It's a bird...it's a plane....it's supercards!

Some among us have been discussing the UFC merging cards to improve buyrates.  So we're going to play a game.  We're going to combine UFC 106-UFC 110 into two mega cards, and see what we've got. 

First, we'll cut off all undercard fights, because they wouldn't make the cut.

lets look at all 5 main cards. 

106:  375000 buys, 3 million live gate

 Amir Sadollah vs. Phil Baroni

Luiz Cane vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

Paulo Thiago vs.  Jacob Volkmann

Josh Koscheck  vs. Anthony Johnson

 Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin

UFC 107: 620,000 buys, 1.5 million live gate
Paul Buentello vs. Stefan Struve

Kenny Florian vs. Clay Guida

Jon Fitch vs. Mike Pierce

Frank Mir vs. Chieck Kongo

BJ Penn vs. Diego Sanchez

UFC 108: 300,000 buys 2 million live gate

Junior Dos Santos vs. Gilbert Yvel

Jim Miller vs. Duane Ludwig

Joe Lauzon vs. Sam Stout

Dustin Hazelett vs. Paul Daley

Rashad Evans vs. Thaigo Silva

UFC 109: 350000 buys 2.2 million live gate

Matt Serra vs. Frank Trigg

Demian Maia vs. Dan Miller

Mike Swick vs. Paulo Thiago

Nate Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen

Randy Couture vs. Mark Coleman

UFC 110 est. 240000 buys 2.5 million live gate

Mirko CroCop vs Anthony Perosh

Keith Jardine vs. Ryan Bader

Joe Stevenson vs. George Sotiropoulos

Wanderlei Silva vs. Michael Bisping

Minotauro Noguiera vs. Cain Velasquez

First we need two main events.  Penn/Sanchez is the obvious choice.  Based purely on competitive importance, I feel like Velasquez/Noguiera would be the second main event, though you could make a case for Griffin/Ortiz.

Next, two co main events.  I'll give UFC 106: Penn vs. Sanchez Evans-Silva.  To UFC 107: Thunder Down Under (our australian card), I'll give Griffin Ortiz.

Our third matchup, I grant Silva/Bisping to 106 and Couture/Coleman to 107. 

For the fourth, 106 gets Marquardt vs. Sonnen and 107 gets Mir vs. Kongo

Our fifth matchup for each card will be Cane/ Little Nog for 106 and Florian/Guida for 107

Our undercards will consist of Jardine/Bader, Swick/Thiago, Maia/Miller, JDS/Yvel, and Koscheck/Johnson for 106 and Serra/Trigg, Cro Cop/Perosh, Hazelett/Daley, Stephenson/Siritiopolis, and Buentello/Struve for 107.  Here are our cards.

UFC 106: Penn vs. Sanchez

BJ Penn vs.Diego Sanchez

Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva

Wanderlei Silva vs. Michael Bisping

Nate Marquardt vs.Chael Sonnen

Luiz Cane vs. Little Nog

Undercard:

Keith Jardine vs. Ryan Bader

Mike Swick vs. Paulo Thiago

Demian Maia vs. Dan Miller

Junior Dos Santos vs. Gilbert Yvel

Josh Koscheck vs. Anthony Johnson

UFC 107: Thunder Down Under

Cain Velasquez vs. Minotauro Noguiera

Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin

Randy Couture vs. Mark Coleman

Frank Mir vs. Chieck Kongo

Kenny Forian vs. Clay Guida

Undercard:

Matt Serra vs. Frank Trigg

Mirko Crocop vs. Anthony Perosh

Dustin Hazelett vs. Paul Daley

Joe Stephenson vs. George Sotiropoulos

Paul Buentello vs. Stephan Struve

The first, and most obvious problem is a matter of gate.  These two shows will get about 5 million total in gate, as opposed to approximately 12 million.  Obviously, a major loss for the UFC.  Merchandise sales obviously suffer.  In terms of PPV buys, these shows need to average 940,000 buys to match the numbers of buys the 5 shows got.  Financially, this is a disaster.  The second problem is a matter of a lot of valuable fights being left on the undercard and never seen.  Great fights like Stephenson/Sotiropoulos.  Important title significant fights like Daley/Hazelett.  Young fighters like Junior Dos Santos going unseen.  Obviously a problem.  The most significant problem, though, at least in my eyes is that this denies 60+ fighers a chance at a paycheck.  The people who need the pay most, too.

Ultimately, the cons of a plan like this so greatly outweigh the abstract concept of "keeping the momentum" that the thought of merging cards like this is simply ridiculous for the UFC.  It might be nice for our wallets, but it ultimately makes no sense for the UFC or for the fighers.