Do you think MMA will be as entertaining 10 - 15 years from now?

[Takes Two To Tango]

Fighters are getting a lot more well rounded and have more complete skill sets.

Will that make it less likely to be entertaining because both combatants are so good at their craft?

Basically will fighters cancel each other out?

Or there will still entertaining fights no matter what. Because there still be variables and weaknesses people can exploit in a fight?

Everyone has a weakness, you just have to figure out what it is and take advantage of it.

Obviously, there will be no perfect fighter, just like there is no perfect human.

So the unpredictability will still exists imo.

 

[theincognito]

Boring and entertaining fighters will both always exist.

Due to evolution, a great fight 15 years from now should generally be better than a great fight of today, as a great fight today is generally better than a great fight from 15 years ago.

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

Boring and entertaining fighters will both always exist.

Due to evolution, a great fight 15 years from now should generally be better than a great fight of today, as a great fight today is generally better than a great fight from 15 years ago.

Yes they will always have a very boring fight here and there as well a very entertaining fight. But overall do you think the entertainment value of MMA will still be up to par? Or will it be less entertaining?

I don't know about your explanation of a great fight of years past to now. I think some past fights are just as entertaining as the ones now or even more so. Depends on the individual who's watching.

But I think it's subjective the appeal of what a great fight is or more like an entertaining fight is.

 

[EndlessCritic]

Entire World: Watches elite fighters like Khabib dominate the entire sport without developing a well rounded skillset, and instead dominate through specialization.

OP: Everyone seems to be getting more well rounded.

 

[FreddieRoachsVoice]

Why are poll options always consistently terrible on Sherdog?

With that being said, I vote for MMA not being around in 15 years. We will see an epidemic of CTE related scandals in the future and IMO the sport will undergo a steep decline in popularity as a result. Think that legends like Minotauro Nogueira and Wanderlei Silva are not even 50 years old yet... we haven't even begun to see the long term effects of a career in MMA.

Also, considering how poorly MMA fighters are paid, there will be A LOT of negative publicity about the UFC when many big names of the past go broke. As scummy as the WWE was for decades, they still do pay for their former talent's drug rehabilitation programs and have made strides to make wrestling safer as has the NFL for its athletes... will the UFC follow suit? Probably not until it's too late.

Chris Benoit's murder suicide nearly ended professional wrestling... it is doubtful that MMA would survive a similar scandal; especially considering the major players in the popularization of MMA have already cashed out and Dana White seems to be planning his retirement as well.

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

Entire World: Watches elite fighters like Khabib dominate the entire sport without developing a well rounded skillset, and instead dominate through specialization.

OP: Everyone seems to be getting more well rounded.

Well I believe the skill set of fighters is rounding out more than it ever before, don't you agree? Regardless of what nation is dominating the sport right now.

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

Entire World: Watches elite fighters like Khabib dominate the entire sport without developing a well rounded skillset, and instead dominate through specialization.

OP: Everyone seems to be getting more well rounded.

And were talking about entertainment, not who's dominating the sport.

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

Why are poll options always consistently terrible on Sherdog?

With that being said, I vote for MMA not being around in 15 years. We will see an epidemic of CTE related scandals in the future and IMO the sport will undergo a steep decline in popularity as a result. Think that legends like Minotauro Nogueira and Wanderlei Silva are not even 50 years old yet... we haven't even begun to see the long term effects of a career in MMA.

Also, considering how poorly MMA fighters are paid, there will be A LOT of negative publicity about the UFC when many big names of the past go broke. As scummy as the WWE was for decades, they still do pay for their former talent's drug rehabilitation programs and have made strides to make wrestling safer as has the NFL for its athletes... will the UFC? Probably not until it's too late.

Chris Benoit's murder suicide nearly ended professional wrestling... it is doubtful that MMA would survive a similar scandal; especially considering the major players in the popularization of MMA have already cashed out and Dana White seems to be planning his retirement as well.

lol that is a slight on me, that's all good. I still love you man.

 

[theincognito]

Yes they will always have a very boring fight here and there as well a very entertaining fight. But overall do you think the entertainment value of MMA will still be up to par? Or will it be less entertaining?

I don't know about your explanation of a great fight of years past to now. I think some past fights are just as entertaining as the ones now or even more so. Depends on the individual who's watching.

But I think it's subjective the appeal of what a great fight is or more like an entertaining fight is.

A great fight is a highly competitive one with a lot of action. Though similar fights stylistically, I find Royval vs. Van pretty objectively better than Griffin vs. Bonnar as their skill levels were infinitely higher. That is what will continue to improve.

Entertainment is more subjective. To some, Tank Abbott ragdolling that dude against the cage might be peak entertainment. To others, it could be someone like GSP pitching a shutout.

 

[mkt]

Fighters are getting a lot more well rounded and have more complete skill sets.

Will that make it less likely to be entertaining because both combatants are so good at their craft?

Basically will fighters cancel each other out?

Or there will still entertaining fights no matter what. Because there still be variables and weaknesses people can exploit in a fight?

Everyone has a weakness, you just have to figure out what it is and take advantage of it.

Obviously, there will be no perfect fighter, just like there is no perfect human.

So the unpredictability will still exists imo.

Interesting abou the "Tough Guys" ban. I saw one old news clip about it (from 1979 I think). It was cool but I thought it was just a one-time event. I didn't realize they started to organize it.

There was also this event in Hong Kong in 1981. I don't know if there were others. The ref tried to stand them up when they hit the ground, but they often fought for a while. And evidently soccer kicks were legal. This fight is between Ron Van Clief (who fought Royce Gracie 13 years later in his 50s) and a Yuguslavian dude.

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

A great fight is a highly competitive one with a lot of action. Though similar fights stylistically, I find Royval vs. Van pretty objectively better than Griffin vs. Bonnar as their skill levels were infinitely higher. That is what will continue to improve.

Entertainment is more subjective. To some, Tank Abbott ragdolling that dude against the cage might be peak entertainment. To others, it could be someone like GSP pitching a shutout.

I agree with you about a great fight. But entertainment is subjective when it all comes down to it. I've seen less skilled fighters in a great competitive fight and it was highly entertaining. It depends really.

 

[Neck&Neck]

MMA will be retired by then
But there will be a new sport, probably some type of hybrid between UFC and Soccer that will achieve World Domination

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

MMA will be retired by then
But there will be a new sport, probably some type of hybrid between UFC and Soccer that will achieve World Domination

lol

 

[SamuraiBro]

MMA will be outlawed one day with further studies on CTE in combat sports.

 

[theincognito]

And to the point, I think fighters are already canceling each other out. That really has been going on forever. It's the origin of the two wrestlers standing thing.

Innovation in the sport is also quite slow. It took forever for someone to figure out that the cage is good for aiding takedown defense. Now everyone does it. Calf kicks weren't a thing all that long ago. Now everyone does them. Still to this day, no one wrestles like GSP even though he was the most successful MMA wrestler of all time. And so many other possible innovative styles and techniques that we haven't even seen yet. The sport is unlikely to reach its final form in any of our lifetimes.

 

[AmonTobin]

In 15 years we could have mma events on the moon, in 1/6 of earth’s gravity. That sounds exciting. In 15 years the world could also be intractably at war, and in no state to hold sports events like mma contests.

 

[prime_lobov]

It’ll be interesting to see Ilia Touria’s enormous cock after he leaks nudes while high on cocaine in the midst of sexual assault allegations. Also after Powerslap merges with the UFC we’ll see a lot of great slappers become UFC champs, similar to when WEC and Strikeforce were acquired.

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

MMA will be retired by then
But there will be a new sport, probably some type of hybrid between UFC and Soccer that will achieve World Domination

I'd love it if someone could invent a universal football code, NFL, soccer, Aussie Rules, the rugby codes, would be awesome

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

Everything plateaued 10+ years ago already both commercially and in terms of technical skills. It will just fluctuate between hotter years and cooler ones as it has done. Nothing major is going to change other than perhaps the UFC will get some real competition at some point.

 

[Hymen Crusher]

Sports way to cookie cutter. Dana's plan was to normalize it like a regular sport so it could be packaged and sold like the big sports. A sports league is what we are watching now. There used to be characters who were unique. So many of these fighters are boring or try hards. We will hopefully get some character again.