Given PPV is not a factor anymore, the only tangible barometer we have of star power now is ticket sales.
Jiri is popular with the hardcores, but he’s clearly not at the level where his name alone as a headliner can fill an arena. And let’s be real, the average UFC fan can’t even pick Ulberg out of a lineup.
That’s not just Jiri, either. Most of the UFC’s top 5 across all divisions are in the same position. The recurring discourse on here for a few years now has been that the UFC doesn’t have the same star power anymore.
Jiri is just another guy. He’s not super popular, honestly he’s painful to watch at times, like a better version of Keith Jardine. He won the title when the division was at its weakest, and if he wins it now, he’s a paper champ. The other guy is a nobody with some wins over guys on their way out, and got KO’d by an absolute nobody.
yeah, he’s a guy that I don’t mind watching sometimes, even if he is awkward, because at least he goes for broke, but he’s not enough to make me excited to go out of my way to watch him fight a nobody, and not enough to offset a regional filler card on his own.
I watched both fights vs AP, this one I can’t really care about, and the rest of the card is meaningless.
Jiri and Keith both employ an unorthodox a herky jerky style…yes.
Jiri has so much more going on, and many more skills as a striker. Not even close.
Resume isn’t even close either. Keith decisioned Liddell, and got a gift vs Mousasi, that is about it. Look at his record and tell me what I am missing please…
I watched all those fights.
Keith has 17 MMA wins and 8 were via KO
Jiri is a finisher, 28 KOs and counting, kill or be killed. A straight up finisher and has fought a far higher level of fighter.
Those resume’s aren’t even close, and I like Keith Jardine.
The UFC was so afraid of losing stars to other orgs that they stopped trying to make stars. Now that there are no other orgs they still do fuckall to make people care.
The guy also has a weird/awkward public persona, but maybe that’s just compounded by his less than exemplary english skills which I won’t hold against him. He’s less of a star and more of an interesting oddity, imo.
The UFC expected people to tune into the UFC, b/c the UFC was the star. Lo and behold, fighting sports has always been driven by stars. People don’t watch boxing just to watch boxing. It’s got peaks and valleys driven by stars or the lack of stars. The UFC is finding that out.
