OFFICIAL UFC 197 POSTERS
With UFC 196 complete in stunning fashion, it’s time to look at the next big PPV show. UFC 197 takes place on April 23, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is headlined by UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, vs. former champion Jon Jones.
It will be Jones’ first fight since he was stripped of his title and suspended for a year, following a hit-and-run accident. Jones and Cormier fought at UFC 182 on January 3, 2015, with Jones taking a unanimous decision, and even throwing the former US Olympic wrestling team captain.
And this is the official UFC 197 poster:
And here’s a poster image from the end of the PPV.
There is a general consensus on the UG that UFC posters are often a little formulaic and uninspired. What does “step into our world” on this UFC posters even mean?
WORST OF THE UFC POSTERS
What does “step into our world” even mean? Why are Mousasi and Munoz staring away from each other? What are they looking at, good posters? Why is Minotauro in a step ladder match with Big Country? Why are Gus and Manuwa under water?
Bad UFC posters raise so many questions, but not the right one, which is I can’t wait to see this.
However, the same league that put together the posters above, can also move outside the box, sometimes with extremely compelling results.
BEST OF THE UFC POSTERS
As baffling as bad UFC posters are, the league is also capable of creating inventive, compelling imagery that makes you want to plunk your butt down in front of a seat, or if you are in the USA, even reach into your pocket for the PPV, to buy the most exciting two hours in sports.
UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta did an interview in 2008 with The Atlantic magazine and was asked “What is it about this sport now that is getting this audience under 35?”
Fertitta replied by explaining what makes MMA so compelling
“… there’s the holy s*** factor,” he said. “Actually, they said ‘the holy f***ing s*** factor.’ It happens at every fight. At least one or two times in every UFC show, whether you say it out loud or you say it to yourself, you go, ‘holy s*** did that just happen?’ I mean, you might see somebody do a flip, get kicked in the head, get knocked out with a punch. At some point, you’re going ‘whoah, did that just happen? Did I really just see that?’ That’s the nucleus of what our product is.”
These posters promise a Holy F***ing S*** moment …
Bruce Lee even makes a cameo appearance in this one!
Posters are always a little cooler with some kanji. This is the UFC Japan poster that they saw in Japan. It’s cooler.
JMMA HAD THE BEST FIGHT POSTERS
When Ronda Rousey headlined UFC 157, there were both western and Japanese fight posters. This is what the English speaking world saw. It’s pretty formulaic.
Luckily, it is not the only poster made for the show.
This is what they used in Japan:
Posters are always cooler in Japan.
DREAM (yes, it is written in all caps) was created by former PRIDE FC executives and maintained some of the defining features from PRIDE, including great talent, announcer LenneHardt, and posters that are superior to their equivalents in the west. Dream ran from 2008 to 2012, putting on some 24 shows.
However, the greatest JMMA posters were not from DREAM, they were from the mighty, mighty PRIDE Fighting Championship.
BEST OF PRIDE
For fight posters that bottle the mind, no one did it better than Japan’s PRIDE Fighting Championship.
Pride FC’s inaugural event was held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11, 1997. Pride held more than sixty mixed martial arts events before its demise amidst scandal in October of 2007.
But what a run that decade was. And what cool posters.
Yep, those are sperm. This is probably the first and last time sperm were ever used on a poster for a sports event, but it worked.
