UFC 334 Fight Day: Fans Debate Promotion's Roster Strategy

UFC 334 takes place Saturday, and fans spent the hours before the card debating the promotion's direction.

MMA Mania ran a pre-event discussion thread Saturday morning, with editor Tim Edwards asking readers about their fight day plans. The conversation quickly turned to the UFC's recent roster decisions, with Mike Perry's announced 2027 comeback after a five-year absence drawing particular scrutiny.

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Criticism Of UFC's Pay Model Surfaces

One commenter argued the promotion has begun prioritizing entertainment value over technical skill in its hiring. The poster blamed the UFC's 50-50 base-and-win bonus structure for encouraging safe, decision-oriented fighting. "Perhaps if they paid the guys their entire purse instead of splitting it into 50-50 maybe we would see more high-quality high action fights," the user wrote, according to MMA Mania.

The same commenter proposed adopting PRIDE rules minus soccer kicks and head stomps, including yellow cards to penalize inactive fighters. Edwards, meanwhile, said he would spend the day working on his sumo publication and running errands before tuning in. He noted that sumo has no weight divisions, sharing video of lighter wrestler Enho competing against teenage grappler Tanji.

🎟️ Get tickets: Buy tickets to UFC 334 on Ticketmaster →

UFC 334 airs Saturday evening.

Reported via:

• MMA Mania — Open Thread, Saturday, November 14: Pre-fight hang out