I was starting to seriously lose interest in MMA but...

I take everything back, just watched Strikeforce Heavyweights Tournament, wow.

 

The problem with the Zuffa format is that the best fighter doesn’t get to fight the best, some fighters somehow get a **** easy run of the belt while experienced guys like JDS get robbed out of their chance. Its basically the most popular fighter having the easiest chance of snatching the belt.

Also as much as Zuffa hype up their product as the best in the world (especially the HW division) these guys don’t really fight the best fighters from other global promotions. At least Strikeforce through their GP has acquired Josh from Dream, Fedor from M1, Sergei from K1, and Overeem back from K1.

 

Dos Santos didnt get "robbed" out of his chance. Cain got injured and Dos Santos chose to take another fight.

 

For the same reason I watch other combat sports, as long as I get to watch people beating up other people, I'll always be interested in watching MMA.

Fighters get screwed while others benefit because of the politics of MMA. But I'm just here to watch them fight. And as long as they fight, I'm happy.

 

I watch every now and then (always for free ) and am hardly ever entertained. Hell, most UFC fan comments during live chats are usually along the lines of "Zzzzz..." or "well, this event was a dud!" - and that's for most events.

Ironically, I always make sure to catch GSP because he's such a phenomenal talent...and he's the one that most UFC fans consider boring because of his technical style and prioritizing victory over pizazz (like Spider). Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Personally, I'm very turned off by wrestlers for the most part. I don't like watching standing clinches against the cage with one guy trying to power out and spin the other down, nor single or double-leg takedowns, nor lay-n-pray, nor GNP, nor anything that wrestlers are wont to do in a fight...aside from the odd highlight reel suplex (which you rarely see) I've never found joy in watching wrestlers apply their craft despite recognizing the talent involved...never have and never will. Exceptions are few and far between (notably, Joe Warren does some really unique things that do impress me...and GSP does fall back on wrestling as one of the many tools in his utility belt). The UFC is very wrestler-dominated and has been for a very long time...basically since the hybridization of disciplines and emergence of "well rounded MMA" began, wrestling has been right behind BJJ as one of the strongest flavors in the stew.

I like pure BJJ and watching two very skilled guys go for and defend against subs...and I like high-level striking...but it's all that other god-awful boring crap in between that turns me off. UFC matches seem to have a much higher propensity toward guys with primarily wrestling bases than any other promotion and as a result there is more of the god-awful boring crap that I don't like.

That isn't to say I don't have to put up with that crap in just about every MMA promotion. I do. There just generally seems to be a bit less of it outside the UFC from what I've seen (the "new" UFC that is, a different animal from the thrillingly unpredictable pioneer sport you could only watch on VHS that I remember fondly from back in the 90's).

I kind of like MMA. Have never loved it. It isn't even my second favorite combat sport (that would be K-1/kickboxing), and might only just barely be in my ten favorite sports period.

It's very easy for my interest to wane when I've only ever been lukewarm on it and my two favorite promotions have been inactive (WEC because they got absorbed into the UFC which will probably just bury those talents on cards stacked with boring SOB's from the higher weights; and Bellator were in their long offseason).

This Strikeforce resurgence came along like a breath of fresh air for me at just the right time.

 

Theres a very good reason for this. Firstly the rules and the environment very much favours wrestlers. The UFC doesn’t have yellow cards for inactivity on the ground and wrestlers could usually just blanket another fighter all day long, another is that take downs and top control is judged more favourably than actual submission attempts and damage done, third is that they have taken out many things dangerous to a wrestler so no more soccer kicks and knees to the head of a downed opponent, and finally the cage greatly favours wrestlers.

Another main factor in the emergence of wrestlers is because Zuffa/UFC is very insular and typically pick American/Brazilian fighters. This is because they are easier to scout, acquire, and to promote (since their fanbase are typically in America). Zuffa doesn’t really have any extensive scouting in Asia and Europe where they would most likely have a different background. This happens with most promotions though with M1 fighters mainly of Sambo background and Hollands mainly kickboxing etc.

The only promotion that had a mix bag of fighters from other disciplines was Pride, who unlike the UFC wasn’t against co-promotion or sourcing international fighters. However Strikeforce is starting to follow the Pride ingredient which is great…….look at their HW GP for example with 3 Sambo fighters, 2 BJJ, 1 wrestler, 1 kickboxer (Overeem????), and god knows where Rogers goes.

 

Rogers=Fat slugger :deal

Great post regarding rulesets favouring different styles tough MC :good

IMO, Pride Rules were the best :deal

 

Yeah, Brett's like a slightly evolved version of Tank. :yep

And I agree, that was a good post monaro. :good That all seems spot on.

 

Rogers attitude in the post-fight Fedor interview set the tone for the rest of his bitchy output thus far.

Barnett will sub him with ease IMO. Then again, I felt Fedor would spark Big Foot Anything can happen in the GP :deal

 

JDS got his shot, but injuries have delayed it thus far.
And you still havent name the Welterweights that GSP should be fighting to back up your claim?
Welcome back Morono :thumbsup

 

That's a very good answer. You should watch the fighters you like regardless of orgs. Plenty of good fights to be found out there.

 

I do agree with that post, but Morono copy and pastes that stuff in every thread even when it's not relevant.

If your discussing a UFC fighter he'll bring up the same bull**** about how there arent very good because they havent fought fighters from ''other orgs'' even though he cant name a single one. Case in point being GSP. When called out on this he will disappear from the thread only to appear in one like this copying and pasting the EXACT same arguement

I know it's off topic but the reason Im bringing this up is Im a little tired of reading the same old unsubstantiated bull**** who dismisses others opinions as Zuffa Zombies.
Time to put up or shut up Morono, name these Welterweights!

 

Ok had a bit of a rant in my 1st reply to this so I'll keep this short and sweet
American promotions mainly have fighters from the American continent because it's American. But they do have other nationalities fighting for them.
European promotions mainly have European fighters beacuae they are from Europe. But they do have other nationalities fighting for them
Asian promotions...well you can see where Im going with this right?

Now to use PRIDE as an example is a bit disingenuous as I believe your using this just to diss the UFC without really thinking it through
PRIDE was established and thriving at a time when MMA was still style verses style mainly. So you'd often see match ups like Muay Thai v catch Wrestling (Wandy v Sak) kickboxing v Sambo (Schilt v Fedor) and BBJ v almost everything.
So it was common to have Brazilians in PRIDE for BBJ/Muay Thai, the best kickboxers were mainly European(Dutch especially) wrestlers were American and so on. So that would explain the diversity of Nationality a lot better than UFC's mild Xenophobia as you seem to be explaining it. And Asia has so many different styles and cultures your bound to get a mish mash due to that, rather than a lack of it in the USofA. Not to mention that it was the best place to be to earn money in MMA and the UFC seemed to be on it's last legs due to Congressional pressure (like an abhorrence to soccers kicks, see post 1)

Unless you are just using this lack of other nationalities as an excuse to bash the UFC...

 

Intentional, you strike me as a big sports fan. You love them all but you don't have enough time to be obsessed.

Anyone who has a top 10 sports list, loves sports. For you to love K1 and WEC but not MMA as a whole is intriguing.