The UFC Can Easily Be Improved With Better Match Making

[elwani]

Should just crowdsource matchmaking to Sherdog.

 

[DaWrassler007]

Nurmagomedov (24-0) vs Askren (17-0) would be an amazing fight

 

[pilgrim4702]

Nurmagomedov (24-0) vs Askren (17-0) would be an amazing fight

You're absolutely right, and I thought palares vs shields was sick also. But he's saying in general

 

[pilgrim4702]

Ts I agree. And I think it's funny that the sport could thrive off of general striking based fights but not grappling. Lol and anyone saying wrestling is the best base for mma. Fans would stop watching if the sport was dominated by wrestling

 

[Coconutwater]

PRIDE could do some of those and make it work well. But they had yellow cards and fines for stalling, you won't see that shit in the States. Plus, it was more than just freestyle wrestling and BJJ. Catch-wrestling, sambo and judo were all in the mix, and kept the grappling game moving and interesting.

Yeah, only Pride made grappler vs grappler exciting and it was definitely a byproduct of ruleset.

Having Saku didn’t hurt either, he took mad risks.

 

[Fatback96]

There's only a few fighters that are just "grapplers" or "strikers."
Most MMA FIGHTERS can do a MIX of things.

 

[NotoriousMillions]

The UFC is heavily relies on that archaic philosophy of "this the classic grappler vs striker" fight, which I believe no longer works, and leads to boring tactical fights.

They need to move on with the times and match strikers with strikers, and grapplers with grapplers. The only time a "grappler vs striker" match should be made is when it can't be avoided for a legitimate title fight or number 1 contender eliminator.

But there should seldom be "grappler vs striker" in the lower cards.

A match of McGregor (if he is willing to return) vs Gaethje vs Ferguson can make big numbers and be super entertaining for the next 2 or 3 years. Depending on how damaging the wars are.

If they decide to pay Nate Diaz and throw him in the mix, it would be even more entertaining.

Conclusion, the UFC should pay the fighters and match strikers with strikers and grapplers with grapplers. Let the fighters specialties cancel themselves out, and force them to fight to win.

Honestly, big reason it sucks is because nobody defends their belt anymore.

Mighty Mouse and Bisping don't want any legit competition. Conor won't defend unless it's worth something to him. Then pretty much the rest of the champions are out with some type of contract dispute.

Shelby has been an awful matchmaker as well, look at what he did to the MW division. Look at what he's done/doing to the LHW/HW division. To be honest the UFC were arguably never that great to begin with though. Other than a few guys, they've done a rather terrible job at building stars.

Then you look at Pride who made every bloke off the street look like he was a million bucks and there's just a significant difference.

There's a big reason Bellator is overtaking UFC.

 

[executionermma]

I don't get it, why you all who doesn't like grappling watch MMA and not kickboxing? I'm really curious here, for me a man dominating another guy trying to snap his arm or choke him out is just as sick as a good high kick KO

 

[NotoriousMillions]

What UFC really needs to do is to feed their popular fighters with bums because casuals don't care if another fighter is a bum. The hardcore fans will complain but hardcore fans don't pay for PPV or Fightpass.

Exactly. I don't think the problem in boxing is that this happens. It's just that it happens way too much or practically all the time.

A guy like Khabib has the status he does largely because of a good mix of beating bums and talented guys. Proof that it works.

 

[NotoriousMillions]

I don't get it, why you all who doesn't like grappling watch MMA and not kickboxing? I'm really curious here, for me a man dominating another guy trying to snap his arm or choke him out is just as sick as a good high kick KO

Most of them don't even care about that. They just want to see blood and a brutal KO. I don't understand why they don't just watch street fight videos.