Which fights spring to mind where the UFC very obviously wanted one guy to win?

Joe Lauzon vs Jens Pulver. Literally brought back the division for him and went out and lost.
 
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Cyborg vs Nunes. Dana hates Cyborg but she had a following. It was the last fight of her contract and in true UFC fashion they wanted to give her an L on the way out. Tough task given that Cyborg hadn’t lost in 14 years leading into that fight. Nunes became an instant Dana fan from that day forward.

That one went Dana’s way but then there is Gane vs Ngannou. The last fight on Ngannou’s contract. If he wins he could walk with the belt. Luckily for Dana Francis has a really severe knee injury and he’ll be a fighting the guy with the best footwork at heavyweight. A guy who has sparred Ngannou and gotten the better of him. His coach trained Francis for years and knows his game. High stakes but the odds are in Dana’s favour.
Dana was so upset that he wouldn’t put the belt around Francis and he skipped the press conference. Glorious.
 
Egészségére! said:
First thing that comes to mind is Stipe’s title shot & defenses. They sent him to Brazil to get his ass handed to him by Werdum lol & that & the next few fights blew up in their face.

Less obviously they feed company men like Caceres to Kron & Cowboy to McGregor hoping they lose while still planning to keep them on the roster.

It was also pretty obvious they wanted Askren to lose his ufc debut by pairing him with Robbie.
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What's interesting is that you are correct that the UFC didn't particularly like Stipe originally and definitely against Frank, but now they bend over backwards for him.

Man isn't scheduled to fight in 2 years and only fought twice in the 2 years before that, got KOd in his last fight and 2 of his last 4 fights and he is still ranked #2 and is still seriously talked about for the next title shot.

Man doesn't need to fight and doesn't even need to avoid getting KOd when he does to get title shots - only Conor would be capable of this level of favoritism.

He is literally one of the UFC's most overly protected fighters and fans still whine about him being 'disrespected'.
 
Dr Fong said:
What's interesting is that you are correct that the UFC didn't particularly like Stipe originally and definitely against Frank, but now they bend over backwards for him.

Man isn't scheduled to fight in 2 years and only fought twice in the 2 years before that, got KOd in his last fight and 2 of his last 4 fights and he is still ranked #2 and is still seriously talked about for the next title shot.

Man doesn't need to fight and doesn't even need to avoid getting KOd when he does to get title shots - only Conor would be capable of this level of favoritism.

He is literally one of the UFC's most overly protected fighters and fans still whine about him being 'disrespected'.
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What you state is accurate, but why would the UFC want to protect him so much? He was never a big draw, he's old and obviously well past his prime, and has been very inactive. Hardly seems like the kind of fighter the UFC would have any interest in protecting. Quite the opposite.
 
Guffman said:
What you state is accurate, but why would the UFC want to protect him so much? He was never a big draw, he's old and obviously well past his prime, and has been very inactive. Hardly seems like the kind of fighter the UFC would have any interest in protecting. Quite the opposite.
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Rank squatting is everywhere now and is a function of the UFC not having to give a sh*t about promoting properly as they have guaranteed ESPN money. It's easier for them to just focus on established names even if these really aren't draws.

Stipe is still the 2nd biggest name in that division (3rd if Juicy J ever shows up). But it does seem excessive how much favoritism they show him given he offers them nothing and will just return to not fighting if he somehow becomes champion.

MMA media is also all over Mumbles' nuts and never questions how crazy it is that he is even being discussed for the next title shot, so he seems to just have this weird free pass.
 
Mal Intentions said:
khamzat was scared to roll with burns and had nothing for him on the feet and almost got knocked out. people think he's a god lmao. nate would not get subbed or outstruck
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So uh, how did he win the fight with Burns? But anyways, I'm sure you're right, Nate has historically done so well against strong wrestlers.
 
ChimRichalds said:
So uh, how did he win the fight with Burns? But anyways, I'm sure you're right, Nate has historically done so well against strong wrestlers.
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out brawled a bjj player that is a few inches shorter. crazy feat huh? considering he was scared to engage the first guy he fought with a good bottom game no reason to think he would have the balls to jump into nate's guard. his best chance would be to lay and prey like all the other exciting wrestlers did against nate and win a boring decision. not sure he has the cardio for that tho like the other strong wrestlers that lay and preyed nate. pair that with the fact that it was scheduled for 5 rounds and he has shitty cardio, nate would have far greater chance than people think. he would have to hope that one of nate's old cuts reopened
 
Mal Intentions said:
out brawled a bjj player that is a few inches shorter. crazy feat huh? considering he was scared to engage the first guy he fought with a good bottom game no reason to think he would have the balls to jump into nate's guard. his best chance would be to lay and prey like all the other exciting wrestlers did against nate and win a boring decision. not sure he has the cardio for that tho like the other strong wrestlers that lay and preyed nate. pair that with the fact that it was scheduled for 5 rounds and he has shitty cardio, nate would have far greater chance than people think. he would have to hope that one of nate's old cuts reopened
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Totally. Nate would have had ALL the advantages in that fight. Lucky for Khamzat he dodged that nightmare eh?
 
Adesanya Vs Jan
They wanted Adesanya to win so much that Rogan even hallucinated that he was outstriking Jan during their fight, and he came back with that same false narrative during the Pereira fight months later <45>
 
ChimRichalds said:
Totally. Nate would have had ALL the advantages in that fight. Lucky for Khamzat he dodged that nightmare eh?
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exactly. he was scared of the pressure of being embarrassed by a smaller, scrappier fighter who he knew had a solid shot at winning despite being a massive betting underdog. so he didnt even bother to cut weight.
 
Mal Intentions said:
exactly. he was scared of the pressure of being embarrassed by a smaller, scrappier fighter who he knew had a solid shot at winning despite being a massive betting underdog. so he didnt even bother to cut weight.
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<mma3>
 
Any fighter from a wanker island. They have a disproportionate amount of wealth related to the number of nobheads and square miles (not kilometers nobheads) and Uncle Goof wants a piece. /S
 
deman said:
I'm not talking about obvious examples like Rousey or McGregor, where they would obviously prefer the cash cow to win.

Which fights have you watched where it was very obvious from something that was said or done before/during the fight that the UFC (or any other promotion) wanted one guy to win &/or a narrative was being pushed.

For me, it was the late Rumble Johnson vs Vitor Belfort. The context was that Rumble kept missing weight (and was cut immediately afterwards). He had Vitor in a fair amount of trouble on the ground several times & Miragliotta kept standing them back up at the merest sign of inactivity. It was ludicrous. I remember watching it at the time, & thinking "this stinks".
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OMalley Yan. They even rigged it.
 
Chuck v Rampage rematch for sure. Chuck v Tito 1 is the most obvious one given the history of that fight.

The Chuck v Rampage one came to mind because Combine that with Wandy beating Hendo in Pride and that would have set up the Chuck v Wandy mega fight they'd have been looking to book for ages. While that fight happened it was not nearly as relevant as it would have been hoped.

Dana has said something like "I used to prefer one fighter over the other in the beginning but I don't do that anymore doesn't matter who wins"(paraphrasing). I remember hearing that and instantly thought of some of those Chuck fights. I largely believe this at least in terms of individuals. I think the UFC clearly discriminates against grapplers though. Think that's more of a profile thing(Fitch, Shields, Askren.Davis, Bader, Corey Anderson) than about those guys as individuals(except Askren).

One notable exception to this is MM. The bias was obvious there. He is the only fighter to ever be traded for a reason.
 
Werdum v Hunt.

7 illegal cage grabs go unmentioned, but the one time werdun pushed off it legally they point out that it was legal.


Brock Hunt, everyone knows that backstory.
 
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