Can we go ahead and accept that the UFC is officially done treating MMA as a sport?

Title shots started being handed out like handjobs at a Riley Reid convention and about 4-5 years later, interim titles were being found in cracker jack boxes.
Maybe I'm just tired, but that's the funniest sh!t I've read on Sherdog <45>
 
it wasn't a serious comment. a joke on undeserved Diaz title shots. but even if it was a serious comment Nick is the more appropriate Diaz to fight Woodley because of his history at 170. Plus general audiences probably don't know the difference. And even if they do they can promote Nick as the bigger, badder older brother of Nate Diaz who defeated Conor.

i suspect they are putting on Woodley vs Nate in the hopes Nate wins so that Nate can fight Conor in a Conor vs Nate III at WW for the belt.


Agreed. Although it would be much smarter to have Nate fight Ferguson for the interim belt he holds. It's a much more winnable fight for Nate and then they could have a unification match with Conor.
 
I have not seen it as sport for a while. Ranks don't matter here so whatever. Shit, Bellator with their tournament is more sportlike. I'm still going to continue to watch the spectacle though.
 
Nate vs Woodley? That would be weird and stupid as fuck. I would not buy that and I buy every card.

Nate vs Ferguson? Great fight and I could get behind that. Would buy. Guess we'll see what happens.
 
This started around if not before Brock Lesnar entered the cage (2007). And I'm not taking anything away from Brock, he's a freak athlete, but let's be honest here... his title shot was based purely on MONEY and not legitimate sports rankings. He beat Heath Herring for a title shot.

It was around this point when the UFC started to focus more on sports ENTERTAINMENT and not on being a legitimate sport. Title shots started being handed out like handjobs at a Riley Reid convention and about 4-5 years later, interim titles were being found in cracker jack boxes.

The sport, at least the bigger-named promotions, have been heading in this direction for quite a long time and rankings and rightful contenders mean absolutely jack-shit. This sudo-sport is all about money, unfortunately.
I get that the Brock thing was about money. I know the UFC is a business. It always has been. And I don't blame them for keeping their revenue a priority at all. But atleast Brock was a freak and pretty much the best HW in the organization at the time. And sure they may have gotten a little more lenient on title shots over the years, but even then those people had still proven themselves in the division and beat some contenders. A lot of that also has to do with availability and matchmaking.

The fact that we're actually taking a barely top 10 LW, who is coming off a loss, and has REFUSED to fight for over a year, and awarding him with a title shot at WW, where he is 1-4? It's gotten to that point. I'm sorry but you're lying if you saw stuff as ridiculous as that coming years ago, when the Fertitta brothers still owned it.
 
Yeah it's a joke now no resemblance to any sport and will only get worse up and coming fighters better train trash talk first.
 
This fight is beyond stupid but there have been far worse situations. Figts like Hendo/Bisping, Diaz/GSP, Jones/Sonnen, McGregor/Diaz II actually held up divisions and screwed guys in contention.

None of the actual contenders are getting the shaft because no one is close to a shot but RDA/Robbie winner and that winner will still get it after Woodley deals with Diaz.

I'mnot saying it isn't stupid. It is. Just nothing new nor the worst.
 
This has to do with the fighters as much as it has to do with WME. A lot of fighters are picking and choosing fights that are easy or they can make money on. Even Poirier was making demands after beating Pettis and he's most likely going to get them. Fighters are realizing how much WME needs them and they are either getting what they want or jumping ship.
 
I'll bump this thread when they announce Nate vs Tyron.
 
Fellas, I’m about done. If Nate gets a title shot at WW...smh
 
The UFC is a victim of its own success. A little marketing money and some marketable/well spoken fighters made it less of "cock fighting". It slowly got some mainstream acceptance and then...money wants money. The owners saw a chance to make more and realized it is going to take more than ring girls and blood. Find a horse to hitch the wagon too and hope.

It worked well for the most part, the big three being Brock, Rhonda and lately Mcgregor. Characters became as important if not more than skillset (which tbh all three have). Problem is, this quick-buck mentality is not sustainable. Go back to the initial significant growth period and there were 6-10 fighters at a higher marketable level (not the big 3 level). I'm not saying this would have eventually made the UFC a multibillion dollar sale (which I think was overvalued based on the unrealistic idea that there will be 5 Brocks, 4 Rhondas and a revolving set of dancing monkeys) but I think it would have made a healthy increase in the bottom line.

Now we have what it is. I doubt it will die but it might fade a little. Maybe Bellator will usurp it in 5 or 10 years, maybe not. As a fan of MMA, all I can do is hope for some good fights across all organizations, suffer through the joke match ups and hope for a return to titles meaning something. I don't watch beer league hockey to see who is the best - that's what the Stanley Cup is for.
 
I get that the Brock thing was about money. I know the UFC is a business. It always has been. And I don't blame them for keeping their revenue a priority at all. But atleast Brock was a freak and pretty much the best HW in the organization at the time. And sure they may have gotten a little more lenient on title shots over the years, but even then those people had still proven themselves in the division and beat some contenders. A lot of that also has to do with availability and matchmaking.

The fact that we're actually taking a barely top 10 LW, who is coming off a loss, and has REFUSED to fight for over a year, and awarding him with a title shot at WW, where he is 1-4? It's gotten to that point. I'm sorry but you're lying if you saw stuff as ridiculous as that coming years ago, when the Fertitta brothers still owned it.

1) Nick Diaz vs. GSP (wanted this fight, but let's face facts...)
2) Chael Sonnen vs. Jon Jones
3) Vitor Belfort vs. Jon Jones
4) Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Couture
5) CM Punk getting a UFC contract

I could go on if you'd like? I've been saying it for 5 years + that this sport, or at the very least the UFC, has been angling towards a money-first model and there is evidence of it WELL before 2012.

Not sure why this is a shock? Combat sports historically go this route because the only way to promote it is by promoting individual fighters. It isn't a team sport, it's about personalities. Strangely similar to WWE.

Look, I agree with you, the way it's setup is horseshit and if Nate gets a title shot it's laughable at best but ... fuck it, it's what we've got.
 
It started becoming "WWE" type entertainment way before WME.
 
Fukk wme, turning sport into fukking mockery.
 
Casuals are buying money fights while hardcore fans who complain are streaming PPVs.
 
The UFC just makes the fights they think people will pay to see, as every prize fighting promotion has done since the dawn of time.

If you don't want Conor to have so much power, stop streaming your favorite fighter's cards. If you want to improve fighter pay, stop streaming your favorite fighter's cards.

What Ronda and Conor have in common is that their fans aren't bums.
 
Back
Top