Do You Actually Care About The Fighter's Well Being? Be honest

[WildWestWhoopAss]

I care about their long term health. Strong supporter of early retirements after a few KO losses. The purses and that shit is based on financial return, and I believe more fighters should pad their records to build their value up.

 

[Roljo]

I always see a ton of guys dogging the UFC for low pay, treating fighters like shit, being unfair, etc. But at the same time, I see a significant number of people also shit on fighters when they try to better their situation, be it by playing hard to get or just not taking a fight altogether if they're not being compensated.

Most recently, it's happening with Leslie Smith, she's not a big name, I know, but I'm seeing people just act like she deserves to be cut for not taking the fight with an opponent who missed weight, despite that not being the UFC's reason to cut her at all. She's pretty much the only fighter actually trying to start up a proper union, not a weak ass shit one like Bjorn's, so it was pretty clear that the UFC was gonna cut her as soon as they got the chance, and that they did.

They even gave her her full purse, even though they never do that (they usually just give fighter's a fraction of their pay) so it's pretty clear that they were giddy about finally getting rid of her, and the same thing would have happened had she taken the fight.

So I ask you guys, do you actually care about the fighter, or do you just want to see fights? I mostly fall on the latter tbh.

If we really cared about the fighters well being, we wouldn't want them to do pro MMA in the first place...

 

[Goon Dog]

I'm old school, so I care about the true martial artists. Couldn't care less about the ones who think they're in WWE. And yeah, I recognize Dana tends to reward that behavior and that it sells fights. I still don't like it and love it when someone like Conor takes a fall.

As for money, I admit I'm tired of all the victim whining. There really aren't that many good quality fighters. I'm not much for labor unions, but they should organize. Establish clear tiers of talent with clearly defined paydays and percentages.

 

[Better Every Day]

Yeah, I do. Because I'm not a ghoul.

 

[kalabula]

Sometimes. I was praying (not really, I'm an atheist) that they'd stop Robbie from pulverizing Rory's nose in that match. Literally hard to watch.

 

[MCS]

Your example has more to do with what's right and what's wrong, the latter tends to tick people off, so it's not about Smith, but the situation.

In general though there's no personal connection with fighters aside from being a fan of some and also the sport as a whole, so them getting hurt doesn't sting. There's this illusion among sports fans that they know the one they're a fan of, so fans get overly emotional.

Concussions and brakes are also expected in combat, but severe injuries like for example torn knees from, say, knee stomps (why they're still allowed makes zero sense to me) can put fighters I like to watch out for years, or for good. That takes away from the enjoyment of watching.

 

[killakillakilla]

I’ve been kind of pissed that they are allowing Edgar to fight again just 1 and a half months after getting tkod. That’s dangerous as hell

 

[Ramon Antonio]

For me it's double, on one hand I want to see brutal KOs, blood, bruises etc., on the other hand, I don't wish any long term damage upon anyone.