recent events have not
been revealed.
“Bottom line is, we don’t buy it,” stated Shapiro. “Let’s just
start with this premise: the product is great at the UFC, the brand
has never been stronger, our reach has never been greater. So, the
foundational elements of UFC are in concrete. Anyone that came to
our last numbered fight in Miami, which was UFC 327, was flat-out
blown away. Anyone that went to our last Fight Night, which
happened to be last weekend in Perth, Australia, a sellout, or even
to have watched it, witnessed it, an extraordinary sport.”
Shapiro continued, “We are always building at the UFC. We’re in the
building phase at all times. We find the best up-and-coming talent
around the world, and we match them continually in the best fights.
There’s a huge movement right now with all these young fighters
coming up in the ranks, many of them are taking over slots in the
top 10 from guys who have been names in the rankings for years.
Strong personalities that are busting just now, [like] Joshua Van,
Brazilian Carlos
Prates, undefeated Michael
Morales. The next generation. Or look at the White House card,
which we put out there as a strong card, we’ve actually added a
[fight] to it, the UFC ‘Freedom 250,’ which is stacked
top-to-bottom, and we’re using that opportunity to feature one of
our most promising stars in Ilia
Topuria.”
Even though Shapiro deigned to admit that the UFC was in a rough
patch competitively and in terms of apparent flagging fan interest,
he did let slide that every industry goes through tough spots. In
his comparison, he used basketball stars as a reference to the UFC
not necessarily having household names like Brock
Lesnar, Jon Jones,
Ronda
Rousey and Conor
McGregor in the headlines.
“With any sport, there’s just natural ebbs and flows. It’s all very
cyclical. Again, harping back to the ESPN days, the NBA was on fire
with Michael
Jordan and he left, and there was a bit of a dip. And then, all
of a sudden, it was [Shaquille O’Neal] and Kobe [Bryant], and as
long as Shaq and Kobe were in the NBA finals, the NBA was in good
shape. But the year they weren’t there, or they were playing the
[New Jersey] Nets or the San Antonio Spurs were there, there was a
fall off,” he referenced.
Mark Shapiro is asked about the weaker UFC
cards lately and what can be done to improve. pic.twitter.com/y0Zw3wn3gD— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman)
May 6, 2026