When the UFC began running events damn near every week, there eventually became a point where aside from the tip top of the card, it was near impossible to distinguish a Fight Night card from a PPV card. Sure, there were some exceptions when the UFC would stack particular PPV cards – such as those that took place in MSG – but by and large, the there was little to separate the standard versions of those cards.
To the UFC’s credit, that hasn’t been the case for about a year or so. For example, the early prelims for UFC 263, though light on fighters listed in the official UFC rankings, does feature one of the premier action fighters of this generation and a youthful prospect whom the UFC is put a healthy promotional push behind.