which part is ironic?
nytimes is bound to continue, it's a massive cog in the US propaganda engine, and has always been many many times larger than MAD ever was.
MAD didn't really ever poke fun at NYTimes for being on it's last legs, if anything it poked fun at how disconnected from the real world it and it's authors sometimes seemed to be -- this was made very clear when checking out MADs humor from 89-01 regarding the NYTimes and their coverage of the numerous wars in the middle east.
Nothing about this outcome seems contrary to what anyone thought would happen; MAD has been struggling for years.