http://www.fiveknuckles.com/mma-news/WEC-matchmaker-explains-how-fights-get-created.html
Interesting read. Here are some excerpts:
"My job, in a nutshell, is to bring viable challengers to compete against the champions," Shelby said. "I have to form a line of credible athletes and keep the line moving. I owe it to the champions. Of course there are so many things that go along with that, but I'm trying to find out just who is the absolute best in the world. Not only that, but who is second best, third best, fourth best, and so on. The bulk of the time though, is spent in contract negotiations, scouting, paperwork, meetings, etc. There is more day-to-day operations stuff at Zuffa than you can imagine."
"Four years ago I had so many videotapes that I was running out of room to store them," he said. "But now, since the advent of YouTube, I've moved my VCR out and I just spend a whole lot of time on YouTube. It's indispensable. It's incredible. Before I had to try really, really hard to find tapes and go through fighters' reels. Now with YouTube it's cut way down on the amount of work you have to do to see fighters. A guy gets a fight, puts it on YouTube, sends an e-mail with a link and that's it."
"Anybody who sends in letters and tapes saying, 'I want to fight in the UFC,' those get funneled through me, but I don't get that many anymore because now if a guy is really good, Joe Silva and I know about him," Shelby said. "In each weight class I've got about 20 guys I keep my eye on to see if they're still fighting and still winning, and so then when there's an opening, I'll call one of the managers for those guys."
"When Bowles fell out, Joe Silva and I were talking, and we just said, 'Let's just get the toughest sonofabitch we can find,'" Shelby said. "We owed that to Miguel Torres, because Miguel doesn't like easy fights. So I thought Mizugaki was an opponent the hard-cores would like. Not a lot of people knew about him in the United States, but I thought it would be a good fight. And it turned out to be an awesome fight. An incredibly awesome fight. And I think it shows that WEC caters to the hard-cores. If you're a real, hard-core fan of MMA, you like what the WEC is doing."
ttt for the 2nd best matchmaker in the game today.
ttt
Oh and if you are trying to get into the WEC/UFC it looks like you should start getting highlights yourself and footage of all your fights on Youtube.
Sean Shelby and Joe Silva are watching you poop.
WEC puts on great fights.
sean shelby and joe silva = ceiling cat.
Sean Shelby has been working behind the scenes with Zuffa since the beginning. Very few people know just how much he has truly contributed to the great matches over the years along with Joe Silva, Joe just happens to be the face.
Having Sean now as the matchmaker for the WEC is going to help bring it to a whole new level.
TTT for one of the nicest, most knowledgeable guys in the sport.
I agree LTL. Sean is old school and knows the game.
TTT for Shelby....by far the nicest guy ive talked to in the business
ttt
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TTT...
ttt