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I always hear this discussed and obviously we as fans evaluate this differently as opinions vary wildly, so I'm curious to hear your guys opinions, to share mine and discuss each other's.
So for me the old rhetoric of "you can't rate a card until you watch it" is so stupid it makes me wince with anger a bit. Finishes? Not terribly important to me either, there's Great fighters that end in decision and horrible fights that have a finish. Also of course you need to be able to preemptively evaluate cards to decide if it's worth your time or money. What do I look for to evaluate what a good card is? Typically if 50% of the fights peak my interest that's huge. I also want relevance, that can be compelling well matched fights, it can be showcase fights for surging prospects, it can be fights by ranked guys vs other ranked guys or a guy who's climbing the ranks with real promise outside the rankings. It's prospects with meaningful potential and it's guys who have unique and elite skillsets. I dont care if it's big or small divisions.
Finishes ? Of course skill and talent and relevance matter a ton more otherwise all the casual toothless goofs wouldn't watch the UFC, they'd watch amateur cards where guys haven't learned defense and every fight ends in a finish. So fuck that metric. The caliber of fighter in the UFC overall had gotten worse so fight cards are consistently pretty bad to me, I rarely watch live cards anymore. I also don't care for women's fights, I use those as breaks to shit, get food, cook, run to a corner store or whatever. I also don't care about old names that are washed...I have no interest in the husk of Stephen Thompson anymore win or lose. Fat heavyweights? Count me out, Rozenstruik vs Tybura? I'd rather take a nap.
So yeah, i like high level stuff, that doesn't mean it's gotta be top 10 guys but skilled guys, guys who's careers have potential and questions to be answered still, guys who are ranked, guys trying to make it into title pictures, exciting prospects, great athletes, great technicians, even guys with specifically elite skillsets...I never thought Brad Riddell to be any good and Dober never had the makings to be top 20 good...but that's a fight where you got to see a very high level exchange of skills in a specific aspect so that has value. Excitement to me is a bonus, excitement doesn't always come from high impact nonstop action...I'm not interested in watching BSD constantly go to war and show no development in using his face to constantly block strikes its actually disappointing and boring after years go by and you realize he will never capitalize on his potential or learn.
Anyways, that's what I value and how I evaluate cards and fights. How do you guys? I'd say 70% of most UFC cards these days I have no interest in, but I'm not less interested in the sport.
So for me the old rhetoric of "you can't rate a card until you watch it" is so stupid it makes me wince with anger a bit. Finishes? Not terribly important to me either, there's Great fighters that end in decision and horrible fights that have a finish. Also of course you need to be able to preemptively evaluate cards to decide if it's worth your time or money. What do I look for to evaluate what a good card is? Typically if 50% of the fights peak my interest that's huge. I also want relevance, that can be compelling well matched fights, it can be showcase fights for surging prospects, it can be fights by ranked guys vs other ranked guys or a guy who's climbing the ranks with real promise outside the rankings. It's prospects with meaningful potential and it's guys who have unique and elite skillsets. I dont care if it's big or small divisions.
Finishes ? Of course skill and talent and relevance matter a ton more otherwise all the casual toothless goofs wouldn't watch the UFC, they'd watch amateur cards where guys haven't learned defense and every fight ends in a finish. So fuck that metric. The caliber of fighter in the UFC overall had gotten worse so fight cards are consistently pretty bad to me, I rarely watch live cards anymore. I also don't care for women's fights, I use those as breaks to shit, get food, cook, run to a corner store or whatever. I also don't care about old names that are washed...I have no interest in the husk of Stephen Thompson anymore win or lose. Fat heavyweights? Count me out, Rozenstruik vs Tybura? I'd rather take a nap.
So yeah, i like high level stuff, that doesn't mean it's gotta be top 10 guys but skilled guys, guys who's careers have potential and questions to be answered still, guys who are ranked, guys trying to make it into title pictures, exciting prospects, great athletes, great technicians, even guys with specifically elite skillsets...I never thought Brad Riddell to be any good and Dober never had the makings to be top 20 good...but that's a fight where you got to see a very high level exchange of skills in a specific aspect so that has value. Excitement to me is a bonus, excitement doesn't always come from high impact nonstop action...I'm not interested in watching BSD constantly go to war and show no development in using his face to constantly block strikes its actually disappointing and boring after years go by and you realize he will never capitalize on his potential or learn.
Anyways, that's what I value and how I evaluate cards and fights. How do you guys? I'd say 70% of most UFC cards these days I have no interest in, but I'm not less interested in the sport.
