Promoting smaller fighters or wasteland fodder

[TX Fighter]

Most peope dont care who the best fighter is at 125 lbs. Thats tiny.

Even if MM fought Ray Lewis and won, most would always prefer to see MM vs a 205er than MM vs another 125er

 

[Inashikacho]

Ronda is in the heaviest WMMA class. Conor is tall for the division.

145 is the heaviest weight-class in WMMA, not 135, which is what Ronda competes at in the UFC.

But most importantly he does not fight like a manlet who jump all over the place and land hundreds of shots without any damage. His striking is very effective and powerful.

Part of Conor's appeal is his fighting style, but the most important aspect of his appeal though, is that he's the most interesting, controversial, and entertaining personality in combat sports right now alongside Rousey, and Mayweather. If Conor Mcgregor had Cain Velasquez's personality, he would not have been setting records for viewership ratings, ppvs, live gate, nor would he be getting all this coverage.

There are a lot of active fighters at 170lbs and above that have entertaining fighting styles, like Chris Weidman, Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos, Anthony Johnson, Robbie Lawler, Matt Brown, Carlos Condit, Yoel Romero, etc... the list goes on and on, but none of those guys are even half as popular as Ronda/Conor because they all lack the rare combo of charisma, and attitude that is most important to attract the attention of the masses. This isn't the 20's-90's anymore, mainstream audiences are attracted to fighters who have personalities that are larger than life, as much, if not more their fighting style.

 

[llama de lrey]

Just wait, the UFC will be coming out with an 80 lbs. division. Midget UFC main events, here we come...

 

[jamiehunter]

You're right, women are indeed held to a different standard than men - people cared EVEN LESS about WMMA and women's combat sport in general than the smallest male divisions until Ronda came along. There were far prettier fighters before her and there will be far prettier fighters after her, men or women, so the appearance argument is complete BS.



First of all, you need to learn how to argue. The OP says people don't care about smaller men. Nowhere does it say it's relative to refs. Completely changing the argument means you're full of shit. Secondly, have you seen McGregor next to some of the bigger refs like Herb, Big John or Big Dan?

McGregor is a tiny man who is very insecure about his small stature, that's why he postures up all the time and derides midgets who're even smaller than he is every chance he gets. That did not stop him from becoming one of the biggest names in the UFC in no time. Ronda Rousey is a pudgy butterfaced 5'7" chick who entered the sport when WMMA wasn't even in the UFC and was (still is) seen as the sideshow inside a fringe sport. Didn't stop her from becoming the biggest star in the UFC.

Mayweather, the biggest combat athlete in the world, the highest paid athlete in the world by a wide margin, is a tiny midget who constantly gets dwarfed by the people around him. Didn't stop him from becoming who he is.

Size has nothing to do with anything, stop using it as BS excuse.

Curious as to why you always insult Ronda's looks. She fuck your man too?

 

[Bill Parcells]

Louie

A. Ronda is attractive to most men. It's silly think otherwise. They're hiring porno stunt doubles for her for God's sake. Whether she is less pretty than others isn't the point. She's skilled and pretty and than matters. How is that even debatable?

B. Take it easy, Turbo. I don't need to learn how to argue. I'm not trying to argue. I don't know what this place has become, but once upon a time you could just have a discussion.

C. Maybe Johnson doesn't have the innate gift of power. He's still wildly effective. Let's say you had a son who wanted to play baseball but he didn't have the power to hit home runs, would you discourage him from playing?

Anyway Louie, you seem to be one nasty combative little man. I was merely asking how to promote someone that seems currently unpromotable. He isn't going to magically develop a fighting style like McGreggor with his body type, nor should he have to.

Anyway, this thread completely derailed from what I intended. Basically, you've got a pack of short guys running around. How do you make the public care?

For starters, those weight classes should have smaller referees. But what would be wrong with putting on a freak show fight to get the public's interest? And could Mighty Mouse win it?

And Louie, if you want to continue spitting venom on an internet forum as an outlet of your frustration with your life, please let me save you the trouble. I concede all of your points and you are right about everything. You piss excellence and you won life. If you'd like to have a discussion, not an argument, I'd love to hear from you.

 

[Fight Professor]

145 is the heaviest weight-class in WMMA, not 135, which is what Ronda competes at in the UFC.

Are you saying she should quit UFC and join Invicta?

 

[Bill Parcells]

145 is the heaviest weight-class in WMMA, not 135, which is what Ronda competes at in the UFC.



Part of Conor's appeal is his fighting style, but the most important aspect of his appeal though, is that he's the most interesting, controversial, and entertaining personality in combat sports right now alongside Rousey, and Mayweather. If Conor Mcgregor had Cain Velasquez's personality, he would not have been setting records for viewership ratings, ppvs, live gate, nor would he be getting all this coverage.

There are a lot of active fighters at 170lbs and above that have entertaining fighting styles, like Chris Weidman, Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos, Anthony Johnson, Robbie Lawler, Matt Brown, Carlos Condit, Yoel Romero, etc... the list goes on and on, but none of those guys are even half as popular as Ronda/Conor because they all lack the rare combo of charisma, and attitude that is most important to attract the attention of the masses. This isn't the 20's-90's anymore, mainstream audiences are attracted to fighters who have personalities that are larger than life, as much, if not more their fighting style.

I think you're splitting hairs on your first point, but you're right. Fighters need to do a better job of promoting themselves.

 

[Bill Parcells]

Just wait, the UFC will be coming out with an 80 lbs. division. Midget UFC main events, here we come...

You seem like a happy, well adjusted person. If you and Louie had a kid you could name him 'Optimism'.

You do realize that Dodson and Johnson had nothing to do with their height and other genetic qualities, don't you? Nor did you or I. So how can you speak about traits that someone was born with with such contempt?

Someday, when you don't live with your parents any more, you may have a child with a disability. Would you want internet trolls, like you, to criticize your child for something that they had nothing to do with?

Anyway, rather than run your mouth about nonsense why don't you contribute to the discussion in a fruitful manner? Or... why don't you start a thread titled. "I hate my life and I'm going to spew my discontent at strangers on the internet"? That could be like... your blog. What do you say, Sport?

 

[lifelessheap]

The 2 biggest names in the UFC right now fight out of the 2nd and 3rd smallest divisions.

Your argument is therefore BS. People don't care about Mighty Mouse not because he's small. People don't care about him because he's boring on all levels. He could be Cain-sized and he'd still be selling sub-200K PPVs. Heck Cain himself is selling 1/3rd Ronda PPV numbers.

People care about names, personalities and fight styles. I love watching Dodson fight even though he is a manlet. Same with JoeB.

 

[CTYankee]

Quit with this crap. MM finishing 3 of his last 5 championship fights is plenty impressive. GSP had a lot of decisions, but far fewer people shit all over him for it. I just don't get this bias from alleged MMA fans toward the smaller fighters. There seems to be much more at play that creates that bias.

GSP got shit on for decisions more than anyone else.

 

[Unibroue]

Japan has already done that in some ways, and still do. Weren't many HWs in Pride pro wrestlers with little MMA experience?

 

[DaGenius]

It definitely was. But pretty much everyone stepped up their game due to promotion Conor created.

Damn yall giving him a bit too much props with this. Conor did fine but he's not raising the level of other people's game.

 

[Inashikacho]

I think you're splitting hairs on your first point, but you're right. Fighters need to do a better job of promoting themselves.

Getting weight-classes correct is not splitting hairs, especially in this type of discussion.

Fighters being an interesting personality in front of the camera is the most critical aspect of marketing a fighter can do. Winning fights in impressive fashion is great, but there are tons of guys regardless of weight that get don't get their deserved buzz because they are deficient at being an interesting personality. Wladimir Klitchko is the heavyweight champ who has a 83% ko rate compared to Mayweather's 54%, yet he will never be as popular as him.

If a fighter can do it well enough, their weight class holds no relevance to how popular they can be. Not everyone is gonna be as popular as Conor Mcgregor, but they could be on par with the likes of Chael Sonnen, Donald Cerrone, Rampage Jackson, Tito Ortiz, or the Diaz brothers.

 

[LouisBolanos]

Louie

A. Ronda is attractive to most men. It's silly think otherwise. They're hiring porno stunt doubles for her for God's sake. Whether she is less pretty than others isn't the point. She's skilled and pretty and than matters. How is that even debatable?

You don't speak for most men, dummy. I know an ignoramus like you might find this hard to believe, but over half the world's population don't even have internet access, and the vast majority of human males on planet earth don't even know who Ronda Rousey is, so you can quit your BS hyperbole.

B. Take it easy, Turbo. I don't need to learn how to argue. I'm not trying to argue. I don't know what this place has become, but once upon a time you could just have a discussion.

Right, you're not here to argue. You're just here to get passive aggressive after getting your BS called out and running out of arguments.

C. Maybe Johnson doesn't have the innate gift of power. He's still wildly effective. Let's say you had a son who wanted to play baseball but he didn't have the power to hit home runs, would you discourage him from playing?

I'll say it again: learn how to argue. Your original post was about physical size. Now you're changing it to some other bullshit, the "innate gift of power". Non-sequitur much? Oh you want to talk about the gift of power? Do you know who else lacks the "innate gift of power"? Floyd $350 million/year Mayweather. Do you know who hits like a sissy compared to Rumble? Jones. He even said it himself. Guess how many more PPV buys DC vs. Jones sold compared to DC vs. Rumble? How stupid do you feel right now?

Anyway, this thread completely derailed from what I intended. Basically, you've got a pack of short guys running around. How do you make the public care?

Again, them being short has jack all to do with the public not caring about them. The biggest combat athletes in the world right now is a 5'8" 147 lbs manlet, the biggest UFC star right now is a 5'7" 135 lbs chicklet. Learn to read and use your brain.

For starters, those weight classes should have smaller referees. But what would be wrong with putting on a freak show fight to get the public's interest? And could Mighty Mouse win it?

So according to you, if Conor got reffed by a smaller ref like Yves instead of Herb or big John, he'd have gotten more PPV buys? Damn, the UFC really dropped the ball on Rousey vs. Bethe by putting big John in there! Are you really this stupid? I guess you are, given that you're actually calling for cross-weight-class freakshow David vs. Goliath fights. You really are living in your own fantasy world, aren't you?

And Louie, if you want to continue spitting venom on an internet forum as an outlet of your frustration with your life, please let me save you the trouble. I concede all of your points and you are right about everything. You piss excellence and you won life. If you'd like to have a discussion, not an argument, I'd love to hear from you.

And you should try harder with your garden-variety passive aggressiveness, because it's laughable. You said MM is unpromotable due to his small stature. I exposed your bullshit by pointing towards some of the biggest names in combat who are manlets. That's the bottom line. Go cry in a corner or something.