Do you blame the UFC's "cut" policy for the stagnant fights of late?
Are these guys scared of getting cut by the big show equaling point fighting? Seemingly very few individuals actually lay it on the line anymore. Not many of them seem to come out hungry. Or could it be that everybody is so well rounded, they trump eachother?
What are your opinions? 
The guys who lay it on the line and lose like Matt Brown, Chris Lytle, Dan Hardy (eh), Spenser Fisher, Sam Stout, Jeremy Stephens...these guys get a lot of leeway before being cut, if they ever do.
Guys who stink up the joint -- they are at a far higher risk of being let go once they lose a couple. One more performance like last night's and Guida will be gone, or at least sent to Strikeforce. I actually wouldn't be surprised to see him off to SF right now.
orcus - The guys who lay it on the line and lose like Matt Brown, Chris Lytle, Dan Hardy (eh), Spenser Fisher, Sam Stout, Jeremy Stephens...these guys get a lot of leeway before being cut, if they ever do.
Guys who stink up the joint -- they are at a far higher risk of being let go once they lose a couple. One more performance like last night's and Guida will be gone, or at least sent to Strikeforce. I actually wouldn't be surprised to see him off to SF right now.
Man it sure seems that way doesnt it? I wish more fighters would follow their model.
I know they want to win, but winning at the cost of boring the people that pay to see you fight.... It just seems silly to me. After last night, nobody in their right mind will pay for a Guida main event. It's like biting the hand that feeds you. I know Zuffa has deep pockets, but in the end, the fans pay their salaries and it's entertainment.
It's zuffa's pay structure... if you enter a performance knowing half your paycheck or more is dependent on the win you'd be stressed out... when fighters are stressed it hurts their performance. Where there is stress there is no flow and without flow performance suffers.
The UFC would be a much better product if the fight night bonuses were taken away and the show money represented 2/3rds of the fighters paycheck.
the only bonus structure should be ppv main event, ppv co main event, and fight night main event. This works better because it's earned no matter what happens in the cage during that fight and represents achievemant across a fighters entire body of work instead of just one fight.
Zuffa's pay structure right now is like a boiler room operation which fighters do not fit the psychological profile for. most of the population doesnt even fit the psychological profile for this pay structure to bring out the best results.
Dana white fits this profile so he essentially created something he thinks makes sense... because for him it does. But for an athlete - in general - it doesnt make any sense and only creates unnecessary stress which hurts performance.
Zuffa could be paying out the exact same money to talent as it is now and they would have such a better product - if they would just change the structure of the pay.
Eliminate the game show (fight night) bonuses, and make the show money at least 2/3rds of the pay.
wouldnt you perform differently if you were on a 30 and 10 contract instead of a 20 and 20?
They need FINISH bonuses, not WIN bonuses.
Period.