I find these to be the worst: "X can't finish fights." be they flyweights or women. "X is overrated" or "X was exposed by Y"
"Don't leave it in the hands of the judges" isn't a dumb cliche, it's a real thang. Doesn't matter what the problem is, you just shouldn't cause there's a chance you can get screwed. Even boxing judges, who have judged boxing forever, get shit wrong.
eye pokes, fish hooks. i think small digit manipulation. if memory serves me correctly, there were 7 rules, though i could be wrong. i'll look it up when i get bored. EDIT: according to http://www.mmaforum.com/ufc/37410-evolution-ufc-rules.html (and several other outlets, but this one is the most clear), it was only biting & eye gouging. and of course throwing in the towel (yes, the rules used to say "if you throw in the towel you get DQ'd" and they called it a rule lol - lately they cahnged it to "Interference from a mixed martial artist's cornerman"). don't know where i got the 7 from. i coulda sworn no fish hooking was in UFC 1....
"Im in the best shape of my life, i've never felt better" and after that fight you hear the fighter fought injured or something....TITO
now, about "bad for the sport", i agree with you. the ONLY thing that ever turned away any of my friends was the back-to-back Kimbo fights (Seth and James); they decided the sport was fixed and they'll probably never change their minds. so when people say shit like "i can't believe they signed Rousey v Liz - bad for the sport!" i chuckle sadly. http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f61/cyborg-says-ronda-rousey-bad-sport-1965841/ and around here, the words overrated/underrated are way too overused & cliche.
Anything can happen in MMA-not strictly true. For instance, I've never seen two fighters decide to do a salsa dance for 3 rounds and I'm willing to bet we never will.
that's just a lame cop out (and yes, cliche) for people who have never tried to gamble. they don't get the subtle delta's between a 2-1 bet and a 4-1 bet and instead of be intrigued by matchup nuances they just say "hey, anything can happen - look at GSP v Serra!!!"
Whenever someone loses: "person xyz got exposed" After losing a fight: "I'm not going to make any excuses" after which the camp does nothing but make excuses