Dana White: 'We couldn't possibly do enough fights'

He likes MMA, he cant want it to be better? Hell I like high level MMA too, hearing a fighter in his post fight presser say "Now to get back to my full-time job as a police officer" was sad to me. They just bring any locals to get the home fans interested. I dont watch prelims and missed some of the main card, because I know the fighters wont last
I love football, not a fan of high school football, weird right?
Whats wrong with wanting improvements in something you care about? I would like higher quality fighters too which means fewer cards so nobodys dont fill up a card

Nothing wrong with wanting the sport to improve. But not everyone wants the same things. I disagree with his opinions on most things. So what he wants doesn't reflect on what I want, and vice-versa. But the difference is I'm not a habitual complainer. I take the bad with the good. Conversely, he, like many others on here, has been foretelling the impending doom on the sport as long as I can remember.

I at least try to understand why they do what they do. I realize I don't have all of the information, nor do I believe everyone else wants what I want. So I'm not on here telling everyone the UFC is losing steam because it isn't doing what I want.

As far as the level of talent goes, a lot of the guys the UFC sings are regional champs with either undefeated records or really good records.

Let's look at tonight's opening fight. Pedro Munhoz vs. Matt Hobar. Hobar is 8-1 and he is the Legacy FC champ. Munhoz is 0-1 in the UFC, but his debut was to Assuncao, the guy who will probably get the next title shot. Prior to his debut, Munhoz was 10-0 and he was the RFA champ.

These are two regional/3rd tier promotion champs. Where are they supposed to go instead of the UFC? Farming talent isn't like it used to be. You can't just let these guys go to 2nd tier promotions and them cherry pick them. If they go to Bellator and fail, sure, it's an indication you don't want them. But if they succeed, they might be stuck there, a la Alvarez. Now WSOF, isn't wanting to release anyone else to go to the UFC. When they start losing fighters when their contracts are up, it wouldn't be that surprising to see them to take more of a Bellator approach. So now, you get the UFC picking up more guys from the regional scene.

Most of the separating the wheat from the chaff will happen in the prelims. So most of the guys people are complaining about aren't even sniffing the main cards until they prove themselves.

People complain about prospects. They need minor leagues, people say. The prelims and the Fight Night undercards are their minor leagues. This is where pretenders get weeded out and prospects pan out. But this is nothing new. This is always how it has been. Now, there is just more if it. If they did away with the prelims, people wouldn't even notice and wouldn't have anything to bitch about. But before, by popular demand, the more hardcore fans wanted to see the prelims and see the prospects. Fight Nights came about as a vehicle for the guys from TUF so they could keep them on tv where everyone got to know them in the first place. So neither the prelims or the Fight Nights were ever anything more than minor leagues for the big shows.

You talk about them and compare them to high school. But this isn't local amateur talent. These are guys who dominated there and beyond and are now ready to promote to the next level. It's weird to me because it is opposite of most big sports. People usually get excited for the pro drafts when you get to see guys try their hand at the next level. But in MMA, people resist it.
 
Nothing wrong with wanting the sport to improve. But not everyone wants the same things. I disagree with his opinions on most things. So what he wants doesn't reflect on what I want, and vice-versa. But the difference is I'm not a habitual complainer. I take the bad with the good. Conversely, he, like many others on here, has been foretelling the impending doom on the sport as long as I can remember.

I at least try to understand why they do what they do. I realize I don't have all of the information, nor do I believe everyone else wants what I want. So I'm not on here telling everyone the UFC is losing steam because it isn't doing what I want.

As far as the level of talent goes, a lot of the guys the UFC sings are regional champs with either undefeated records or really good records.

Let's look at tonight's opening fight. Pedro Munhoz vs. Matt Hobar. Hobar is 8-1 and he is the Legacy FC champ. Munhoz is 0-1 in the UFC, but his debut was to Assuncao, the guy who will probably get the next title shot. Prior to his debut, Munhoz was 10-0 and he was the RFA champ.

These are two regional/3rd tier promotion champs. Where are they supposed to go instead of the UFC? Farming talent isn't like it used to be. You can't just let these guys go to 2nd tier promotions and them cherry pick them. If they go to Bellator and fail, sure, it's an indication you don't want them. But if they succeed, they might be stuck there, a la Alvarez. Now WSOF, isn't wanting to release anyone else to go to the UFC. When they start losing fighters when their contracts are up, it wouldn't be that surprising to see them to take more of a Bellator approach. So now, you get the UFC picking up more guys from the regional scene.

Most of the separating the wheat from the chaff will happen in the prelims. So most of the guys people are complaining about aren't even sniffing the main cards until they prove themselves.

People complain about prospects. They need minor leagues, people say. The prelims and the Fight Night undercards are their minor leagues. This is where pretenders get weeded out and prospects pan out. But this is nothing new. This is always how it has been. Now, there is just more if it. If they did away with the prelims, people wouldn't even notice and wouldn't have anything to bitch about. But before, by popular demand, the more hardcore fans wanted to see the prelims and see the prospects. Fight Nights came about as a vehicle for the guys from TUF so they could keep them on tv where everyone got to know them in the first place. So neither the prelims or the Fight Nights were ever anything more than minor leagues for the big shows.

You talk about them and compare them to high school. But this isn't local amateur talent. These are guys who dominated there and beyond and are now ready to promote to the next level. It's weird to me because it is opposite of most big sports. People usually get excited for the pro drafts when you get to see guys try their hand at the next level. But in MMA, people resist it.
I dont feel like getting into a real discussion about all this, but to your last point Im in the minority that doesnt get excited about pro drafts cause it is to me a bit of a crap shoot. I guess i just like more polished talent not raw talent that may or may not turn into anything
 
As of the last few years, I'd almost say it is easier to get in the ufc. Nowadays it's more about the story behind you than your skillset. I could be a crackhead that survived an overdose and the paramedic that took care of me in the ambulance was an mma fighter and he got me to train for 6 months. Bam promotable story I'm in the UFC. This is of course an example/fairy tale.

I don't think that is true at all. If you look at most of these guys the UFC is signing that you've probably never heard of before, they all have been successful on the regional circuit. Many, if not most of them are champions in promotions like Cage Warriors, RFA, Legacy, CFFC, etc. They usually have good records, either undefeated or only have a loss or two.

I think the top MMA fighter skillset back then and now, now is better. But the other fighters that now MMA cards are filed with are not that good, and there are fewer less skilled fighters that lasted back then. Hell this police officer guy with prolly be on prelims for years to come.
And of course fighter pay has to do with it. If more money was given to fighters, maybe that police officer would quit his job and train full time. But cause he needs the money of being a cop, he cant. Or the guy that said this win will help me pay his girl back. God damn, theses guys dont get enough money from mma to quit jobs and train full time. Once again im not saying top fighters need mre money (though that would be nice), lower fighters need more money, thatll even lure people to train more, harder and better to get that money

I don't want to get into too much of a discussion about fighter pay, because I think like everybody, I'd like to see these guys make more. But it's worth mentioning that the guy in question probably just got a bigger payday than he got for any of his fights before coming to the UFC. So while some promotions might be able to compete with the UFC for a few guys, the UFC will almost always pay the fighters more than anyone else.

It's also worth mentioning that this is a performance based sport. They aren't going to throw out a bunch of money to a guy who may never fight in the promotion again, or may only fight a few times on the prelims. They are pretty much getting their try out and don't have much of an impact on the profit of the event. If they win, they get their pay doubled from the win bonus. If they keep winning, they will get a pay increase for their next contract. The better you do, the better you will get paid. Of course there are other ways to get money. They pay these guys to be active on twitter and social media, which not only helps some with their finances, but gives them exposure, and we all know the one loophole to not winning and still getting paid is popularity/exposure. They also get insurance, which is cool and its something other promotions aren't offering.

Now, if they had less fighters, maybe the could afford to pay their lower tier fighters more money. But then again, if they had less fighters, that would be a lot of fighters no longer/never were in the UFC making less than they do now.

Like I said, I wish they got paid more, just like everyone else probably does. Fighter pay is a tricky subject.

I dont feel like getting into a real discussion about all this, but to your last point Im in the minority that doesnt get excited about pro drafts cause it is to me a bit of a crap shoot. I guess i just like more polished talent not raw talent that may or may not turn into anything

That is fair, and I wouldn't try to convince you to like it. Either you do or don't. But the draft is still important in bringing in new talent, though I agree it is a crapshoot. Like the draft, bringing in new talent into the UFC is also a crap shoot. But you have to get prospects and future stars from somewhere. They've always done it like this. Only now, there are more of them.
 

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