The UFC Set UFC 301 Up for Failure

(via UFC.com)

After an event that was as monumental as UFC 300, it is no surprise that the following event would not reach the same potential. Although this is still certainly the case, The UFC has done so little to promote UFC 301 that it almost seems as if they just want to get the event over with entirely.

When this card was being formulated, many fans were suspecting that it was going to resemble times where the UFC went to the United Kingdom; in terms of it’s stacked card, but in Brazil. Whenever the UFC chooses to go to the United Kingdom, it is a card lined from top to bottom with the very best fighters that are from the region.

With this being the case the past few times they have traveled across the pond, fans were certain that UFC 301 would be lined with the very best Brazilian fighters in the world. Despite the fact that there are many South American Fighters on the card, its headliner was seen as more than underwhelming.

Alexandre Pantoja is a definitive champion, who has beat some of the best contenders at flyweight before and after capturing UFC gold. However, the tenth ranked prospect in the division, Stephen Erceg, is not seen as deserving to headline this card. He has only had three fights in the promotion and there are several videos published this week simply introducing the flyweight contender to the world. This is because so many fans have no idea who he is and wonder what he did to deserve a headlining spot on a pay per view card.

Beyond this, the rest of the card has some decent fights, such as the greatest featherweight of all time, Jose Aldo, making a return to the Octagon. Even with Aldo and Pantoja’s presence on the card, this is a massively underwhelming lineup of fights for a card one has to pay to watch.

On top of all of this, the promotional side of this card has gone completely by the wayside. The most shocking facet being that there was not even a press conference for this event. There is a relatively acceptable reason for this, since the majority of journalists that attend press conference speak English, while the vast majority of fighters on the card primarily speak Portuguese. This, however, is not a reason to prevent Brazilian and international journalists the opportunity to ask these fighters questions, even if they have to be filtered through a translator.

Even though they chose to not have a press conference for this reason, the widely beloved UFC Embedded series was different this fight week in comparison to the rest. This series was directly altered to appeal to a Portuguese audience. Every fighter who spoke Portuguese did not have subtitles telling English speaking audiences what they were actually saying. until it was edited in after being posted.. This is a great way of engaging the Brazilian audience, but the UFC could have very well posted this video on their UFC Brazil YouTube channel, and posted a version with English subtitles to their main channel and at least attempted to captivate an English speaking audience about a lackluster main card.

Overall, it is evident that the UFC could have marketed this card in several different ways that they simply chose not to. The card itself certainly has the potential to deliver, but it was not accentuated in many different ways. For these reasons it is evident