This isn't the first time we've seen "underserved" title fights

ironfist05

ironfist05

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To all those complaining about "underserved" title fights here's a little food for thought

Fedor defended his belt against Mark Hunt after Hunt lost too Josh Barnett
Fedor also defended his belt against Big Nog after they N/C'd in their preceding fight (though that's totally legitimate)
Wand defended his belt against Kiyoshi Tamura after Tamura was on a 3 fight lose streak
Wand defended his belt against Hiromitsu Kanehara after right after Kanehara had fought to a draw with Mikhail Ilyukin
Wand defended his belt against Ricardo Arona after Arona had lost to Shogun
Gomi defended his belt against Marcus Aurelio after Aurelio had lost to Mitsuhiro Ishida

I'm not trying to discredit the fighters or Pride (I love both), but people can't act like this "underseved title shot" stuff is new to the game


As for superfights, I've always felt that one of the strenghts of MMA is that it doesn't need superfights to keep the fans intrigued. Look at boxing, it just took a massive hit because the Pacquiao-Mayweather superfight isn't really viable anymore. In boxing boxing champs get fed cans half the time to pad their records, and the undercards are rarely that exciting, so the (corrupt) promotions have to arrange superfights all the time to make up for the fact that they don't really have anything else. In comparison, MMA has always been able to keep the fans interested by (usually) feeding their champs legit contendors and giving us cards that are overall pretty good, instead of just a good main-event; instead of relying on superfights to keep the fans interested
 
You are listing examples from PRIDE. An org. known for their blatant mismatches and freak show fights. List an org. that does this that is still relevant today.
 
Balli said:
You are listing examples from PRIDE. An org. known for their blatant mismatches and freak show fights. List an org. that does this that is still relevant today.
Click to expand...

i guess u havent followed randy coutures career
 
Not even one Randy Couture example?

I'm disappoint..
Click to expand...
ehh I stuck to Pride, but I bet you could find other examples if you wanted (btw I think WEC has done the same thing before)
 
IDK why your only picking on pride. These TS were given as gifts in the past in the UFC as well, I.E. BJ Penn after losing to GSP, Couture after being knocked out in his revious fight with Chuck. I get your point and I agree, But PRIDE hasnt been the only one to do it in the past
 
Balli said:
You are listing examples from PRIDE. An org. known for their blatant mismatches and freak show fights. List an org. that does this that is still relevant today.
Click to expand...

Notorious Pride hater is Balli.

I guess you missed every single one of Randy's title shots huh..
 
IDK why your only picking on pride. These TS were given as gifts in the past in the UFC as well, I.E. BJ Penn after losing to GSP, Couture after being knocked out in his revious fight with Chuck. I get your point and I agree, But PRIDE hasnt been the only one to do it in the past
Click to expand...
I stuck to Pride for a few reasons (please don't interpret this as me ragging on Pride or trying to discredit its fighter, I'm not and I loved both)

1. golden age syndrome- a lot of people complain about the UFC's title shot system, but then refer to Pride as the "golden age" (an opinion I am neither for or against), I think they need to come to terms with certain things
2. Pride is an organization that is major enough to make an easy, relevant point with
3. I was also trying to point out that records don't mean everything, guys like Hunt, Tamura and Arona all posed major threats to the guys they challenged, but didn't have stellar records coming into the fights
 
People forgot when Reem got suspended and everyone wants JDS/Hunt to happen. Just made me laugh now
 
Ecclesiastes 1:9

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
 
Ecclesiastes 1:9

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
 
ironfist05 said:
To all those complaining about "underserved" title fights here's a little food for thought

Fedor defended his belt against Mark Hunt after Hunt lost too Josh Barnett
Fedor also defended his belt against Big Nog after they N/C'd in their preceding fight (though that's totally legitimate)
Wand defended his belt against Kiyoshi Tamura after Tamura was on a 3 fight lose streak
Wand defended his belt against Hiromitsu Kanehara after right after Kanehara had fought to a draw with Mikhail Ilyukin
Wand defended his belt against Ricardo Arona after Arona had lost to Shogun
Gomi defended his belt against Marcus Aurelio after Aurelio had lost to Mitsuhiro Ishida

I'm not trying to discredit the fighters or Pride (I love both), but people can't act like this "underseved title shot" stuff is new to the game


As for superfights, I've always felt that one of the strenghts of MMA is that it doesn't need superfights to keep the fans intrigued. Look at boxing, it just took a massive hit because the Pacquiao-Mayweather superfight isn't really viable anymore. In boxing boxing champs get fed cans half the time to pad their records, and the undercards are rarely that exciting, so the (corrupt) promotions have to arrange superfights all the time to make up for the fact that they don't really have anything else. In comparison, MMA has always been able to keep the fans interested by (usually) feeding their champs legit contendors and giving us cards that are overall pretty good, instead of just a good main-event; instead of relying on superfights to keep the fans interested
Click to expand...

Undeserved title shots is one of the reasons fans discredit Pride.

The UFC is supposed to have a format where fighters win enough to become contenders, then win to get a title shot.
They easily could do that. But they are very anti-rematch for some reason, and they also like to cater to WWE style trash talk. And now that the competition has been eliminated, they can do as they please.

As for Superfights, one reason they don't seem to happen is that American fans only care about unbeaten streaks.
In Pride, they made a matchup that looked intriguing, even if a fighter had lost recently, and it could still be a Superfight.
For example, if the UFC had done a Superfight between GSP and Yushin Okami immediately following Okami's loss to Silva, or Silva vs Rashad immediately following Rashad's loss to Jones, that would have been amazing. You can bet millions would have watched that. But of course it's a different system here.

Those are the kinds of things Pride did that the UFC will NEVER do.
 
Jeremy Horn got the title shot in his 1st ufc fight against Frank Shamrock in May of '98 after coming off of a second draw with Travis Fulton.

i personally think that Nick Diaz Vs GSP is a strong match-up and should still be billed as champion vs. champion.
 
Yeah, this sport has thin divisions and putting on a show is still about making money.

Also, the sky is blue.
 
Balli said:
You are listing examples from PRIDE. An org. known for their blatant mismatches and freak show fights. List an org. that does this that is still relevant today.
Click to expand...

You've got to be kidding me. :icon_lol:

edit: Whoops, I didn't see your name. Carry on.
 
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