Why do people hate fast-tracks to the title?

[tenniswhiz]

I’m in the minority, but I want to see the best fight the best.
It was stupid for Dan Hardy and Patrick Cote to get title shots.

I want to see whomever is #2 fight #1.

That’s how a legit sport or tournament works.
The winner of the tournament, or bracket, faces the top guy.

So I’d have rather seen MM vs Joe B #7, rather than seeing MM fight the scrubs that he did, none of whom beat Joe B.
Ian McCall, Baugutinov, Formiga, Cejudo, Elliot...LOL. Benavidez has wins over all of them.

 

[IndyCovaHart]

I don't consider it leap frogging if everyone higher ranked is on a losing streak or recently lost to the champ. When that's the case, I don't give a shit if it's #9 or #10 fighting for the title. If the champ is healthy, let him fight.

If the champ has basically cleared out the division then great but let’s not kid ourselves here, inactive champs have nothing to do with a flawed ranking system.

It has to do with divas.

 

[GTS]

Many times when a fighter gets fast-tracked to the title shot they have a HUGE advantage in having seen the champ in many fights but they have few for the champ to watch train from. It's simply giving a lesser fighter a clear advantage that could very well be the difference.

 

[ferrisjso]

(TLDR at bottom)

The mantra within the UFC has since the beginning been "the best fighting the best". While I understand that this often is a buzzword rather than an actual guiding principle when it comes to matchmaking, I feel that most MMA fans do cling to it quite religiously.

An example: Israel Adesanya. Arguably one of the best future contenders at MW, he might get the next title shot if he gets past Anderson Silva. I see a lot of people moaning about this, that he needs to get more wins. After all, his only good looking wins are tooling a journeyman in Tavares, and knocking out a fringe contender in Brunson. After looking at the state of the MW-division though, I see few alternatives.

Champion : Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero (lost twice to Whittaker)
2 Luke Rockhold (Moving to LHW)
3 Jacare Souza (Already lost against Gastelum and Whittaker)
4 Kelvin Gastelum (fighting next)
5 Chris Weidman (KO'd by Jacare)
6 Israel Adesanya

This brings us to the critical question: When there is a shortage of viable challengers, do you want the champion to stay active, or are you in favor of letting contenders fight until we have a definitive challenger, forcing the champion to be sidelined?

We want stars, don't we? I sure as hell want it. I want to watch legends be made, and this is mostly done by being active and racking up wins. Anderson Silva became the legend he is today because he fought a bunch of people, and did so spectacularly. Let's be honest, a lot of them were not elite, but the KO's will be forever remembered in highlight reels. For Whittaker, or any champ for that matter, to gain real respect he has to show people why he is the champ. I would much rather watch Whittaker fight 2-3 times a year and add to his highlight reel, than watching him fight once a year against a "deserving" opponent.

In this case the only viable challengers seem to be Adesanya (assuming he wins against Silva) and Jacare. Do you want them to fight first, or do you give one man a title shot first?

TLDR: I think it's pretty lame to wait an entire year between title fights within a division, and I think it would be better for everyone if the champion stayed active fighting less than perfect challengers, rather than waiting around forever until a "deserving" challenger shows up.

The question: When there is a shortage of viable challengers, do you want the champion to stay active fighting less-than-ideal challengers, or are you in favor of letting contenders fight until we have a definitive challenger, forcing the champion to be sidelined?

Depends on the situation if there's no one else, sure. Someone's got to fight for the belt. That's rarely the case though IMO especially with how large the roster is, always someone who deserves it and if they don't got a losing streak pretty easy to justify. One cool thing that the UFC used to do was have champs try to avenge losses regardless of whether that fighter deserved a shot, look at Chuck Liddell and Jeremy Horn. They did this cause those matchups would be easier to hype as a threat to the champ and I guess the same logic applies to other fighters who don't deserve a shot. If it's hypable who cares?

But yeah think those scenarios are wishful thinking, DC and Gus both got title shots at LHW coming off of losses and I get those were the best fights to make and maybe even the best two fighters but they hopped over Bader and Davis(who they then got rid of). Reason people get mad is cause normally someone who does deserve it is getting screwed. Fast tracking tends to come from fan demand though and most of the title shots given I disagree with is really the fans fault for supporting someone and the UFC correctly acting on that.

Other thing is when you got two viable contenders fight each other, you're taking away another big main event in the name of the dude proving himself. So guess depends what matters more to you, more title fights or knowing that the title contender is the best one.

 

[Congo66]

The UFC rankings make no real sense, losing a title shot and staying at #1 or #2 just fills the top of the rankings with former champions and people who have already failed to get the belt.

If Adesanya wins he should have the next title shot, he'll still be unbeaten which isn't any of the others can say and he's not a former champion or failed challenger.

 

[grooves12]

Other thing is when you got two viable contenders fight each other, you're taking away another big main event in the name of the dude proving himself. So guess depends what matters more to you, more title fights or knowing that the title contender is the best one.

How are you taking away another big main event. If they followed the rankings and actually followed through with their promises, the #1 contender fights would be a big main event. That's no different than those guys waiting around for 6 months to take turns fighting the champ.

 

[kimocomplex]

sometimes there is a deserving challenger that has to wait for the person fast tracked

sometimes that person is even publicly promised a title shot

but this is life, and its not always fair

 

[YourOnlineHero]

That's the longest TL;DR I've ever seen. Then after you continued typing more anyway.

 

[HHJ]

I dont mind it. Once whoever gets the title shot the promotion cant go in there and win it for him. He has to produce. It can backfire or work out perfect. Such is life.

 

[HHJ]

Anderson had 1 fight in the ufc before he got a title shot. Who cares.

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

Depends if there are higher ranked fighters that are deserving of the title shot or not. If the fighters ranked above X fighter have lost their last fights then fighter X can leapfrog them or if the fighters ranked above him have already had a shot or two at the title and lost.

 

[Local Plata]

Because in cases like Conor it kind of ruins the division. He dodges all of the bad-matchups from contenders in the division, KOs Aldo, then leaves the division completely...then gets an immediate title shot a weight class up? It's fucking retarded and shits on all of the contenders in the division trying to climb the ladder just so the UFC can make a quick buck.

 

[scytheavatar]

It depends. In the case of Israel a fast track is probably understandable if not well deserved, but if Gastelum beats Whittaker then IMHO Jacare deserves to be ahead of Israel for the title shot. Cause that result win Gastelum got over Jacare was utter bullshit. And even if you disagree with me you can't disagree that a split decision shows that both fighters are close enough that a rematch is well warranted.

I don't think many would argue Israel getting the fast track is a problem. It's guys like Till getting the fast track that's utter BS, especially off missing weight by 4 pounds.

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

Anderson had 1 fight in the ufc before he got a title shot. Who cares.

Yeah but he was already really highly ranked, was the former number 1 WW in the world and the MW division was lacking contenders at the time.

 

[3nigma]

Why earn a shot fighting Silva? Fight Romero or Jacare instead. It's not the quantity of wins but the quality.

 

[HHJ]

Yeah but he was already really highly ranked, was the former number 1 WW in the world and the MW division was lacking contenders at the time.

Im just saying that if it happens it happens. Still better than champchamps never defending their belts and holding it hostage. Or coaching on tuf and holding it hostage.

 

[HHJ]

Why earn a shot fighting Silva? Fight Romero or Jacare instead. It's not the quantity of wins but the quality.

Silva has several fights left on his contract. At least 3. They want izzy at the top cos hes more marketable than romero or jacare and they gotta make use of old man silva somehow. This is the best way.

 

[HHJ]

Because in cases like Conor it kind of ruins the division. He dodges all of the bad-matchups from contenders in the division, KOs Aldo, then leaves the division completely...then gets an immediate title shot a weight class up? It's fucking retarded and shits on all of the contenders in the division trying to climb the ladder just so the UFC can make a quick buck.

If he had stayed at fw tho he woulda had to fight edgar. Aldo woulda got rematch too.

 

[SpongeJoshSquareCheck]

It sets them up for failure. I mean look how bad Darren Till vs Woodley went

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

Im just saying that if it happens it happens. Still better than champchamps never defending their belts and holding it hostage. Or coaching on tuf and holding it hostage.

I agree, i'm just saying I don't really think Anderson was fast tracked since I can't think of anyone who was a legit contender for the MW belt at that time.