As a UK viewer paying £9 a month for all UFC events plus some extra premiership football I can't say I'm massively disapointed in the quality of the UFC's product but if I was in the position of having to shell out £35 a card on PPVs there are very few in recent years I'd consider to have been worth the price.
So much stupidity in one comment its scary. The hype was that this was a stacked card, which it undoubtedly was. But with the exception of the Torres fight (which was kinda to be expected given the changes he's made to his training) I can't think of a single televised match that underdelivered. And Silva/Belfort over delivered. Secondly it is damn right laughable to claim thet the UFC is more dishonest than Pride or Strikeforce. Pride would indirectly pay fighters to lose by giving no-name fighters more for a loss than a victory while Strikeforce is blatantly following a policy of booking mismatches to make its chosen stars look better. Nationalistic promotion...Pride was built on nationalism! The whole Sakuraba vs. Gracie's feud was pure nationalism built on the feud between judo and jiu-jitsu. And whereas the UFC has championships that mean something and uncharismatic fighters winning title matches on merit, Pride had out an out freak show fights as a regular occurence. As for Stirkeforce...I mean FFS they've got Herschel Walker fighting scrubs on national television - whatever you say about the UFC they've made that the likes of Kimbo and Lesnar earned their spots in the company. The UFC does not struggle to sign the best fighters in the world, with the exception of a few isolated examples they have all the best fighters under contract. They do not demand a premium, with JMMA in depression the UFC is the organization where all fighters can earn the most money. Strikeforce has had a few entertaining cards over the past few months but the entertainment has been largely based on deliberately booking mismatches to get quick finishes.
****. I had no idea that the cards were that expensive in Canada. I guess I'll be paying even more for UFC PPVs when I move to Vancouver from New York this fall.
I think every single fight on the card underdeliverd compaired to the hype behind it. Anderson KOed Vitor in the first after not a great deal happening dispite the match being talked up as "the biggest MW fight ever", Forrest/Franklin was just dull dispite both being hyped as high action fighters, Jones dominated Bader who failed to live up to the hype as one of the best new talents in the division, Ellenburger was hyped as a great finisher and gave a dull performance the moment he was threatened, Torres was hyped as one of the most action packed fighters in the sport and provided a dull display of jabs. Was I disapointed in the card? no not really as it went much how I expected it to(ok not the frontkick KO ) but I can certainly see why a fan who believed the hype would have been(yet again). Prides business dealings were certainly highly questionable but in terms of the product they offered to the public I think both they and SF are more honiest than the UFC. You carp on about mismatches but both Pride and SF put on a ton of compeitive fights, guys like Crocop were generally beating up lesser talents in addition to fighting high level matches. Sakuraba wasnt near the top of the sport during his peak years and deserving of hype? besides him I think its noticble just how few Japanese fighters featured in Pride compaired to Americans in the UFC. Pride were also much more open with there nationalism, something like Yoshida/Ogawa was not promoted as a fight at the highest level of the sport, the same with Walker, he's a speical attraction and treated as such rather than having the dishoniest EXC Kimbo hype. The UFC clearly have more quality fighters than anyone else but in terms of the most entertaining fighters who push hardest for finishes I think its notable that they have far fewer than you'd expect. Signing up established exciting talents naturally costs more than signing up less exciting fighters and the UFC tend to do the latter as a result. The odds on recent strikeforce cards have actually been closer than the UFC events going on at around the same time I believe so that rather throws that fanboy "mismatches" cliche out the window. Babalu/Hendo, Lawler/Jacare, Diaz/Cyborg, etc these were all mismatches? I don't think theres anything dumb or dishoniest about my central point, the UFC sells cards based more on hype and personality than Pride did or Strikeforce does and as a result those cards failed to live up to that hype far more often. They put on alot of good MMA that I enjoy watching but do not make the best use of their resouces and do not offer a product I'd consider paying anything close to US PPV prices for.
The last UFC PPV was much more entertaining (over delivered on what looked to be a weak card), too bad nobody watched that one. This one looked really good on paper but didn't deliver, it's a sport, it happens.
