Favorite fighters dwindling, falling out of love with MMA?

[Redhawks100]

Oh, it's this thread again.

 

[kimocomplex]

it sounds like you love certain fighters, not mma

as for me, i can truly say that i love combat sports. that is boxing, mma, wrestling, kickboxing etc...

 

[Glove]

I believe one of the main problems is that Zuffa has saturated us with many events per month/year that we are seeing too many lackluster matches. It is quite rare to see a Lawler/MacDonald match, thus why matches like that stand out.

 

[MMA]

They that depends doesn't it? if the guy who beat your favourite entertaining? if the sport as a whole becomes less interesting to watch by interest in it will obviously decline.

That's a good point but it's pretty much objectively true that MMA is more exciting than ever. You don't have many grindy wrestlers in the top 5 in any division. Actually, I can't think of any Jon Fitch type fighters in the top 5 of any division right now. 95% of the roster are fighters I'd call entertaining, and some of the top stars are among the most exciting fighters in the sport's history.

I feel like guys don't like certain fighters because of their personalities, or because they beat a guy who they like. Both reasons are retarded IMO. Neither has anything to do with excitement. I mean, for example, nobody hates Rockhold because he's boring. They hate him because he's a dick who beat Machida.

 

[BWC]

So I've been thinking about this since Robbie Lawler was one punch KO'd the other night - Am I falling out of love with the sport of MMA?

Now I don't mean to sound like a brat over this, but seriously think about this...

I'm a die-hard Liverpool FC fan, always will be - even if we were in the Conference. But seriously, years and years of irrelevant seasons with no title contention - alongside a lack of competitiveness in the cup tournaments just drives the love out of me. I see the same 2-3 teams every year in the title race, or the Champions League final - it's fucking boring to me.

Now take this to MMA.

95% of fights, I just genuinely don't give a fuck about anymore. UFC do a disgraceful job of promoting fighters and that is constantly proven by P4P greats like Lawler and Demetrious being completely ignored. Never mind if I'm trying to get into a new up and comer.

So, that day comes along where one of my favorite fighters are fighting, and they lose - they don't just lose, they get absolutely obliterated. Examples: Shogun against Jones, Lawler against Woodley, Werdum against Miocic.

It's part of the sport, I get that, but with all this PED shit and all these "elite" fighters losing constantly, alongside most of them being my favorite fighters - I'm kind of getting sick of it.

I'll always love MMA, but I'm not sure if it's the same feeling for it anymore.

Am I alone on this?

It's always going to be the problem with the UFC model. No one stays unbeaten for any length of time so fights never "marinate" like they do in boxing. By the time the really big fights get made its a 15-4 guy vs a 18-5 guy and they've both been brutally destroyed at least once.

Like it or not, fighting relies on a certain aura of invulnerability to truly thrive (Tyson, Ali v Frazier, Rousey, Anderson, GSP, etc)

 

[Rob_M.]

I still love MMA. The only thing I hate about it is the hype machine junk (i.e. McGregor, Ronda, Lesnar) and the favoritism. UFC going WWE on us, undeserved title shots, had me not wanting to watch anymore. After Ronda losing and McGregor finally getting the smack down I feel like it's leveling off and I can watch fighters rise and fall by winning and losing, not by what the UFC says.

 

[TallGHunter]

I have to admit, I'm losing interest. I really liked Robby being Champ as we were both mfs, I like the Diaz bros because they're badass, but basically everyone is so well rounded today that the best athlete wins. no longer about who mastered their particular martial art and can impose it. It's so blended up no one is particularly special.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

I dont have anywhere close to as many favourites/heroes as I did 5-10 years ago.

That era of great fighters and big characters has not been replaced at all.

Exactly this.

Where are the Rampage's and the Shogun's?

You get behind a vibrant exciting kid like Aljamain, next thing he's getting wrestlefucked by a shit fighter and the hype and excitement is just sucked out of you.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

Shit thread from a fair weather fan. Fuck off, mma doesn't care about u.

How many UFC events have you attended may I ask?

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

That's a good point but it's pretty much objectively true that MMA is more exciting than ever. You don't have many grindy wrestlers in the top 5 in any division. Actually, I can't think of any Jon Fitch type fighters in the top 5 of any division right now. 95% of the roster are fighters I'd call entertaining, and some of the top stars are among the most exciting fighters in the sport's history.

I feel like guys don't like certain fighters because of their personalities, or because they beat a guy who they like. Both reasons are retarded IMO. Neither has anything to do with excitement. I mean, for example, nobody hates Rockhold because he's boring. They hate him because he's a dick who beat Machida.

I can name you a grindy wrestler in the top 5.

Khabib.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

it sounds like you love certain fighters, not mma

as for me, i can truly say that i love combat sports. that is boxing, mma, wrestling, kickboxing etc...

You don't love watching Blaydes vs Ngannou as much as Lawler and Hendricks - you simply don't.

Relevancy and stakes matter more.

Fighter A vs Fighter B is not what we tune in for.

 

[Kelman]

Exactly this.

Where are the Rampage's and the Shogun's?

You get behind a vibrant exciting kid like Aljamain, next thing he's getting wrestlefucked by a shit fighter and the hype and excitement is just sucked out of you.

Agree.

I can't decide if people are just more bland now, or if the UFC have tried to crush individuality out of the game.

10-15 years ago we had Wanderlei and Sakuraba, and now we have Demetrious Johnson and Stipe Miocic.

The quality of fighter hasn't dipped, but the charisma and magnetism sure as hell has.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

7 full months, wow, such an achievement.

Do you want a brohug on your way out?

Yeah, because joining a forum obviously means I started watching MMA on that date, yeah.

Because the first day you ever watch Baseball, you then decide to sign up for a Baseball forum - right?

Ya fucking goof.

 

[Sampsonsimpson]

I have a book recommendation for you TS. It's called Getting Over Your Favorite Fighter Being KOed for Dummies. I picked it up after Anderson lost to Weidman and it's done me right.

 

[basementdweller]

Exactly this.

Where are the Rampage's and the Shogun's?

You get behind a vibrant exciting kid like Aljamain, next thing he's getting wrestlefucked by a shit fighter and the hype and excitement is just sucked out of you.

aljamain fought poorly. never seen his striking so over the place, although of course caraway had something to do with it. if the fun is being sucked out of you by a single loss, then the hype wasn't well placed to begin with... I think something needs to be done with 3 5 minute rounds though. it's easy enough to create a boring gameplan or make a fight boring if all you have to do is win 2 rounds. the UFC and fans are actively pushing against that, but very often especially the gyms are more concerned with having all their fighters win first and foremost. so you have a fight like alvey vs theodorou, one is a very interesting prospect and alvey is very exciting to watch, but tristar makes up a gameplan where theodorou keeps the entire fight at kicking range and alvey isn't good enough to do shit about that. it absolutely kills it for me.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

Agree.

I can't decide if people are just more bland now, or if the UFC have tried to crush individuality out of the game.

10-15 years ago we had Wanderlei and Sakuraba, and now we have Demetrious Johnson and Stipe Miocic.

The quality of fighter hasn't dipped, but the charisma and magnetism sure as hell has.

Exactly correct, if anything the fighters are better.

Issue I have is I feel like I'm watching sparring matches most of the time. These guys just aren't brutal enough for me, it's not "fighting" anymore. I know I sound very JBG, but technique leading to damage is what we get up and cheer for. Look at Michael Page, it's the combination of the brutality alongside the technique involved that has you in awe.

I'll give you a great example right:

Edson Barboza vs Gilbert Melendez.

A true fighter goes out in that 3rd round and kicks the living shit out of Gils' legs and tries for the finish, or at least at an attempt to put on a show for the fans. Nope, not Edson, he just prances around in a circle so he can get the W - shit makes me sick.

I cannot remember one fight in PRIDE where a guy won the first 6 minutes and just coasted the rest of the way. I even struggle to remember it happening in high profile UFC fights prior to UFC 100.

I also agree on the personality flaws, it's like the UFC just want you to be "part of the team" like NFL players are kept in line with all the team policies.

Reebok and just general censorship of individuality seems to have hurt the characters.

Let me see Rick Story knock someone out and then lick their blood off of his gloves on FOX and not get fined.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

aljamain fought poorly. never seen his striking so over the place, although of course caraway had something to do with it. if the fun is being sucked out of you by a single loss, then the hype wasn't well placed to begin with... I think something needs to be done with 3 5 minute rounds though. it's easy enough to create a boring gameplan or make a fight boring if all you have to do is win 2 rounds. the UFC and fans are actively pushing against that, but very often especially the gyms are more concerned with having all their fighters win first and foremost. so you have a fight like alvey vs theodorou, one is a very interesting prospect and alvey is very exciting to watch, but tristar makes up a gameplan where theodorou keeps the entire fight at kicking range and alvey isn't good enough to do shit about that. it absolutely kills it for me.

Totally agree with the round set up, you see stalling and such almost every fight now!

In PRIDE you were forced to push the action because of the officiating and the rule-set.

UFC don't seem to realize that the product is declining in quality.

 

[The Adder]

So I've been thinking about this since Robbie Lawler was one punch KO'd the other night - Am I falling out of love with the sport of MMA?

Now I don't mean to sound like a brat over this, but seriously think about this...

I'm a die-hard Liverpool FC fan, always will be - even if we were in the Conference. But seriously, years and years of irrelevant seasons with no title contention - alongside a lack of competitiveness in the cup tournaments just drives the love out of me. I see the same 2-3 teams every year in the title race, or the Champions League final - it's fucking boring to me.

Now take this to MMA.

95% of fights, I just genuinely don't give a fuck about anymore. UFC do a disgraceful job of promoting fighters and that is constantly proven by P4P greats like Lawler and Demetrious being completely ignored. Never mind if I'm trying to get into a new up and comer.

So, that day comes along where one of my favorite fighters are fighting, and they lose - they don't just lose, they get absolutely obliterated. Examples: Shogun against Jones, Lawler against Woodley, Werdum against Miocic.

It's part of the sport, I get that, but with all this PED shit and all these "elite" fighters losing constantly, alongside most of them being my favorite fighters - I'm kind of getting sick of it.

I'll always love MMA, but I'm not sure if it's the same feeling for it anymore.

Am I alone on this?

Most mma fans are nut huggers. You are not alone.

 

[Dead Kennedy]

I never loved MMA, I just fucked it on the side

 

[Davey Crockett]

So I've been thinking about this since Robbie Lawler was one punch KO'd the other night - Am I falling out of love with the sport of MMA?

Now I don't mean to sound like a brat over this, but seriously think about this...

I'm a die-hard Liverpool FC fan, always will be - even if we were in the Conference. But seriously, years and years of irrelevant seasons with no title contention - alongside a lack of competitiveness in the cup tournaments just drives the love out of me. I see the same 2-3 teams every year in the title race, or the Champions League final - it's fucking boring to me.

Now take this to MMA.

95% of fights, I just genuinely don't give a fuck about anymore. UFC do a disgraceful job of promoting fighters and that is constantly proven by P4P greats like Lawler and Demetrious being completely ignored. Never mind if I'm trying to get into a new up and comer.

So, that day comes along where one of my favorite fighters are fighting, and they lose - they don't just lose, they get absolutely obliterated. Examples: Shogun against Jones, Lawler against Woodley, Werdum against Miocic.

It's part of the sport, I get that, but with all this PED shit and all these "elite" fighters losing constantly, alongside most of them being my favorite fighters - I'm kind of getting sick of it.

I'll always love MMA, but I'm not sure if it's the same feeling for it anymore.

Am I alone on this?

I used to go the game when we were managed by Roy Hodgson, one of our darkest periods in recent times. Sure I wasn't alive for our glory days in the early 80's but it's not that hard to be a Liverpool fan these days, you can feel the optimism. As for your post, this is something I've been feeling for some time now, I can draw it back all to way to Liddel's retirement.