Bang for Your Buck: UFC 182

Jan 2, 2015
oleg

Happy New Year, readers!

It’s 2015, and after a somewhat lackluster year in MMA, UFC closed out 2014 with a bang, following up one of the better cards of the year in UFC 181 with an equally solid Fox event.  2015 also looks to be starting off on the right note, with four events slated just for the month of January: an Fox Sports 1 Fight Night and a ‘Big Fox’ event sandwiched between two major Pay-Per-Views.

Speaking of those pesky PPV’s… UFC has not had a good year in terms of buy rates.  With an abundance of MMA events on network TV, basic cable, and internet streaming services, shelling out $60 or so for the numbered UFC fight cards seems like less of a necessity.  Especially when you consider that with the sheer number of shows the UFC puts on, even their large fight roster is not enough from keeping the cards stretched thin, and the PPV events are often not that much better than the free cards.

All in all, being an MMA fan can be a rather expensive hobby.  Just how expensive?  I aim to find out, with the new series of articles that we’ll publish before each UFC event in 2015 – evaluating the value of the event (in my humble opinion) versus it’s monetary cost.

So here we go with the first event of the year: UFC 182.  It’s headlined by a huge, highly anticipated and long awaited match-up between the Light Heavyweight champion Jon Jones , and the challenger Daniel Cormier.   Beyond the main even, the quality of the fights drops off significantly.  But is the card worth the sticker price, at least on paper?  Keep on reading to find out.

Disclaimers:  My valuation of fights is based on my own personal opinions and preferences – your mileage may vary.  Also, sometimes a seemingly dull matchup turns out to be a barn-burner, and conversely a highly-anticipated fight could turn out a complete dud in reality.  Of course, we have no way of telling what a fight will look like once the Octagon door closes, so the fight card is all we have to go by when deciding whether an event is worth the money.   So without further ado:  is UFC 182 worth the 59.99 that Dish Network will charge me to watch it in high definition?

Main Event: (C) [#1 LHW] Jon Jones vs [#2 LHW] Daniel Cormier, for the UFC Light Heavyweight Title

Worth: $25

Why:  I am going to set $25 as a ceiling for the value of any single fight.  And this here is as good of a fight as it gets.   If you aren’t looking forward to it, we may not be fans of the same sport.  Not much left to say here.

 

Co-Main Event:  [#3 LW] Donald Cerrone vs [#8 LW] Myles Jury

Worth: $15

Why:  Both guys have been on a tear.  The undefeated underdog Jury is on a 6-win streak in the UFC, culminating in a spectacular first-round TKO victory over Takanori Gomi.  In any division below 155 or above 170, this feat would have most likely had already earned him a title shot.  Alas, the champion Anthony Pettis’ fight schedule is booked up with [#2] Rafael dos Anjos and [#5] Khabib Nurmagomedov looming on the horizon.   So in the meanwhile, Jury will take on Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone – a man on a 5-win streak on his own, with 4 of them finishes.  While the winner of this fight won’t be the next title challenger for the aforementioned reasons, he will definitely be deep in the proverbial mix.  And title shots aside, this has all the makings of an awesome display of violence.

 

Other main card fights: 

Fight:  [#5 WW] Hector Lombard vs [#21 WW] Josh Burkman

Worth: $5

Why: This is an odd match-up.  UFC and Lombard both rallied for a fight with [#4] Tyron Woodley; however Woodley nixed the idea of fighting his American Top Team colleague unless it was for a title.  With somewhat of a logjam at the top of the welterweight division, and other contenders being booked or injured, we now end up with Lombard welcoming ‘The People’s Warrior’ back to the UFC.  It’s a mismatch on paper, but Burkman is a durable veteran who shouldn’t be written off completely.  Still, this will most likely be a showcase win for ‘Showeather’ Lombard, and that’s always fun to watch.

 

Fight:  [#8 FLW] Kyoji Horiguchi vs [#70 FLW] Louis Gaudinot

Worth: $5

Why:  Kyoji Horiguchi is a legitimate prospect, with only one loss on his record and having gone 3-0 in the UFC with two finishes.  Given how shallow the flyweight division still is, this could mean a title shot for Kyoji if he puts in an impressive performance against Louis Gaudinot – an opponent known for his trademark green hair and high-action style.  Gaudinot has been plagued by injuries, fighting only once a year since his UFC debut in 2011, and winning only one of those four fights (he also earned a victory in his most recent fight against Phil Harris, but that was later overturned to a No Contest after Gaudinot tested positive for a banned substance.  While Horiguchi is a huge favorite, similarly to the Lombard-Burkman fight, I feel that this will be more competitive than what the odds suggest.  Either way, it should be a good flyweight scrap worth dropping a 5-spot for.

 

Fight:  [#22 MW] Nate Marquardt vs [#28 MW] Brad Tavares

Worth: $1

Why: Nate Marquardt had one amazing roller coaster of a career, spanning multiple decades, fight organizations, weight classes, and failed PED tests.  This career is now winding down, and though Nate scored a submission win over James TeHuna in his return to the middleweight division after a skid at welterweight, the end is still in sight for ‘The Great’.   However he is lined up with another opponent he can beat in Brad Tavares, who may have once looked like a prospect but has underwhelmed in his recent performances.  Regardless, I just can’t bring myself to care about this mediocre matchup with no divisional implications.  A win for Nate would just be delaying the inevitable.  A win for Tavares would give him a good ‘name’ to notch on his belt, but still won’t do much to improve his standing in the division.  I also have a feeling that this will be a grinding (and boring) war of attrition.  I’ll throw in a dollar though, just in case something crazy happens, as it often does in Nate’s fights.

 

Preliminary Fights:

I might be inclined to attribute some additional value to the prelims, even though they are not a part of the PPV broadcast and you could watch them on UFC Fight Pass and FS1 without having to purchase the PPV. However for this particular card, I feel no such inclination.  The prelims for 182 are chock-full of undefeated prospects taking a step up in competition against seasoned veterans, Evan Dunham fighting for his UFC career after a 3-loss skid, and a couple of random fights thrown in for good measure.  There might be some fun action in all this, but nothing I would pay money to watch if they actually were on the PPV portion of the event.

 

Total Card Worth: $51
Event Price: $59.99
Net Value: -$8.99

 

Leave A Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Before asking where a specific fighter is ranked or why they aren't ranked:


- We update the rankings once per week, usually on Sunday or Monday.

- Fighters who have not fought in 450 days or more ARE NOT RANKED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

- Use the "Fighter Search" option in the upper-right of the page. The fighter may be ranked in a different division.

- Most of the divisions have multiple pages beyond this one. See the clickable ranges above and below the ranking table.

Furthermore, we do not maintain the "next fight" data. This is gathered from Sherdog. Any issues regarding this data should be forwarded to them.