The UFC does not care at all about the sport. They made chael vs jones (absolute joke of a fight ranking wise), approved belfort for TRT despite his past drug test failures (nice personal responsibility UFC), crushed every single feeder promotion that's probably good for the sport as a whole (WEC, strikeforce), cutting top 5 fighters for being boring, making fights that disagree with their OWN rankings.
With that said, who fucking cares?
If the UFC embraces their real identity as an entertainment leauge (WWE) then they can just focus entirely on making the matchups that people want and that's that. No more fucking around trying to look like a legit sport. You're not. With that said i am perfectly okay watching jones vs chael because that's going to be a great beatdown, and I am okay not watching Fitch Maia. 
rrefs - JUST BLEED!
GSP vs nick Diaz
Wanderlei silva and stann absolutely immortalized for closing their eyes and swing with RECKLESS abandon.
I'm saying its okay to make entertainment #1 priority. Just stop saying you're a legit sport with it.
Keep the vtfd's coming
Nick Diaz is gonna talk so much shit the whole fight, idk who's gonna win but it'll be entertaining the whole fucking fight!
AllAmericanBoxing - Nick Diaz is gonna talk so much shit the whole fight, idk who's gonna win but it'll be entertaining the whole fucking fight!
Fuck yeah it will!!
well rounded poster - JUST BLEED BRO
How about because every fan except you dreams of MMA being a legit, mainstream sport?
Because the UFC is not the organization to do it.
They have no competition, therefore are able to do as they please. If that is entertaining fans, then by all means! Entertain me. Don't bullshit me.
You must be a touch retarded. Guess you don't know anything of the history of this sport. The UFC would not be around today or really not much mma in NA if they didn't go this route. They had to jump through thousands of flaming political and legal bullshit hoops. It's still not legal in some states. Making it a sport takes away the "human cock fighting" bullshit some in the government branded it when starting out.
Noun
An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others.
...
As far as I can tell, the UFC is not only the purest sport legally sanctioned and televised, but also the most legitimate. The fact that the match-making sometimes favors entertainment over linear rankings does not change this. You may question the legitimacy of a specific title or the value of a particular match-up, but as far as legitimacy as "sport" it is unimpeachable.
circulation123 -I agree with the OP’s view regarding Sonnen/JJ but I disagree about UFC “crushing” Strikeforce. Strikeforce was the one who put themselves out for sale. For varieties of reason, Strikeforce was not doing well. UFC just took the opportunity to buy them when they could no longer keep it up. It wasn’t Zuffa’s fault that Strikeforce had to sell itself. They did it to themselves.
Thanks bud.
I guess strikeforce just bankrupt themselves by signing guys for way more than they could realistically pay out.
bekk46 -The UFC does not care at all about the sport. They made chael vs jones (absolute joke of a fight ranking wise), approved belfort for TRT despite his past drug test failures (nice personal responsibility UFC), crushed every single feeder promotion that's probably good for the sport as a whole (WEC, strikeforce), cutting top 5 fighters for being boring, making fights that disagree with their OWN rankings.
With that said, who fucking cares?
If the UFC embraces their real identity as an entertainment leauge (WWE) then they can just focus entirely on making the matchups that people want and that's that. No more fucking around trying to look like a legit sport. You're not. With that said i am perfectly okay watching jones vs chael because that's going to be a great beatdown, and I am okay not watching Fitch Maia.
I consider them a legitimate sport league. All the right guys are champs.Every once and a while you get fun fights that dont make much sense or guys that skip over other guys but thats all on bussiness side of things for them to make some nice money.The rightful contenders will always get their shots eventually, just keep winning and it will get happen no matter how boring or unlikeable you are. Its just a slower process for some and a faster process for other contenders but it always gets done.
It's hard to call them legit when they cut top contenders just because they don't have a fan pleasing style