The MMA thread

[Grylte]

We are live!

Decent card to end the year.

Not watched anything the last couple months, but just checked into the ufc website.
My first thought was "wow, Jones have actually had a fight!" - and then the second was about how Colby can still be the main event.... when was his last win? I can only remember losses.
Oh and Mitchell won a fight, that's a bit fun since he was sent into coma the last time - bet his interview was very intelligent and thought through.

 

[RobinLFC]

Can this guy feck off already? "The rumours about Topuria are false" as if McGregor has any business being in the octagon with him right now.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Can this guy feck off already? "The rumours about Topuria are false" as if McGregor has any business being in the octagon with him right now.

In fairness Topuria definitely would have taken it, easy win and probably make more money than he's made in his entire career combined.

311 will be a great card.

 

[RobinLFC]

In fairness Topuria definitely would have taken it, easy win and probably make more money than he's made in his entire career combined.

311 will be a great card.

Convincing comment imo, but indeed if it would materialize, I think he might consider it since it would be a huge purse (and easy win).

 

[AfonsoAlves]

Is anyone a bit...bored by MMA these days?

Everyone at the top nowdays are practical replicas. Technically sound, orthodox, all round great fighters, excellent wrestlers and strikers with no holes in their game and therefore many of the top level fights are incredibly boring.

The only questions are

"Can someone blast double Alex P before they get KO'd"

and

"Can Aspinall K0 Jones"

I miss the days of El-cucuy (Looks like he's getting battered before finishing his opponent), Mcgregor (his striking countered by his TDD), Israel (can a top level wrestler smash him), your explosive wildmen like Romero, your BJJ specialists like Werdum and Jacare. Your emotionally underdeveloped stand and bangers like Cody Garbrandt.

There just isn't the same...Romance to it.

 

[Dirty Schwein]

Is anyone a bit...bored by MMA these days?

Everyone at the top nowdays are practical replicas. Technically sound, orthodox, all round great fighters, excellent wrestlers and strikers with no holes in their game and therefore many of the top level fights are incredibly boring.

The only questions are

"Can someone blast double Alex P before they get KO'd"

and

"Can Aspinall K0 Jones"

I miss the days of El-cucuy (Looks like he's getting battered before finishing his opponent), Mcgregor (his striking countered by his TDD), Israel (can a top level wrestler smash him), your explosive wildmen like Romero, your BJJ specialists like Werdum and Jacare. Your emotionally underdeveloped stand and bangers like Cody Garbrandt.

There just isn't the same...Romance to it.

Agree with you completely. Still love watching but yeah, not as great as it was with prime McGregor, Khabib, El Cucuy etc.

I also feel like a lot of cards are either filled with filler fights or a bunch of uninteresting fights with a half decent co-main and good main event.

I would rather they did less cards and stacked the PPVs more.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Convincing comment imo, but indeed if it would materialize, I think he might consider it since it would be a huge purse (and easy win).

I think he posted after McGregor which is telling, more reactive. If he was first then yes.

@AfonsoAlves same as with all sports as more money enters, Dana clearly is trying to keep it exciting but the wrestling heavy guys (who also are generally the most boring fighters) are becoming worryingly dominant. Before the UFC needed the wild personalities to sell the brand and grow the sport but they don't really need them as much now, it's all a bit more professional and less exciting. Though, when I think of the personalities who have been the poster boys for that period and made the most money, McGregor and Bones, maybe it is for the best given their backgrounds.

 

[AfonsoAlves]

I think he posted after McGregor which is telling, more reactive. If he was first then yes.

@AfonsoAlves same as with all sports as more money enters, Dana clearly is trying to keep it exciting but the wrestling heavy guys (who also are generally the most boring fighters) are becoming worryingly dominant. Before the UFC needed the wild personalities to sell the brand and grow the sport but they don't really need them as much now, it's all a bit more professional and less exciting. Though, when I think of the personalities who have been the poster boys for that period and made the most money, McGregor and Bones, maybe it is for the best given their backgrounds.

It's not the wild personalities that sell it, it's the fighting styles.

Nobody knew jack shit about Shogun Rua - the man showed up, fought, and then went back to Brazil and nobody in the media really knew anything about him there.

What did anyone know about Jacare Sousa? Or Werdum other than the troll-face? What did we know about the likes of Ricardo Lamas, or Clay Guida, or Diego Sanchez (funnily enough his increase in "personality" directly correlates with his decrease in fighting abilities). Machida was just this mysterious karate dude who had some amazing finishes.

I don't think there's a single fighter as exciting as Diego Sanchez, Clay Guida anymore.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Is anyone a bit...bored by MMA these days?

Everyone at the top nowdays are practical replicas. Technically sound, orthodox, all round great fighters, excellent wrestlers and strikers with no holes in their game and therefore many of the top level fights are incredibly boring.

The only questions are

"Can someone blast double Alex P before they get KO'd"

and

"Can Aspinall K0 Jones"

I miss the days of El-cucuy (Looks like he's getting battered before finishing his opponent), Mcgregor (his striking countered by his TDD), Israel (can a top level wrestler smash him), your explosive wildmen like Romero, your BJJ specialists like Werdum and Jacare. Your emotionally underdeveloped stand and bangers like Cody Garbrandt.

There just isn't the same...Romance to it.

Sounds like standard sporting nostalgia. I think everyone gets jaded with any sport after a while. I definitely find football less interesting than it used to be and I found MMA started getting boring for me before a lot of those names you mentioned were headliners. I found it way more interesting when the likes of Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz and BJ Penn were still fighting.

 

[tomaldinho1]

It's not the wild personalities that sell it, it's the fighting styles.

Nobody knew jack shit about Shogun Rua - the man showed up, fought, and then went back to Brazil and nobody in the media really knew anything about him there.

What did anyone know about Jacare Sousa? Or Werdum other than the troll-face? What did we know about the likes of Ricardo Lamas, or Clay Guida, or Diego Sanchez (funnily enough his increase in "personality" directly correlates with his decrease in fighting abilities). Machida was just this mysterious karate dude who had some amazing finishes.

I don't think there's a single fighter as exciting as Diego Sanchez, Clay Guida anymore.

Seems like a bit of a contradiction - viewing figures for the time you are referring to would be paltry, how did the UFC not need the personalities to sell?. You couldn't find more entertaining fighting styles across the divisions than early days UFC but it really wasn't that popular. Also the poster mentioned much more recent names than those above.