by the way i jsut realized that you have to be trolling...sorry i will back away and let you continued sorry
its actually a pretty good troll.
Seth Petruzelli
Pretjah -You mean the Wanderlei Silva that fought an exciting and close fight with Chuck Liddell, then went on to destroy keith Jardine in less than a minute? Shogun Rua, coming off an injury to lose to the current LHW champ in Griffin? Herring was never a contender in PRIDE. The only real argument you have is Cro Cop, who definately didn't impress. And let's not forget Rampage, who beat Chuck in PRIDE AND the UFC. If you honestly think the LHW in the UFC was stronger than PRIDE's during those years, you are sadly mistakened. Liddell, Ortiz, and who else? vs. Silva, Rua, Jackson, Arona, Nog jr., Henderson? Give me a break, your argument is riddled with holes.CaptainPlanet -wow i dont want to make this a pride vs ufc thread but you mean the better pride fighters that have come into the UFC and completely dominated like silvia,herring, cro cop, rua?Pretjah -What proof is that? For the longest time, PRIDE had the better fighters, paid their fighters more money, and had an all around better product. The only division the UFC had that was stronger was the WW division, and even then you could make an argument for PRIDE.CaptainPlanet -this is great you make an arguement against the UFC by claiming they almost went under( no one except a few people know if this is true or not) any way you use that as an arguement aginst the UFC the whole while making the arguement that PRIDE was BETTER AND THEY DID GO UNDER!!!Pretjah - what MMA promotion has EVER been bigger, hotter, better, more followed than the UFC? please don't say pride because even though pride was bigger in japan for maybe two years or so
the ufc has always been bigger than pride (not saying better or even stronger which could be argued)
but PRIDE at the time had way more money to spend on its fighters, and i totally believe they had a better product. We seem to be forgetting that the UFC almost went under until TUF came out, so most of the top talent in the world was in other organizations.
the UFC has ALWAYS been the premiere MMA organization...did pride make a small run? yes did they suceed not even close...and as TITO would say the proof is in the putting
will give you NOG but the NOG Ricco fight IN PRIDE showed that there wasn't that much of a difference in the organizations skill wise.
lets even give fedor for arguements sack...but lets be honest...if fedor was that dominate all he had to do was sign to fight Randy and zuffa would have made him lots of money if he won. but he wouldn't sign with the UFC.
the ufc light heavies have shown to be stronger and other there is no comparison with the ufc at 170 over anyone in pride. hughes was the best 170 in the world by a long shot during that period
however for arguements sake lets say pride was better...you made the post of MMA promotion in the US anyhow...there has never been any MMA promotion in the usa that even comes close to competing with the UFC during any time period.
so your best case scenario is for a period of about 2 years pride was a better organization for heavyweights. yeah great arguement....
The arguments in this thread are quite stupid.
Royce and Frank
Philip Miller. End of thread.
I really think that Andre Arlovski is the valid answer to your question, and you're wrong if you think he didnt have bargaining power. The UFC tried to re-sign Andre but they were outbid by a new org with no sense of financial responsibility.
So is Randy Couture, but he didn't like those so he made up reasons why they weren't valid answers.
Phillip Miller.
Mad Xyientist - So is Randy Couture, but he didn't like those so he made up reasons why they weren't valid answers.
How would Randy count if he was and still is under contract with the UFC? Either way, not many of you are getting the point of the question, i guess i didn't phrase it in enough layman terms for you. This whole thread has everything to do with EXC going under, for the record. So I'll spell it out for you.... Since the UFC's economic hey day began 3 years ago, has any STAR fighter no longer under contract left the UFC for another promotion? And the answer is....NO.
anyone who was one and done...?
What constitutes a star fighter? Andre is a former champ, and had won his last 3 fights, when his contract ran out. He was one of the top contenders at HW, he should be getting ready to fight Nog right now, not Mir.
I can see you saying Tim Sylvia wasnt a star, because he went out on a loss. and Randy never signed anywhere else, so he wasnt completely gone. But, Andre was a titleholder, and he was winning fights when he left. If he was still in the UFC, he would be fighting Randy or Nog in the little mini Heavyweight tourney, instead of Brock or Mir.
mark shultz. dominated in his appearance at ufc 9 and than was never to be seen again.
enson inoue also made a good debut in the ufc. he soon after beat randy couture. id say he was also at the top of his game at that time.
"How would Randy count if he was and still is under contract with the UFC? Either way, not many of you are getting the point of the question, i guess i didn't phrase it in enough layman terms for you. This whole thread has everything to do with EXC going under, for the record. So I'll spell it out for you.... Since the UFC's economic hey day began 3 years ago, has any STAR fighter no longer under contract left the UFC for another promotion? And the answer is....NO."
Define a star fighter. IMO Andre is a star fighter and the UFC wanted to keep him under contract but were outbid.
This thread stinks.
Genki Sudo
CaptainPlanet -Mad Xyientist - Randy Couture left when he was a bigger star than ever, not sure what you define as his peak, but it was his peak in popularity and arguably performance as well.
Randy never officially left to fight in another promo
you never mentioned that in your thread. when i read what you wrote, Randy was 1st to mind.
Chimono - What constitutes a star fighter? Andre is a former champ, and had won his last 3 fights, when his contract ran out. He was one of the top contenders at HW, he should be getting ready to fight Nog right now, not Mir.
A star to me is a franchise face like Liddell, Hughes, Ortiz, Couture. Until the past year and a half, you could say that those 4 fighters carried the UFC. They were synonymous with the brand. Arlovski was never close to that. I think he was starting to come into his own until the two BIG losses to Sylvia, which, imo, knocked down the HW ranks quite a bit.
I think that GSP, Penn, and Griffin are obviously taking the place of those guys, so we'll see what happens when contract time is up for them. Is Zuffa, inc so smart that they have these guys locked up during their prime so when walk time comes, they don't have other options?
