(YAHOO SPORTS) LAS VEGAS – From his traditional perch at the side of the Octagon on Saturday night, UFC president Dana White could only watch as piles of millions burned in front of him.
Holly Holm … choked out. Conor McGregor … choked out. A pair of the sport’s biggest and most bankable stars suffering stunning upsets, turning UFC 196 into a carnage of commerce. Suddenly a year of easy-to-make mega-fights became more complicated, from the uncertainty of Holly Holm-Ronda Rousey rematch, to McGregor headlining July’s historic UFC 200.
“In 16 years in this business, the one thing you don’t do is plan anything out,” White said after. “Because you don’t know.”
White wasn’t in tears. He was stoic and professional and part of that is because over that slow grind of taking an outlaw organization into a billion-dollar global sports brand, he’s always focused on the long game, not the short-term buck. This is part of the deal.
Make no mistake: the UFC crapped out Saturday night in Vegas. The results were nothing the bottom line wanted; this despite an $8.1 million gate and what White was claiming would be a huge pay-per-view number.
That payout will be a nice salve, but the wound is still there. The UFC was on the verge of what would likely have been its biggest year ever. It may still get there. It just isn’t simple.
That’s the fight game though. Nothing ever is.
If you’re not tied to the UFC’s bottom line though, then this was actually a night to celebrate the sport and what its premier promotion is about.
UFC 196 was a testament to being daring, giving fans what they want, and throwing caution to the wind rather than protect and posture for future profits. It was about building trust with fans. It was everything boxing too often fails to be. It was everything that so many other MMA promotions never stick with.
White probably could have sat Holm until Rousey was ready for a rematch. Holm stunned mixed martial arts in November by knocking Rousey out. When Rousey recovered from that beating and was back from filming a couple movies, then the rematch was projecting as the biggest bout in MMA history, two million buys or more. September looked perfect.
Instead, Holm pushed to be sent back out there to defend her bantamweight title, and in doing so she faced a tough Miesha Tate. Holm led going into the fifth round and controlled it until the final two minutes, when a desperate Tate took Holm down, cinched a choke under her chin and survived a wild flip to eventually put Holm, who refused to tap out, to sleep.
“I guess in my mind, I wanted to fight,” Holm said of why she wouldn’t quit. “[I was thinking] ‘I’m going to get out of this, I’m going to get out of this.’ It went too far.”
She regrets letting up and letting Tate in. She doesn't regret taking the fight that likely cost her plenty. White said Tate will defend her belt against Rousey next. Rousey has already defeated Tate twice. The Rousey-Holm rematch is now on the back burner, a huge payday hanging in the balance, especially if Tate beats Rousey this time. Who knows when Holm gets another crack.
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