Doesn't seem to be a qhole lot going on in the MMA world lately.

Im a big MMA fan but boxing is my first love. As long as the sweet science is doing fine im good. The facts remain MMA will never draw the numbers the salaries nor have the prestige of a sport that has history going back 150 years. Pac Hatton was VERY good for boxing.

 

Exactly. My roots with boxing go back to early childhood thanks to my da d. I am a long term more than casual MMA fan but a hard core Boxing fan.

 

I'll admit, turn back the clock 2-3 years ago, I was a bigger MMA fan. Theres so much potential, it evolved from the Matt Hughes to the GSP and Silvas of the world.

But 3 years later, I feel that the quality of MMA, its fighters and fights have regressed. I think alot of holes and flaws that has not been exposed before has been exposed now, like techniques, drugs, shitty rules..etc etc

And now that Boxing has shown what a beautiful sport it truly is the last couple of years, MMA just all of a sudden pales in comparison as far as quality, excitement and pureness of the sport is concerned.

 

You know why? Because back then we knew what a fighters strength was. We knew Matt Hughes was a wrestler. We new Randy Couture was a Greco Roman guy. We knew CC was a kickboxer. We knew Big Nog was BJJ.

Now we got a bunch of of guys who are average at everything but not great at one thing. That has diluted the sport in my eyes espcially in the UFC. The guys who have done well in this sport are/were the ones who knew what there bread and butter was and complimented that with other assets of MMA. Guys like GSP are a rare breed but even GSP couldnt go up against a Muay Thai guy in a pure striking match and nor could he go up against a BJJ guy in ADCC despite his fabled wrestling ability.

 

Yeah, turned out ******ed. I could never figure out why they didn't just run PRIDE as UFC Japan or whatever. Have Fedor, Cro Cop, Shogun, Wandy, Arona, Soukodjou, Ninja, Hansen, Gomi, JZ, Aoki, Overeem, Kharetinov, Barnett, Minowa, Azaredo, Bustamante, Sakurai, Henderson etc etc as ticket sellers, and then run cross promotional dream matches every now and again.

 

Id said this from the very beginning they should have just left them where they were and marketed the two against each other under the umbreall of Zuffa. It would have been better for the sport as a whole and would have got a UFC presence in Japan. Now the UFC still isnt in Japan will never be big in Japan as it simply doesnt appeal to the Japanese fan base. Its a whole diffrent sport over there.

CC hated it here in the UFC, he couldnt wait to get back to Japan.Guys like Sokodjou have been dashed from the UFC. Arona hasnt fought in 2 years and is nowhere to be seen. And the ones who arent in the UFC like Monson Sylvia Fujita etc are scrambling around in minor orgs just trying to make a living. Its a ****ing travesty.

 

It's not that simple, after the purchase of pride it became clear that the station that had aired Pride still owned some of the Video rights. It also became clear that most of the fighter contracts where non transferable/enforceable.

There was a reason Pride had failed in the first place. They lost there TV deal after a mob scandal was revealed by the Japanese press. Zuffa was unable to get a new deal with any of the major channels in Japan both because the Pride name was radioactive and because Japan is a very insular country when it comes to allowing foreign businesses to operate there.

Finally Japan is very boom & bust and right now MMA is dead there. Both Dream and Sengoku are struggling mightily to stay afloat.

As for the fighters you listed... Cro-cop did not hate the UFC he just failed to perform and based on what they where paying him there was no way for him to stick around if he wasn't tearing up the division. He has stated his desire to eventually return to the UFC but I personally think he's done as a top heavy weight.

Sokodjou was a guy with natural talent who was brought along way to fast after lightning struck twice and his people tried to get rich quick. Like Cro-cop they were paying him large #'s and there was no way he would be kept around if he wasn't performing. Unlike Cro-cop I think he might fight his way back to the UFC assuming his management has learned its lesson and gets him fights that foster his development.

Arona last I heard had held out for unrealistic #'s but recently expressed an interest in returning to MMA, only time will if anything becomes of it.

Monson is doing just fine for himself and I wouldn't be surprised if he eventually ended up back in the UFC some day. Recently I heard a rumor that if Fedor vs. Barnett can't be made it will be Fedor vs. Monson.

Sylvia left willingly, he requested to be let go by the UFC so he could get payed to fight Fedor, his 36 seconds of work netted him quite the pay day. His next fight is a ridiculous boxing match with Ray Mercer.

Fujita is nearly 40 nuff said, Zuffa has no responsibility to employ fighters who are past there prime any more than NFL would to employ old footballers or boxing has... to book washed up boxers on big cards. That's what house cards are for both in boxing and MMA.

 

Randy Couture at his ripe old age is still fighting in the UFC. If age was a concern he wouldnt be there. The bottom line is the UFC does what is economically best for itself NOT whats good for the sport hence why they made Lesnar vs Couture.

Im well aware of the politics in Japan and the scandal that ensued but the facts remain Dana said he wanted to take his product global. He is yet to conquer Japan or even get close with his brand. DREAM and Sengoku are struggling because of financial reasons. The bottom line is in MMA if you havent got the money and your a fledgling startup this business is a tough one. Zuffa inherited an organisation that was on its last legs and banned in quite a few states. Times have changed and the organsiation has moved on immensely. Providing DREAM etc can also get financial backing theres no reason to presume there doomed to fail.

The reason why i mentioned those fighters was to highlight how quick Dana is to drop talented fighters when he cant make money from them. Thats not good for this sport nor fare on the fighters. As for CC he ALWAYS preferred the lifestyle in Japan and said so himself. He even came out to the PRIDE theme tune in his first fight in the UFC. CC has certainly seen better days but he's an ATG. Wether he's continually performing to a high standard is immaterial in my eyes. He's paid his dues in this sport and as an ATG deserves respect. I doubt well ever see him back in the UFC.

 

Not everyone is Randy Couture and it's not about concern for his health it's about ability to stay relevant by winning fights. Fujita hasn't beat a fighter who matters since 2000 and virtually every other win he has is over a guy's with 0-2, 0-4, etc. records. He's not a UFC caliber fighter.

As for the UFC doing what's economically best for itself, of coarse it does it's a business, as to Lesnar vs Couture that was brought about by special circumstances Couture tried to leave over a money dispute and so the UFC was forced to name an interim champ (hence Sylvia vs. Nogueira), as part of the deal to get Randy back the UFC had to give him an immediate fight as he had been on the shelf so long and Randy made clear he would only except a big money fight. As Nogueira vs. Mir was already booked it was Lesnar vs Couture that got made.

They have taken the UFC global they've been to the UK, Ireland, Canada, there headed to Germany @ UFC 99, they've said there headed to France and made clear they have big expansion plans.

They aren't going to Japan because as I said MMA is dead there right now it would not make financial sense, they will go to South Korea first where they have a much better TV deal and where the UFC brand is as a result better known. As for Dream there is a reason there next show is a David vs. Goliath style freak show, they are desperate to secure ratings. Funding Isn't really the problem either as Sengoku already has a huge corporate sponsor who backs them because he loves MMA. The problem is turning a profit and the only way to do that in Japan is to get on and stay on a major television network as the PPV thing has never taken off there. Unfortunately neither company has drawn major #'s and in less that starts improving they will eventually lose there TV deals and go kaput.

Fighters get dropped when they lose a couple fights to make way for other fighters, Zuffa can't have 1000's of guys under contract they only put on so many fights a year. Getting dropped from the UFC is not the end of the world any more than getting sent to the minor league's in baseball is, a fighter can sign with a smaller company and start putting wins together and working there way back to UFC. In many cases it benefits the fighter as it does him no good to rack up losses on his record against guys he's not ready for and so a period of retooling against easier competition outside the UFC proofs beneficial. In other cases it's just a case of the fighter not having what it takes to be a winning fighter in the UFC, and again it doesn't have to be the end of said fighters career as fighting in small shows just being able to say you were are a UFC veteran will get you payed more $.

 

Why do people always say "big ass gloves" "pillows." I literally could not watch the rest of it because when he said that I knew that guy is a huge idiot.

Hatton/Pacquiao used 8oz gloves. And gloves were not designed to protect the fighters. They are designed to protect the boxers hands.

 

Remember UFC 95 in England?

6 first round KO's. Everybody, EVERYBODY loved it.

To me it just represents a complete lack of skill, complete inability to anticipate punches and complete mismatches.

Say what you want about Hatton, but this guy went down against the P4P best in Pacquiao. Whereas, the UFC guys are doing by Dan Hardy and Paulo Thiago.

 

But... he can beat Muy Thai or BJJ guys in an MMA fight and he is an MMA fighter, not a grappler or a kickboxer.

The reason you are finding more and more well rounded guys is because it takes well-rounded skills to be good in MMA now. All of the #1s are very well-rounded. BJ Penn has very very good standup for a lightweight, and he wins fights with his standup. GSP can do everything. Anderson Silva is a blackbelt under Nog. Fedor can do everything... MMA fighters have to be well-rounded to make it to the top nowadays.

 

NO IT DOESNT.

Its been proven time and time again that you dont have to be well-rounded.

And I actually disagree, I dont think alot of top MMA'ers are well rounded. I think most of them are at best decent at everything.

Only exceptions being GSP, Penn, Silva and Fedor who are fairly good at everything. Silva is not a great wrestler though.

Under Nog. Keyword Big Nog. Alot of black belts given out in MMA are not legitimate. They are given out to legitimize the MMA fighter or the MMA gym that they train out. There are far too many black belts floating around for underserving fighters, with most of whom have never proven their skills at an international level in BJJ.

 

If you gave boxers the gloves they used in ufc first round KO's would go up 500%, people would all be bleeding profusley by the 2nd round, and people would be dieng by the third.

boxers wear gloves so it's not pugilism.

MMA fighters for the most part have at best mediocre boxing skills.

and nonexistant head movement

 

I can agree with that, it seems everybody has a black belt these days but guys like Maia are at a different level.