Richard, I don't know if you are considering this a freakshow fight, but Pettis going from 155 to fight welterweight and, in addition, a high class opponent in Wonderboy, to me was kinda freakshow fight. If Pettis and Thompson were comming from a win, it would feel even more like a freakshow fight. But because they were in a bad spot in their careers, people didn't care too much.
Oooohhh I
loved Wonderboy vs Showtime, great match-up, awesome fight. And Thompson didn't even appear salty afterward, asking Pettis what the hell he hit him with, good vibes all around.
I do consider it a freakshow, so it's not always a word with negative connotations for me... last year in kickboxing, Jérôme Lebanner vs Datsik was a total freakshow but I was extatic watching that bout (I'm a big Geronimo fanboy though).
Pawel Nastula vs Andrej Wronski was a freakshow (Nasty had way more experience than Wronski who was 0-0 in MMA) but since it was the third olympic gold medalist vs gold medalist in MMA ()Judo vs Greco-Roman), after Yoshida vs Gardner & Yoshida vs Ishii; it's hard not to be interested in this one when wrestling is your first love.
Hell, even Floyd/McGregor in boxing was a total freakshow, and I was cheering and screaming with the rest of the pub when it took place.
So, if Khabib wants to box Pacman, please go ahead!
About Struve, yeah, of course my money would be on Jones, but it would still be a good introduction at HW for JJ ^^
Well, now that SS has taken so much punishment to the head, I'm not sure I want to see him compete again
(first time I saw him live was against Denis Stojnic; Denis mauled Struve for a full round before getting triangled in the second, and the crowd was on its feet even though it was only the second fight of the card
I remember that we were all saying that hopefully this fight, as awesome as it was, wouldn't be representative of his whole career, or he could become punch drunk in no time... talk about jinxing the poor guy)
I kinda miss freakshows, but I have also accepted that the sport has been trying to move away from these (even if the UFC still has some disguised as legit fights) to make the sport appear more "pro"... I was super into MMA/kick-boxing/grappling during 2000 to 2012, went to dozens of events, had the luck to meet a lot of my idols and train with some of them, and nowadays I've basically become a casual again.
(I still train, but just to stay in shape and to help out n00b friends who are just getting started now thanks to the McGregor wave)
Most UFC cards, I'd be very lucky if more than 2 fights in a card have my attention... it used to be the reverse, every fight on a card had me pumped except for a couple. So i manage my expectations, and I understand that fighters now have a LOT more to lose than when the fans were more forgiving, and a loss didn't mean that much if you put on an exciting fight.
So... yeah, I understand why freakshows aren't as prevalent as before, even if I don't like it. But I still have that idea, that if the UFC wanted to make some big bucks with Mighty Mouse, and get the casuals to like him, they should have had him fight a bunch of low-level muscle-bounds /MWsLHWs.
"Holy shit that midget in the UFC is going full Super Hluk on big steroid bullies"
You can be curious, but why not be curious about other fighters moving up also? And does your curiousity come from honestly wanting to see how Jones does, or really just because he has a greater chance of losing? If you rank GSP as number 1, why weren't you curious about him moving up to fight Silva, when they were both in their prime, to see how he does?
But I do agree with you about kickboxers at HW, I miss the days of Kongo, Barry, ( the HW kickboxer who died shortly after his UFC run, I forgot his name).
Also I do agree with you that we should be able to discuss things without getting as worked as most people do. I just like to give credit where credit is due. Jones is an amazing fighter, as was GSP before him, and Silva and Fedor. and I'm just happy to be alive in an era where we get to watch these guys fight.
Hey, I'm curious about pleeeenty of things
and I do give credit to Jones, it took me a while but after the first Daniel Cormier bout, steroids/eye-pokes or not, it was now clear that Jones not only had great stand up & groud game, but also has elite wrestling.
I was 100% sure that Cormier was the guy who was going to ragdoll Jones, and he got beat twice.
He's obviously one of the GOATs, and I would be super excited if he got a HW fight against someone like, let's say Ben Rothwell or Matt Mitrione.
I would have chosen a kick-boxer first, but as we've established, not many pure KBs in the UFC right now (and sadly with the steep decline in popularity of that sport, maybe ever).
About GSP/Silva, I would have been happy to watch it, and GSP was cool with the fight, but after the UFC 112 debacle, Dana starting his smear campaign against Silva, saying that he doesn't deserve to stand in the same ring as a true, proud champion like St-Pierre... I kinda stopped paying attention to that bullshit after that...
One day, while salty about the Maia situation, Dana is saying Silva is ducking GSP, the next, while salty about Georges retiring, it's now GSP who is ducking Silva.
You can't take anything Dana says seriously when he's discussing stuff like that.
Imma stop rambling for now, long days and pleasant nights to you gentlemen, and let's hope for some cool fights for 2020.
