Why a "Masters" Division is ridiculous.

[RoyCisneros]

With Royce vs Ken happening, Sakuraba fighting again and the talks of all these old guys coming out of the wood works and listening to everyone talking about a masters division is getting a little out of hand..

First off the general consensus according to every post about the issue seems to be to participate you have to be 40.

Hendos 45, lets toss him in with Royce? Manhoef is 39. he will be 40 this year. lets throw him in against ken shamrock! Or Fedor is 40 next year... How would sherdog react to Militech fighting for the masters division title against fedor?

Fact of the matter is age doesn't measure how washed up you are or how abused your body is. I don't think it'll ever work because of this reason alone. I mean Chris Leben is 35 and washed up yet Daniel Cormier is older and ufc champ. If there was a division for the Militechs, Shamrocks, Gracie, Sakurabas, how often do you actually expect them to fight? Younger guys have trouble fighting three times a year. Also injuries are going to be more likely with their age. Having a guy hold a belt for more than 4 title defenses is going to be extremely unlikely. It'd be hard to establish a credible champion in this division. it'll be interm belt after interm belt. you won't have a long reign of dominance unless the yakuza gets involved


I'll be up for old guy tournaments, but a division? it'll be a joke and it's unnecessary. and the guys everyone wants in them will most likely not be able to compete with other guys their age.

 

[Ye]

I love it. Hopefully they try to focus more on fighters who exemplify one style, where all-rounders wouldn't be as populous.

 

[basedworld]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Masters_Games

Sorry but it works - if an athlete holds up better they have an advantage

 

[PIT FIGHTER]

It's ridiculously amazing.

 

[manboy<3]

You are looking at this like it's gonna be a division within a sport but you need to look at it like a sideshow in a circuis

it's not a "competition division" but more like "exhibition division" where old school talents, older stars and older famous guys can exhibit their uniqueness and charisma while having opponents that are more on thier level


I dont think anyone ever suggested there was going to be a title or anything like that. Most of them would fight at most once or twice so injuries are pretty irrelevant.

its just a matter of fact that people still want to see the unique characters of the past do their thing against other unique characters of the past and it allows people to see the "what if's" of the past actually come to fruitition

 

[lsa]

Yamma 2.0!

 

[qw3rty]

I think the same about the age.
Even Werdum is close to 40.
Hunt and Nelson could literally kill some un-retired guy who hasn't taken a shot in several years with a clear punch

 

[Amerikuracana]

I would say 42. And yes, do a masters division. If Hendo would be the champ, then he would be the champ. So what?

 

[Crusader666]

i dont want to watch injured slow sloppy grandpas fight for nostalgic purposes.

 

[Hitmandn]

Nah I'm good. I don't wanna see old, past-it guys get even more brain damage.

 

[mkt]

i dont want to watch injured slow sloppy grandpas fight for nostalgic purposes.

I agree. Look at Tito vs. Bonnar. It was an awful fight and they're only around 40 I'm guessing (Bonnar may be a couple of years younger). People think these fights will be "fun" or "exciting" but they're usually just slow and really bad.

I don't agree with T.S. on much, but I think he's right on this. He's also correct about fighters aging differently. Look at Couture vs. Mark Coleman. They were almost exactly the same age, but Randy fought like he was 10 years younger.

 

[skylolow]

Bigger issues in the future is the big stars of today may not need money like most of the stars of yesterday.

 

[CDF47]

Legends division is good for guys; Igor, Royce, Ken, Miletich, Severn,.... If the fighters can not fight at the elite level anymore but can compete with each other, I think they can make for some interesting old school matches.

 

[lapollarecords]

this is not like a Zidane's buddies vs Figo's buddies charity football match. it is a fight between old guys who have already taken lots of punishment in their careers. plus they make it the main event over actually relevant fighters who are in their prime. it's sad more than anything. we don't need more Gary Goodridges.

 

[GloryOfIran]

I think it would be awesome. They could also do freakshow fights like 50 year old vet vs 25 year old with losing record or vs a karate champion with no ground game.

 

[thedevious]

It's just a dumb marketing thing that people eat up. You can match up two past prime vets without calling it a master's division, like Couture/Coleman. Just match them up appropriately (if they should even be allowed to fight in the first place) instead of pandering.

 

[BisexualMMA]

I actually quite enjoy old fart fights if they are appropriately matched up in terms of how washed up they are.

Couture vs Coleman
Fedor vs Rizzo
Ken vs Kimbo
Ken vs Royce

Sometimes it's a horrid mismatch...like Rizzo vs Ken, or Renzo vs Hughes. But this can be avoided by not employing someone who likes watching snuff as your matchmaker.

If they were actually able to have all these washed up legends fight for some sort of title where there are higher stakes in play, sure, I'll take the higher stakes over a series of occasional one-off matches.

 

[RawHawg]

I'd like to see a freakshow "pro wrestlers for real" show where they get famous guys from the pro side and let them go at it legit.

 

[RoyCisneros]

You are looking at this like it's gonna be a division within a sport but you need to look at it like a sideshow in a circuis

it's not a "competition division" but more like "exhibition division" where old school talents, older stars and older famous guys can exhibit their uniqueness and charisma while having opponents that are more on thier level


I dont think anyone ever suggested there was going to be a title or anything like that. Most of them would fight at most once or twice so injuries are pretty irrelevant.

its just a matter of fact that people still want to see the unique characters of the past do their thing against other unique characters of the past and it allows people to see the "what if's" of the past actually come to fruitition

Whats the point of an actual division if there is no titles? why not just create these matches every now and then?

 

[RoyCisneros]

I think the same about the age.
Even Werdum is close to 40.
Hunt and Nelson could literally kill some un-retired guy who hasn't taken a shot in several years with a clear punch

Agreed. I mean hunt and nelson would do more damage than a guy like Aoki and we all seen what happened to Saku.