...is Dana White's attitude towards the fans.
Instead of trying to deliver the best fights possible, he's thinking, "How can I bilk people along, as long as possible, while over-charging them and under-paying fighters?"
Evidence: the UFC 62 card...
...not getting BJ Penn right away to fight Matt Hughes to settle the question of whether his win was a fluke.
what does bilk mean?
its noob for "I know shit"...
its not a monopoly, just because they have more money to sustain longer and get their brand out there. They are sort of the only trick in town because no one has decided to invest in MMA until recently. Now the gates are opened, people will always remember the UFC is the first and it will probably maintain the top of the heap based on that alone. But there will be valid US competition soon. I'm sure it was the same with boxing at its inception.
SInce BJ is fighting in the UFC 2 weeks later at a different weight class... it's not just a snap of the fingers to get him on the card.
I also doubt that BJ would take a career defining fight on short notice at a different weight then he has been training for.
But that's Dana's fault... well thought out.
to all the know-nothings its all Dana's fault.
dana is a bilking baffoon. Damn him for not having the new guy fight for the title straight off the bat. damn that bilking bastard!
Justin
Realistically the UFC have done about everything they could for the fans. We wanted a tv show and we got a reality show, live fight cards, UFC unleashed, Countdown shows and now live weigh-ins.
People were screaming to bring back the 155 division and they did so, and have a pretty solid stable fo fighters for it now.
As for fighters the fans have asked for, they signed a pretty high percentage of those fighters who they could have realistically got (ie, not under contract elsewhere). Fans wanted Tito back and it happened. Penn was cried for and they let him fight for the #1 contender spot. Pulver was brought back. Anderson Silva signed. They tried to work a deal to get Silva to fight Lidell (Pride is the only one holding it up). And of all things they got Royce friggin Gracie in the cage despite being under contract elsewhere.
Lidell v Horn happened almost exclusively because of this message board. Tito vs Shammy 1-17 is a direct result of the fans intrest. Say what you will but people tune in to watch them fight. They arent doing it becuase nobody cares.
Zuffa does some shit wrong (payscale, lack of heavyweights) but theyve gotten alot right. To say theyve ignored the hardcorefans though is a bit ridiculous. Penn, Pulver, A Silva, Horn, Babalu arent even a blip on the casual fans radar yet Zuffa brought them back because the serious fans asked for it. Not everything theyve done is aimed at newbs. Even trying to get Vanderlei a title shot is a dangerous move that theyve tried to do for hardcore fans. Casual fans couldnt give a shit about V Silva and probably wouldnt a clue of how important the match would be. But weve asked for it, and Zuffa has tried to pull it off.
I agree with The Kangaroo...great post. :)
We should appreciate what we do have, considering years ago MMA was banned from tv period. There was a time where only 1 or 2 superstars could make a living in the UFC. Now it's as common as ever to find fighters who train full-time.
People should be more concious of what dana's trying to, which is build stars. With the extra exposure with UFC Unleashed, All Access and UFN, no name fighters are slowly but surely gaining more name recognition. The key phrase here is "IT TAKES TIME". Shit doesn't happen when you all want it to happen. Dana's working his ass off to build stars. The more we see the faces of Josh Burkman, Jason Lambert, Josh Koshcheck, Josh Neer, Drew Fickett, Melvin Gulliard and others like them, the more excited we'll be to see them fight. Not to mention, the talent pool will be the shit after TUF is over.
Instead of complaining, why not cheer the efforts of Dana White and Zuffa.
How can some of you complain about fighters purses AND complain about spending a few extra dollars for a ppv?
the PPV price is as high as it's ever been, but if you look at the payroll for UFC 62, I'll bet it's one of the lowest in recent history.
There should be more top match-ups with name fighters and more championship fights.
Jens Pulver, as a champion couldn't make enough to support himself because they didn't give him enough fights, so was banned by the UFC for fighting. That's his livelihood. Why not give a champ all the fights he can handle rather than stacking cards with unknown fighters?
I am torn between agreeing with the kangaroo and danield. There are great things that the UFC and Dana have done and there are also things that don't seem to make much sense. That being said (I really didn't say anything that was definitive), I think that we should also look at the Fertita's as a strong source of financial support for this sport. In addition, they stepped in to take a chance when this sport was almost in the toilet.
What I see is the UFC is more interested in maintaining its control of the US market. This is why they make their fighters sign contracts not to fight in any other event. I was watching Diego's post fight interview and he states when Dana White thinks I'm ready for a title shot then I will be ready, I will fight whoever the UFC tells me to fight... Who the Fock is Dana White. All the fighters I know want to fight to be top dog not fight just to be a fighter. When you get a fighter who has a fighters attitude then you get Dana White and Tito. The question is not do you wanna be a fighter its do you wanna be a UFC fighter meaning do you wanna be the organizations biotch
No doubt that the UFC has done good things, I don't deny that.
For example, UFN6 on free TV was great! Thanks to them for that!
But, intentionally having weak cards like UFC 62 is unnecessary when there are so many name fighters out there that are hungry to fight.
Also, they DO NOT go after the best match-ups between the best fighters possible, which I think, as a fan of the sport, they should do. What if the NFL refused to match up the best teams for the Super Bowl because that would be just too good?
"Instead of trying to deliver the best fights possible..."
Diego/Karo, Hughes/Royce, GSP/BJ, Liddel/Randy, AA/Sylvia, Liddel/Tito, Hughes/every top WW, etc, were never put together.