Can we finally put an end to the notion that top level UFC fighters can only fight...

j18lee

j18lee

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Can we finally put an end to the notion that top level UFC fighters can only fight at most 3 times a year? That they all need at least 4 months to recover, train, gameplan and promote a fight.

Just let that stupid idea/excuse die already.

Sure, most fighters cannot be a true warrior like Donald Cerrone, but I'm pretty sure most fighter strive to be about a half or a third of the warrior that Cerrone is (signing up to fight again in less than three weeks against another top 10 opponent). Fighers can definitely be able to prepare to fight within 2 months of any fight barring injury. Yeah, I said it, every two months. It's possible. Not always feasible, but it's easily possible.

But go and and hyperventilate and come up with a million excuses why it's absolutely physically impossible for a top level fighter (your favorite fighter) to fight more than twice a year. Go ahead. You'll just be wrong.
 
It's possible but everybody is built differently. Not many guys out there want to fight 6 times in the span of a year.
 
Fun Fact: Lots of fighters have kids and families they like to spend time with so they can't spend the whole year training. There are lots of guys who would like to fight more, but they don't have a name like Cerrone(so the UFC won't be willing to bump them into top slots) and if they aren't that good then they'll get cut fast.

Plus there are injuries and such.
 
willthechill said:
It's possible but everybody is built differently. Not many guys out there want to fight 6 times in the span of a year.
Click to expand...

You are right, but it's just too often fans and fighters talk about 3 times or twice as year as the absolute most someone can somehow squeeze in a year. How it's physically impossible for top tier fighters to do more than that.

It's not a physical limitation, they just don't want to. They make enough money or just don't particularly enjoy fighting, it's a job and they want to do the least work possible.
 
estranged said:
Cowboy is 1 of a kind
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Cowboy is definitely a rare breed, but he is definitely not one of a kind. Most fighters are and should be able to fight four times a year. Lawler fought four times this year because he felt like it was worth his money and time.

But now that he has the title, he doesn't choose to because he has enough money coming in.

It's a choice and people choose to be lazy, I get that. But don't say it's not possible.
 
Not impossible , but unless they are a draw or on decent win streak like Cerrone is right now or Neil Magny , how eager is Silva or their camps to get them to events , if they feel like their guy might be in danger of running into a rut. I mean some times a quick turn around can be detrimental , look at Rick Story , he was on fire after beating Alves and took a short notice fight originally against Marquardt , Nate drops out Charlie Brennamen
Fills in on short notice and upsets him. The loss looks even worse now because Story was so close to cracking into a shot and Charlie has sinced dropped in weight and has looked terrible. It's a bit of a cautionary tale of being a bit burnt-out and also not having full camps to scope out opponents
 
j18lee said:
Can we finally put an end to the notion that top level UFC fighters can only fight at most 3 times a year? That they all need at least 4 months to recover, train, gameplan and promote a fight.

Just let that stupid idea/excuse die already.

Sure, most fighters cannot be a true warrior like Donald Cerrone, but I'm pretty sure most fighter strive to be about a half or a third of the warrior that Cerrone is (signing up to fight again in less than three weeks against another top 10 opponent). Fighers can definitely be able to prepare to fight within 2 months of any fight barring injury. Yeah, I said it, every two months. It's possible. Not always feasible, but it's easily possible.

But go and and hyperventilate and come up with a million excuses why it's absolutely physically impossible for a top level fighter (your favorite fighter) to fight more than twice a year. Go ahead. You'll just be wrong.
Click to expand...
maybe it's how much damage they do to their kidneys doing a big weight cut. might need time to recover from that?
 
Lol.

Sounds like a whiny fan.

Do you want fighters to have no off time? To be training for fights constantly? Because that is what you are suggesting.
 
That's why Pride was awesome. It wouldn't cut you after a loss so it allowed for more of these "anytime, anywhere, any weight" fighters. Now fighters won't risk a fight unless they know 6 months ahead of time and they train so hard to not lose that they end up hurting themselves and not fighting.
 
Every 4 months is fine with me. That's still 3 times a year
 
j18lee said:
Can we finally put an end to the notion that top level UFC fighters can only fight at most 3 times a year? That they all need at least 4 months to recover, train, gameplan and promote a fight.

Just let that stupid idea/excuse die already.

Sure, most fighters cannot be a true warrior like Donald Cerrone, but I'm pretty sure most fighter strive to be about a half or a third of the warrior that Cerrone is (signing up to fight again in less than three weeks against another top 10 opponent). Fighers can definitely be able to prepare to fight within 2 months of any fight barring injury. Yeah, I said it, every two months. It's possible. Not always feasible, but it's easily possible.

But go and and hyperventilate and come up with a million excuses why it's absolutely physically impossible for a top level fighter (your favorite fighter) to fight more than twice a year. Go ahead. You'll just be wrong.
Click to expand...

Well, let me speak slowly here because I am not sure if you will get it. EVERY time you get knocked out, you receive brain damage. Every time you get a hard strike to the head you receive brain damage. The more fights you do, the more brain damage you suffer, and the more likely the quality of life you have will suffer. SOOO... If you think it is manly to walk around drooling from the mouth when you are 40, I have no argument. But if you would still like to be able to communicate with your grand kids when you are 60, then I am sorry to say TS, most fighters are not going to do it for you.
 
It's definitely possible. I just had my third fight since august, on New Year's Eve, and have another one scheduled a month from now. It really depends on how much damage you take in fights tho. Also, like someone else said, fighters have families and when you have a fight, you're training non stop.
 
It is their career and their body. However, two fights a year is an easy work load compared to your average person, not to mention your average professional athlete.

I feel like fighters who fight four or five times a year gain more traction with fans and establish themselves as a name with fewer fights than a fighter with the same amount of wins spread out over several years.

Cerrone is a great example of this, but he is far from the only one. Seemed like every other card Jones dispatched another former champ back in 2011. He did not settle in to the two fights year until he had already established himself as the greatest LHW ever. Lawler's 2014 was pretty damned impressive as well. Even though he went 1-1 with Hendricks, we got to see so much more of him than we did Johny.
 
It also depends on the fight. Cowboy took almost five months off for therapy after being beat up by Nate Diaz. A beating like JDS vs Cain... you'd need a while to recover from that one.
 
ShreddinMMA said:
Do you want fighters to have no off time? To be training for fights constantly? Because that is what you are suggesting.
Click to expand...

How long is the average training camp? 8 weeks? More? Even at 12 weeks, you can have three fights a year with a good long off-season.
 
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