Lose three fights in a row? Your job is safe. Bigger roster! Sign of weekly events?

What I kind of think this is ultimately coming down to (and I hope it actually does) is a weekly night of UFC fights. They're signing people left and right at the moment and cutting way less fighters. I remember them saying they wanted an all UFC TV channel at one point.

Sounds to me like they're aiming for an every Friday night fights kind of thing in the long run on say FX or Fuel, which would work in my opinion.

While everyone here has seen the Hardy treatment where a nationality can almost always be certain your contract is safe regardless how many times you lose in a row. Or maybe the Garcia treatment where your fighting style entertains the fans more than enough to keep your contract safe regardless how many L's you have received in a row.

But UFC/Zuffa's most recent contract policy seems to be leaning more towards keeping every fighter rather than cutting them. When was the last time you've heard of a fighter being cut off of one/two losses? Hell, have you even heard of a fighter being cut since the Damarques Johnson/Rich Attonito story?

Dave Herman has lost 3 fights in a row, all finishes and looked terrible in his last outing. And the only fight he's won in the octagon is a fight he was nearly stopped himself.

Others that have lost their last 3: Kyle Kingsbury, Fabio Maldonado, Alessio Sakara, 'Bang' Ludwig, 'Kid' Yamamoto etc.

This is a great sign for things to come in my opinion. Many guys used to be cut coming off of two losses regardless if you was exciting or not, some guys even only one loss.

But now a days, since the new divisions it seems have been put in place in the UFC, it's very rarely a fighter is cut. Even unknown fighters who have lost two in a row right now have been given passses, when in the past, it was almost certain that you was getting cut off of one or two losses. Very rarely was a fighter staying after two straight losses, here's guys who have lost two in a row and are still on the roster: Keith Wisniewski, David Mitchell, Papy Abedi, Kenny Robertson, Nick Penner, Chad Griggs, Shane Del Rosario, Christian Morecraft, John Cofer, Mitch Clarke, Joey Gambino, Byron Bloodworth etc.

I like this new ruling they have in place here. It gives fighters they have on the roster much more of a chance to show what they are really worth and made out of. And even if you have octagon jitters in your debut, you can make up for it in your next two fights without the fear of being cut. Mind you, the UFC can cut a fighter at any time, even coming off of a win but this is quality of the UFC not to cut fighters on losing streaks anymore or at least as much as they did.

Not to mention, they're signing fighters left and right. Strikeforce fighters all coming over, woman's fighters, BW, FLW, FW fighters all being signed. Prospects from all over the world are currently coming over. Seems to me like they have something massive in the works here that they aren't telling us about.

 

It's simply a matter of keeping the better/more entertaining fighter. If you're getting cut, there has to be some sort of replacement. If there's no obvious choice to replace you, you aren't gonna get cut.

Simple as that.

 

As long as you are exciting and come to fight..

If you wall and stall you better be ready to be cut at the first loss !

 

its like pokemon for Dana now

buy every organisation. gotta catch em all.

 

yes, but does this mean that the overall level of the UFC will drop? sense now it seems that you dont have to win fights but just put on performances.

 

Depends on the fighter. I'm pretty sure I heard Dana say recently that there was someone he'd like to cut on a win.

 

The UFC needs fighters for all of their events. With the added fox, fuel and fx shows the UFC needs a bigger roster to fill these shows. Exciting fighters aren't getting cut as quickly as before.

 

Dana has always said he's in the business of making fights people want to see, people wanna see scraps.

 

If they only can afford it, I definitely like such approach more.

Solid '2nd league' is always healthy for match-ups - bunch of fighters who had lost a lot recently, but still are very obviously skilled.

It quite obviously produces better fights in many cases - not long ago many fighters were coming up with some painfully careful and point-oriented gameplans. To try to ensure squeaking out a win and avoid getting cut.

 

Bingo. Think about how many shows they are putting on now. I think they hit 31 for 2012? As opposed to 26 in 2011 and 23 in 2010.

Sure, these guys are losing fights. However, most of them are still decent fighters and put on fights worth watching. When they are averaging 10+ fights on each card, they need a little filler.

 

Why is it so important to people that a fighter gets cut if he loses a few? I don

 

Talk about cutting, why was Junior Assuncao cut?

 

This...

I like this new approach honestly..

 

If the fighters who go balls out never get cut win or lose, it'll set a good precedent. It'll send a message. Lnp won't be tolerated

 

Yes, Garcia is being kept around because of his nationality. We really need him to appeal to the....American fan base.

 

Someone has to fight in the prelims, preferably a stand-and-bang fighter.

 

Lol good spotting. I meant to part him in the second part (which I've done now).

 

And yet, lots of posters can't make the mental connection as to how this leads to watered-down cards.


Hmmm...more events, more fighters, fighters on losing streaks who would have been cut in the past are being retained to fill up these cards...nope, I can't see how that dilutes the quality at all.

 

they need more fighters now compared to before esp that they have fox, fuel and fx. plus more shows outside of the USA. plus replacements if there are injuries

 

first of all, UFC is being smart.
They cut someone, that guy goes to the competition.

However, UFC operates more as a mom&pop shop. The rules are made up as they go.

Maldonado could be cut for his losses. But would you cut after his gutsy ass wooping? I don't think so. He got more fans in his loss than he would in a normal win.

Same with other guys.

The landscape is changing. UFC is still growing and at some point, they will have to make a decision. Either put more shows to accommodate his huge roster, or cut people. Because there will not be events enough for all. Specially when all SF fighters joins into UFC.

They could put more shows, but people would not pay for more PPV's. As it is, there is already too many PPV's for this economy.

IMO UFC is trying to perform 2 shows at the same day. Like they did in Australia & US. That can work, but at some point they will saturate their own market, which is not a good thing.


MMA is an organic business. IMO they were doing the right things with their 3 losses = cut policy.
They always had the exceptions for exciting fighters that they should absolutely maintain.
Exciting fighters are always better than boring winning fighters, and this is one way to force fighters to be exciting.