Are you not entertained?
The quote comes from that movie, one of the greatest of all time, Gladiator. Delivered with perfection by Russell Crowe as Maximus, the Roman general points out the cruelty of not the emperor, not the gladiators, but the crowds for wanting said cruelty a losing sight of what humanity is in the process.
It’s entertainment at all costs.
Facing the same sentiment, the UFC is making moves to both water down their product and entertain the fighting faithful 44+ weeks every year. Week in and week out, the UFC goes to fill colosseum after colosseum, from Las Vegas to Macau, far wider of a reach of that of the Roman’s bread and circus.
But the UFC is atrophied at the edges. Division slipping into an abysmal state and cutting contenders, avoiding prospects and releasing tried and true fighters all in the pursuit of entertainment.
Entertainment brings dollars.
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The fall of Jailton Almeida
If you’ve missed the news, MMA Junkie’s Nolan King confirmed that the UFC has released Jailton Almeida. Coming off of his loss to Rizvan Kuniev, Almeida had fallen from grace among fight fans who tuned in to watch him, and others, fight.
The Brazilian broke into the UFC through the Contender Series with 16 finishes, the last five being his first fights in the UFC. He was a promising fighter, moving between 205 and heavyweight and brought a Khabib-like approach to the cards.
Until he didn’t.
Something changed with Jailton Almeida going into his fight with Derrick Lewis in November of 2023. He stopped attacking, opting to just hold on and lay and pray.
It’s one thing to throw four significant strikes and submit Jairzinho Rozenstruik in the first round or 18 significant strikes in a 4 minute sub of Parker Porter. But Almeida’s output plummeted. He landed 38 significant strikes over five rounds against Derrick Lewis. One in his loss to Curtis Blaydes, a fight in which he controlled Blaydes for 4:39 and didn’t land but a single significant strike.
He was 1 for 3 in total strikes against Aleksandr Romanov, albeit a first round finish. There was also the blistering performance against Serghei Spivac, Almeida was 23 of 31 in a first round finish.
But things turned back south. Almeida held onto Alexander Volkov and racked up 10 minutes of control time but only nine significant strikes. But the new rules in MMA prioritized damage, not control time any longer, and Almeida was (rightfully) handed a loss.
And at UFC Vegas 113, Almeida lay a stinker. Sure he threw 67 strikes over three rounds, but he couldn’t take Kuniev down, was forced to strike, and the gap in skill was apparent. He’d get a taste of his own medicine as Kuniev held Almeida to the wall for 6 minutes with Almeida looking to the ref to break them up so he could get put there again.
Ironic, he could hold others down and prevent reversals but not him self.
Now he’s cut and likely heading to the PFL. But the UFC is facing an uncomfortable truth. The heavyweight division is so bad that Jailton Almeida, a top 10 fighter, can’t be stopped. Nobody, until Rizvan Kuniev, could come up with a game to counter Almeida’s lay and pray approach.
Jailton Almeida didn’t get cut because he sucked, he got cut because he bored the fans.
A historical perspective
The truth is treason to empire and we are about to have an uncomfortable conversation about the current state of the UFC.
Go through that list carefully. Go ranking by ranking. Does Tom Aspinall beat Cain Velasquez? Does Jailton Almeida beat Josh Barnett? Heck, does Curtis Blaydes beat Roy Nelson?
They do not.
There is a clear disintegration of the UFC’s heavier weight classes despite Dana White’s love of them.
The UFC has been historically hard on these divisions. Fabricio Werdum, Andrei Arlovski, Alistair Overeem and others like Alexandr Romanov were cut for boring fights, high salary or both.
Boring fights seem to be the sticking point.
Colby Covington was famously told he’d be cut after his fight with Demian Maia before he proceeded to insult the crowd and birth the “Chaos” persona.
The late Jared Rosholt, John Fitch, the late Elias Theodorou, and the list goes on and on.
Kyoji Horiguchi was lowballed into being released after snapping a nine fight winning streak to Demetrious Johnson and then winning three fights after that.
The statement is clear, be entertaining or leave the UFC.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of content
We are in the content era of the UFC. Highlight reels, likes, and viral moments are what drives the business.
In my conversation with Gene Rogers, we discussed how the UFC is now a content mill that bases their business visibility to the public around big moments. Jailton Almeida doesn’t provide that.
The message to fighters wanting into the UFC is clear: entertain or else.
In early 2019, the rumor was TJ Dillashaw was sent down to flyweight to put an end to the division. In the aftermath of Cejudo’s 32 second knockout, the promotion changed approaches. Demetrious Johnson, a literal top five all time fighter, was traded to ONE for Ben Askren (the irony is not lost on me).
There was the cutting of Jared Brooks, Jose Torres, Wilson Reis, Dustin Ortiz, Magomed Bibulatov, Ulka Sasaki, and many more. All wrestling-based and all seen as “boring.”
In came Brandon Moreno, Brandon Royval, Kai Kara-France, Tyson Nam, and other action-first fighters were added. But top tier prospects that didn’t perform were cut. Askar Askarov and Muhammad Mokaev were both cut because they couldn’t entertain.
Askarov was 3-1-1 in the UFC with wins over Pantoja and Joseph Benavidez while Mokaev was undefeated. But Mokaev had two boring decisions over Manel Kape and Alex Perez, two top contenders now. Askarov decisioned everyone in his five fight stint.
This was 2019.
The flyweight playbook is being applied to light heavyweight and heavyweight now. Dustin Jacoby is here while Vadim Nemkov is passed on.
And there’s nothing against Dustin Jacoby, a fighter who I quite like. But ignoring the best fighters in the world, like Nemkov, Johnson and even Almeida, sets the sport backwards. It’s the opposite of what MMA is about.
Fighters should be working out systems to defend against these “boring” approaches. They should be recruiting Craig Jones for the Alexander Volkanovski and Jack Della Maddalena camp against Islam Makhachev. Though unsuccessful, it’s how the sport evolves, changes.
Instead, we are telling Vadim Nemkov “no thanks.” They’re telling Andre Arlovski “we’ll pass.” They don’t want name value. They don’t want decisions. They want knockouts.
The UFC wants content.
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