- Joined
- May 1, 2011
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I don't understand how they can even print something like that. How can you just spew out statements as if they are a fact?
How does this go come to the conclusion that's what stephens is best known for? I would wager that most fans have no idea about his arrest.
Using his 10-8 record as a point just shows its a biased piece. Trying to paint stephens as a poor fighter when he's on a 3 fight win streak in his new weight class.
"Thankfully failed negotiations...." portraying that most people didn't even want to see stephens fight on that card.
His statement is a representation of the concept that Iole was making;
The UFC is casting a huge net to capture the attention of casual, or non-fans. In doing so a fighter like Stephens really is best known for being arrested but it is truly hyperbole. Even casual fans would be unlikely to remember that tidbit of information about him unless someone were to remind them.
I don't agree with the whole bland fighter statement but his assessment about what attention the causal fans will give a fighter like Stephens is actually high praise compared to reality. They just won't care that much.
I agree with his premise though; the quality of PPV is suffering in order to maintain the frequency and demand of the free cards. More MMA is appreciated but I think that the majority of fans did not expect the PPV cards to drop in quality. The factors for that quality drop vary a great deal, but regardless it is the UFC's job to shore up the weak spots. If they fail to do that for too long, they will have a big drop in hardcore fans to recover.