Dana White is a genius. He saved MMA, that is a fact. UFC has, by far, the deepest talent pool in all of MMA. What is with the Dana/UFC-haters?
Shields beating Hendo was the only upset I saw. I picked Melendez and Lawal to do exactly what they did. Aoki and Mousassi are two of the most overrated fighters I have seen in 15 years.
Picking them doesn't make it not an upset. A guy with 6 fights isn't ever going to be expected to beat a new, young, rising fighter with 30 odd fights and wins over guys like Manhoef, Hunt, Jacare, Babalu etc
It does to me. I fully expected Melendez and Lawal to beat Aoki and Mousassi. Aoki's standup is awful, as is Mousassi's TDD. So, if I fully expected the results that occured, how can I consider it an upset?
I have to agree. Despite what anyone may think about him personally, he's responsible for successfully bringing MMA to the masses. I have been a diehard boxing fan for 25 years, but the UFC has made a fan out of me. I watch more MMA now than I do boxing. I don't believe Strikeforce, from what I have seen, would have had nearly the same impact on me. I don't blame him for trying to create a monopoly and getting as much out of the sport as he can. As much as I do enjoy it, I think interest in MMA will begin to wane over the next few years. I think it will prove to be a fairly long lived fad. MMA will become largely a standup sport, with fighters emulating people like Penn and Silva - solid boxers / kickboxers with great takedown defence and BJJ (which they choose not to use). At that point, attention will return to boxing. Personally, I couldn't care less which sport attracts the most attention, but that's what I believe will happen.
Exactly. People don't realize that there being competition with UFC only hurts us, as fans. It is way better to have all the talent under one umbrella so that the best fights can be made. If all the SF guys were in the UFC, could you imagine the fights we would be getting? Brock/Fedor, Machida or Rua/King Mo, Silva/Shields, GSP/Diaz, Edgar or Penn/Melendez! Come on, those are dream fights that would be reality fights if UFC was the only org.