Its not like many sports, artforms, etc have tons of cas vs hard fans.
BROCKP4PNO1 -TheBear228 - With that said, I don't mind that "UFC only" kind of fan. They support the sport as much as a hardcore fan does, they just have a more limited viewpoint to enjoy it. The NFL is not the only league for american-style football, but yet that is what most people watch. No one considers the guy who watches the CFL, or NFL Europe or the AFL more of a football fan than the die hard NFL guy, it's just different strokes for different folks.I see your point, but a key difference here is that all the best football players are in the NFL, while in MMA the fighter most people consider the best in the sport in the most important weight division is fighting outside of the major org.
But your key difference has absolutely no impact on the sport itself or the fan base. The fan base doesn't care about these other guys, and does it hurt the sport? No. It hurts the fighters maybe, but thats the choice these fighters make (right or wrong) for not signing with the UFC.
In 10 years it's VERY possible the best basketball player in the world will take big money and play in Greece instead of the NBA. Are NBA-only fans less important to the sport because they don't follow this guy, his greek team, or the league the greek team plays in?
I'm not sure what point you're trying to get it, and I'm not sure if there is one. But the reality is, more fans is good for the sport, regardless of what aspects of it they appreciate.
TheBear228 - But your key difference has absolutely no impact on the sport itself or the fan base. The fan base doesn't care about these other guys, and does it hurt the sport? No. It hurts the fighters maybe, but thats the choice these fighters make (right or wrong) for not signing with the UFC.In the case of MMA, there definitely is a fan base that cares a lot about "these other guys" (more specifically, Fedor), and that's pretty much the point I'm trying to make. Usually hardcore fans are important influences on casual fans in any sport. But judging by a lot of the responses, it seems like there's a tendency among casual fans to see UFC as the sport itself, rather than UFC being an organization hosting MMA fights, and that obviously makes it harder (and most likely infuriating I would bet) for more knowledgeable fans to engage them about MMA stuff not directly related to UFC. Kinda explains a lot really.
In 10 years it's VERY possible the best basketball player in the world will take big money and play in Greece instead of the NBA. Are NBA-only fans less important to the sport because they don't follow this guy, his greek team, or the league the greek team plays in?
I'm not sure what point you're trying to get it, and I'm not sure if there is one. But the reality is, more fans is good for the sport, regardless of what aspects of it they appreciate.
EDIT: As for your NBA example, I'm not saying that UFC fans are less important for not knowing Fedor, not really trying to take a dig at UFC fans here if that's where you thought I was coming from. I'm simply curious about how Fedor can be so big among the hardcore/internet audience and basically unknown to the casual fan, I'm not passing any value judgements.
I was/still am a hardcore NHB fan, I'm more of a casual MMA fan.
BROCKP4PNO1 -TheBear228 - But your key difference has absolutely no impact on the sport itself or the fan base. The fan base doesn't care about these other guys, and does it hurt the sport? No. It hurts the fighters maybe, but thats the choice these fighters make (right or wrong) for not signing with the UFC.In the case of MMA, there definitely is a fan base that cares a lot about "these other guys" (more specifically, Fedor), and that's pretty much the point I'm trying to make. Usually hardcore fans are important influences on casual fans in any sport. But judging by a lot of the responses, it seems like there's a tendency among casual fans to see UFC as the sport itself, rather than UFC being an organization hosting MMA fights, and that obviously makes it harder (and most likely infuriating I would bet) for more knowledgeable fans to engage them about MMA stuff not directly related to UFC. Kinda explains a lot really.
In 10 years it's VERY possible the best basketball player in the world will take big money and play in Greece instead of the NBA. Are NBA-only fans less important to the sport because they don't follow this guy, his greek team, or the league the greek team plays in?
I'm not sure what point you're trying to get it, and I'm not sure if there is one. But the reality is, more fans is good for the sport, regardless of what aspects of it they appreciate.
EDIT: As for your NBA example, I'm not saying that UFC fans are less important for not knowing Fedor, not really trying to take a dig at UFC fans here if that's where you thought I was coming from. I'm simply curious about how Fedor can be so big among the hardcore/internet audience and basically unknown to the casual fan, I'm not passing any value judgements.
The biggest reason the casual fan has no interest in Fedor is because he doesn't bring anything to the table for them. He refuses to compete in the casual fan's organization of choice and he rarely fights in the casual fan's home country. He also has very little personality or charisma, which is something the casual fan is drawn to in any sport.
Rampage Jackson is a prime example. He's no different than he was prior to entering the UFC, if anything he was a better fighter then. He had charisma, he had marketability, but he wasn't fighting in venues or cards or promotions that fans were interested in seeing him compete in. He signed with the UFC, and now look at him.
Again, this isn't an issue of fans not appreciating Fedor or his skills or his record. They simply do not give a shit about him because he has nothing to do with the organization they follow.
We could be given proven facts tomorrow that declare the prime minister of Belgium the greatest leader in the entire world; unless he's the president of the united states, the casual american pretty much won't give a damn about him even if he's superior to what we have here.
100 to 1, maybe 1000 to 1
id say average fan vs person that does mma or trains mma at all is probably
100,000 to 1