Is this the reason why the new UFC cannot develope new stars?

[BigGucciSosa]

MMA fans suck and are lazy and want the UFC to tell them who to root for.

 

[Rex Kwon Do]

Yep, will never be a fan of these new guys with less mileage who destroy Legends. It's gross. Legends should all leave the UFC and go to Bellator and do TRT and GHRP.

Hopefully you're not talking about Smith. He doesn't have less mileage than Shogun. Smith has 43 fights under his belt, which is more than Shogun who has 36. Smith has been around the block.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

My point is that they wouldn't have bothered with the effort to do that with someone else who didn't have Conor's magnetism. They knew if he was the champion it was liscense to print money so they needed him to be there as soon as possible,same with Brock. But they were already GOLD. You either are,or you aren't. Or somehow,inexplicably you go through a late career change,like Chael,but that's rare. Im sure when UFC took one look at GSP they were like OH shit. You dont find guys like GSP on trees...just LOOK at that guy. Thus his 3rd ufc bout was for the title.

obviously, but not every "star" will reach Conor's level. in fact, most won't. so to use him as a measuring stick is a bit of a stretch.

they definitely can make fighters into stars the way they did with Chuck. Chuck has zero personality, barely talks and when he does it sounds like he has a mouthful of cottonballs, and he isn't particularly charismatic, but he was the face of the UFC for a long time.

the only reason the UFC can't find stars is because they're looking at it the wrong way. they're looking for the next Conor, or the next guy who will be bigger than Conor, but Conor is an aberration not the norm. they're basically chasing a unicorn at this point.

if they come back down to earth and realize they probably won't be able to hit a huge jackpot like Conor again, then they'd realize they have a pretty good pool of talent to work with to create the next Chuck Liddell.

they're definitely missing opportunities by not buddying up with Mighty Mouse and other fighters and trying to promote through twitch. it may seem stupid but twitch is growing quickly and there are TONS of young people that would see their product.

 

[Thc Sargon]

Anyone thinks Smith is a title contender st 205 is a moron. He just best #8, a great win but he needs two more before he thinks of a title shot.

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Because... you get on a decent streak and instead of build you up... they match make you vs a wrestler or bury you on Fight Pass...

 

[MMAart]

Because... you get on a decent streak and instead of build you up... they match make you vs a wrestler or bury you on Fight Pass...

Who would these fighters be?

 

[tru3f4n]

As that saying goes, it's not the year but the mileage. Thiago Santos utterly destroyed Smith and showed no signs of being 34.

In addition, Branch is no slouch. He was destroying Rockhold, the former MW champ. There is no shame in losing to Branch, who would have destroyed Smith.

stop trolling Branch is pillowfisted and had one flurry against Luke due to Rockhold's boxing defence being backing straight up Luke then went on to smash Branch. If Thiago was going to be anything he would've beat Branch, Hall, Mutante and Spicely he has had his shots a failed.

 

[MMAart]

stop trolling Branch is pillowfisted and had one flurry against Luke due to Rockhold's boxing defence being backing straight up Luke then went on to smash Branch. If Thiago was going to be anything he would've beat Branch, Hall, Mutante and Spicely he has had his shots a failed.

Branch was kicking Rockhold's ass on the feet. Rockhold won due to a much better ground game:

Regardless, the point is that Smith is getting fed easy match-ups by the UFC to make him look like a killer, whereas guys like Thiago Santos who are much better and more exciting should have gotten equal promotional help, at the very least.

 

[tru3f4n]

Branch was kicking Rockhold's ass on the feet. Rockhold won due to a much better ground game:

Regardless, the point is that Smith is getting fed easy match-ups by the UFC to make him look like a killer, whereas guys like Thiago Santos who are much better and more exciting should have gotten equal promotional help, at the very least.

he took a shot notice fight

 

[ArtemV]

Wait, who is calling Smith a future star? lmao

 

[MMAart]

Wait, who is calling Smith a future star? lmao

Re-read the original post. The UFC fed Smith 2 aging legends, back-to-back. This is a clear indication they're trying hard to hype him up.

Instead of grooming Smith, the UFC should have been grooming Thiago Santos, who has more potential, the better fighter with a more exciting style.