One of the things I love about MMA- it's hard to manufacture a star

blacknblue104

blacknblue104

Green Belt
@Green
Joined
Sep 3, 2011
Messages
1,004
Reaction score
633
We've all seen people in entertainment get promotional pushes based on looks/marketability/talk not based on actual skill level or their craft.

I just saw a Paige Van Zant interview where she was asked who she though would win the Ferguson vs Khabib fight, and she honestly sounded like she doesn't even watch the sport. She said that Khabib vs Barboza was the first Khabib fight she's ever seen, and that she still "new to the sport" even though she's been a pro fighter for 6 years now LMAO.

UFC/WME wants to create stars so badly but an MMA star is not something you can manufacture- you either are the truth or you aren't, it's black and white.

One of the things I love about MMA/combat sports is that the skills speak for themselves, you don't get people shoved down your throat based on "marketability." IDC if buyrates might be down, as long as the best fight the best I will always be drawn to this sport.
 
You cant manufacture stars but they sure an make it easy for a fighter to become a star by promoting them and giving them easier fights etc.

<13>

Look at Sage, they throwing bottom of the pile UFC fighters at him and once he fights a fighter of a slightly higher calibre, he folds.
 
and we saw that with when stiopic implemented that immigrant mentality

i agree OP. seems WME is trying really hard to promote a bunch of prospects and shove a rocket up their ass hoping they'll become top fighters/stars. like you said tho, if they cant get in the cage and win big fights against tough opponents they'll never be anything more then hype jobs.
 
One of the things I hate about MMA... a few flashy outfits and inflammatory statements and all the hens start their clucking. If someone with the charisma level of Colby or Kevin Lee can talk his way into the limelight than the MMA fanbase consists mainly of giant dorks.
 
Yeah, as if Ronda, Erick Silva or McGregor never happened...
 
I agree, eventually your up and coming stars will have to beat top competition impressively to really blow up.

Conor, Ronda, and Jones all did that.
 
I love how all of Dana's hand-picked fighters lose almost immediately after
 
Lint2 said:
Yeah, as if Ronda, Erick Silva or McGregor never happened...
Click to expand...

Rousey and Silva both got the holes in their game exposed....In reality Ronda was only a top draw for about 2 years (2013-2015), and she was champion of a developing division. Once Women's Banatmweight started to actually develop not even the UFC or WME could protect her.

And say what you want about McGregor but the guy has actually beaten top level competition- Aldo, Mendes, Holloway, Alvarez and Diaz are all high quality opponents.
 
If you could manufacture a star the UFC would be worth 100 Billion.

Ppl were gonna like PVZ anyways because shes hot. But you cant deny her toughness. Shes a middle of the road fighter.

Conor wouldn't be a star without KOing everybody this forum hoped he would lose to. Plus him just doing his character. The 2 combined made him a star.

I dont know why anyone would shit on
O malley. Hes an exciting stand up fighter who just won a fight with 1 foot at the end. He trashed that dude. MMAmania:

O’Malley absolutely dominated the opening 10 minutes.

Bizarrely, Soukhamthath went for a takedown to open the round, despite being in desperate need of a finish and nearly being tapped out four times in the previous round.
 
Last edited:
Only Here for Attachments said:
I love how all of Dana's hand-picked fighters lose almost immediately after
Click to expand...

The problem really is that Dana has been promoting some very questionable talents, he doesn't like spending money on fighters with strong backgrounds in other sports but rather guys like Sage he can get on the cheap and supprise supprise these fighters have very patchy careers.

So a lot of the UFC's promotion in recent years has ended up being largely wasted on people who are never going to reach a high level in the sport.
 
HjQAo.gif


He's still making money doing it so something must be going right.
 
Lint2 said:
Yeah, as if Ronda, Erick Silva or McGregor never happened...
Click to expand...
Ronda was already a star. They didnt make her. She woulda been a star without the ufc promoting her. Same with Conor. The ufc saw huge dollar signs because they already had the "it" factor that interests the masses. Ronda doesnt even fight anymore and theres threads about her on here every day. Conor has no fight signed and its the same. Eric Silva had potential and a good look,but couldnt cut it once the cage closes.
 
Stars organically grow by giving them time. Imagine if everybody in the Top 5 of each weight class were were given the same hype machine as Conor, Brock, and Ronda. I think there are quite a few top fighters who have that special "it factor" and have damn good records, damn be a few losses... guys like Alvarez, RDA, Khabib, Ferg, Holloway, Porier, etc. The UFC needs to start by looking at winning fighters and looking at the best ways to build them as stars by looking at their strengths that people can either relate to, or look up to.
 
blacknblue104 said:
We've all seen people in entertainment get promotional pushes based on looks/marketability/talk not based on actual skill level or their craft.

I just saw a Paige Van Zant interview where she was asked who she though would win the Ferguson vs Khabib fight, and she honestly sounded like she doesn't even watch the sport. She said that Khabib vs Barboza was the first Khabib fight she's ever seen, and that she still "new to the sport" even though she's been a pro fighter for 6 years now LMAO.

UFC/WME wants to create stars so badly but an MMA star is not something you can manufacture- you either are the truth or you aren't, it's black and white.

One of the things I love about MMA/combat sports is that the skills speak for themselves, you don't get people shoved down your throat based on "marketability." IDC if buyrates might be down, as long as the best fight the best I will always be drawn to this sport.
Click to expand...
Idk man, paige isn't a good fighter but she does have heart for days. She never quits and she likes to fight. Some fighters don't really watch mma (cain for example). It's rare but it happens
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,236,866
Messages
55,451,064
Members
174,783
Latest member
notnormal

Share this page

Back
Top