FanSided MMA Awards: UFC takes Best Promotion of the Year for 2019

UFC had a monster year in 2019. It delivered on the business side but also delivered to the fans. That is why it is our choice for promotion of the year.

The UFC delivered to the fans in 2019. They held a total of 41 events in 15 different countries. Only one event, UFC 233, was cancelled and a total of 19 different title fights happened in the year. This year, more than ever, the UFC listened to the fans and gave them what they wanted. The biggest evidence of that was the UFC 244 main event between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz. The two outspoken fighters fought for the BMF Championship, which was presented by Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson.

On the business side of things, the UFC continues to be a juggernaut. With the exclusive deal with ESPN plus other licensing and live attendance revenue there is no questioning their dominance. However, success on the business side of things does not necessary reflect success in the court of public opinion. Despite its continued growth, fans have been left questioning the quality of UFC pay-per-views, the high number interim championship fights.

The UFC kept it simple in 2019. Rather than try and sell fans on super fights or interim championships, the UFC gave the best fighters title opportunities. In turn, fans got to see the likes of Anthony Smith, Jessica Eye, Thiago Santos, Liz Carmouche, Weili Zhang, and Alexander Volkanovski fight for UFC gold.

Despite the UFC’s biggest star, Connor McGregor, not fighting and losing Cris “Cyborg” Justino to Bellator, 2019 saw the emergence of a new crop of stars for the UFC. Henry Cejudo became the king of cringe, Kamaru Usman became an unlikely hero, Israel Adesanya emerged as arguably the best fighter on the planet and Amanda Nunes cemented her legacy as the greatest female mixed martial artist of all time.

What the UFC does better than any other MMA organization is that they get the audience to become emotionally invested in their fighters. The UFC gave fans a reason to care in 2019. They let go of the smoke and mirrors act and let the best fighters fight. For that the fans were rewarded and the organization was awarded with best MMA organization in 2019.