LOL @ Stott
9)Lee Murrays Bank Robbing escapade that surely seals the deal he won't ever fight again.
what ever became of that?
Would like to see Rulan Gardner back in MMA and also Robbie Lawler fufill his potential.
"1. UFC Marketting, and failure to connect with fans"
I stopped reading there. I can't waste my time with people who refuse to accept that ZUFFA has done an excellent job bringing in new fans. A hugely successful reality show and increasing PPV's have taken this sport places it's never been and most of us thought it'd never be.
TH
hacket you should read the whole part because I am completely right with what I say in it.
and by connect with fans I meant their failure to secure a product that gives back as much as we have given them. raigin PPV prices time after time and shafting fighters with pay is not giving back to us. It turns people off to the UFC
That obviously isn't happening. Ratings and buys are on the increase.
TH
fernando vasconcellos
you misunderstood the post then.
its cross over fans from boxing and wrestling.
they are used to the prices, boxing fans even higher. but the point is that the UFC is fuckin up and losing fans because of the price increases and the fact they have yet to reward their fighters with the increased net profits
frank sham, vitor, and randleman dissapoint me cuz they all had the natural athleticism to rule the mma world for years, but didnt. although theyve all held belts at 1 point
"You're correct and i should have been more specific. I meant to imply that he didn't have the same popularity then (even as UFC champ) as he does now. So he was unknown to the general masses... Now he's
is in DirectTV commercials. :)"
Everyone, aside from Tank, Shamrock and Gracie, were unknown to the masses, and they were not even active fighters.... as UFC champ that win was as HUGE as it got then and everyone knew it.
I don't think the UFC is losing fans at all. The numbers don't add up. They've done an excellent job. If they had kept to the few hardcores -- putting on PPV's like the one with Pulver/Penn headlining -- I think they'd still be getting low buyrates and would probably be belly up by now.
I think fighter's pay should increase, but I haven't seen a ZUFFA balance sheet so I don't know.
TH
Valentin Overeem is an often overlooked and def disappointing the amount of promise he showed early.
I think Randleman and Vitor are the clear tops considering how dam gifted as athletes they are.
Enson did disappointment too in not fighting very smart many times when he was already overmatched as a small HW. We all know he has big nuts but i think we also wanted him to see him fight better too.
Igor Zinoviev delivered on some of his promise but he just never continued long enough for us to see. Yeah, he got boomed by Frank but imo Igor really had one of the best earliest complete games (arguably more than Ruas) and could have been a 185/MW like Frank and Sak too.
I made a thread about him earlier about being the prototype judo/sambo/kickboxing fighter from Russia that would later give us the Fedors, Arlovskis, Kharitonovs, Suloevs, Semenovs, etc.
Saku too obviously has been a disappointment kinda like Enson, being outmatched too often but while Enson was the give it all, warrior type but not that great type fighter, Saku is/was obviously one of the biggest talents we've seen in the game and he has had one of the biggest drops in performance to match (though aside from being headbutted by Nino, he still has never been beaten by a guy his size....though isnt much smaller than the LHWs anymore either).
"fernando vasconcellos"
Yeah apparently dude just kinda chokes/cant bring it in the fights that count but is hella skilled.
I do remember though that i think eddie b was talkin about his "world class bjj, wrestling and boxing" or something....
"frank sham, vitor, and randleman dissapoint me cuz they all had the natural athleticism to rule the mma world for years, but didnt. although theyve all held belts at 1 point"
Frank def did rule the world when he did (although him and sak never fought). True woulda been nice to see him continue but he still def proved his dominance.
Just a few other names that came to mind:
Carlos Baretto
Dave Menne
Jermaine Andre
John Lewis
Marvin Eastman
WBP has a great post.