The Ultimate Fighter has given Dana a goldmine: he can a) put over unknown fighters as something special, b) plop them into virtually any PPV to fill in the undercard, and c) pay them peanuts.

It’s almost a joke, and Dana is laughing all the way to the bank.

I will take a pass on UFC PPVs until there is 3+ fights on the card worth seeing. I’m hoping their London England PPV will be a little more stacked.

If the undercard was Hughes vs. Diego Sachez (winner gets a title fight) and Rich Franklin vs. a more established fighter (who else is good at 185…Phil Baroni?), THAT would feel like it’s worth $40+ tax to me.

I’m not crazy about the card either and I’m on the fence about whether to buy it. But to understand the success of the UFC, you have to understand the mindset of the casual fan who doesn’t care how someone is internationally ranked and whether they are actually the best fighter in the world. They just want to see their favorites kick ass and the ones with more on the line tend to sell better, but that doesn’t happen by accident. The mega fights need to be built up contarary to Pride’s belief that you can simply have the top fighter incestuously fighter each other over and over.

So take a pass. I might do so as well, but there’s no need to complain about it because it does serve a purpose as others have pointed out.

A) I said myself and many others…yes, I’m pre-supposing that there are some people who feel like having one good fight on a $40 PPV is a rip-off. So what? I’m quite sure I’m not completely alone in this sentiment.

I don’t agree with you assesment that UFC puts only one good fight per PPV and I think your opinion is in the minority by looking at the phenominal PPV numbers. I’m tired of hearing how “inferior” UFC is when its clearly satisying many many audiences and elevating MMA as a whole.

B) Who the hell cares who “misses me”? I never make a claim that it would make a fucking difference if I stopped buying UFC’s shows.

You implied that if the UFC didn’t change its way, it would lose you and potentially other customers. I’m just citing in that in reality, the trend is the exact opposite. There’s always room for improvement, but what you’re saying just doesn’t jive.

Matt Hughes vs Chris Lytle is a fine match-up if you want to feed someone to Huges and fuel his comeback…maybe for a free TV event on Spike.

But as the second most hyped fight on a PPV?

I guess I just don’t like the boxing formula of one big fight, and 6-8 throw-aways. I know most of America is very comfortable with this type of booking, but it feels like a rip-off to me.

If the undercard was Hughes vs. Diego Sachez (winner gets a title fight) and Rich Franklin vs. a more established fighter (who else is good at 185…Phil Baroni?), THAT would feel like it’s worth $40+ tax to me.

Although amen re: Matt Hughes vs Chris Lytle. I honestly don’t enjoy watching any of the TUF4 fighters.

HOWEVER…on a PPV event, I think it’s OK to have several good fights, and not just one. Also – how about a couple fights where we don’t know who will win beforehand?

Lytle vs. Hughes and Couture vs. Sylvia are basically squash fights, which Dana White is passing off as ‘main events’.

Lytle can’t even beat Matt Serra, so what hope does he have against Hughes?

And old Randy moved like a senior citizen vs. Liddell a year ago – how is he going to dea with Sylvia’s range and extra weight?

Going back though fightlinker…i think newbies are even paid 3 and 3….so how sad is that?

I’ll throw in my two cents. I like UFC’s booking because you only have so many main event level matches that will draw on PPV, and I don’t think UFC wants to blow through them too fast and leave themselves with nothing.

The fans need time to get to know these guys (ie. Cro-Cop, Rampage, Anderson Silva) before they’ll pay to see them on PPV. I think giving these guys a couple tune-up fights (or squash matches) before putting them in primetime is a good move. Seeing Cro-Cop or Silva, or Rampage destroy a couple guys helps build interest with the casual fan to see them face current champions like Liddell, or Sylvia.

PRIDE used to book this way, but they seem to have forgotten this formula that allowed them to have so much success. Feeding Wanderlei Silva ‘more cans than a coke machine’ made him a killer in the eyes of a lot of Japanese fans, and that built the interest in seeing him face Sakuraba, and that series of matches drew a lot of money for the company.

A) I said myself and many others…yes, I’m pre-supposing that there are some people who feel like having one good fight on a $40 PPV is a rip-off. So what? I’m quite sure I’m not completely alone in this sentiment.

B) Who the hell cares who “misses me”? I never make a claim that it would make a fucking difference if I stopped buying UFC’s shows.

All I’m saying is that IN MY OPINION, on the FIGHT OPINION message board, it’s a little silly to fork out $40, plus tax, to see Liddell slaughter Ortiz (again) and a bunch of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ reality show trainees.

When Griffin vs. Jardine is the semi-main event on a card (band being paid pocket change), and you’re making TENS OF MILLIONS on an event, the only thing that’s clear to me is that you’re a cheap, cheap S.O.B.

Pride, IN MY OPINION, has always put on more entertaining shows due to many factors: the rules, the match-making, and up until recently, the star power.

I just hope that since UFC is taking over the MMA world (whether I like it or not) Dana White digs into his very deep pockets with his short little alligator arms and puts on several good fights on one event, and gives you, me, and everyone a little more bang for our PPV buck.

Paying for CroCop was a VERY good start, and I hope the trend continues.