- Joined
- Mar 28, 2010
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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.