Tank did beat Cabbage Corriera.

Cesar/Frank?

Frank was inactive for the better part of a decade.

Tito/Ken?

Why would any of them have not been approved? The best argument would be against the third fight, but certainly not the first fight.

The aforementioned Gannon/Lee?

Gannon’s amateur experience.

Johnny Morton?

Maybe if he was fighting the 7 foot korean. Instead, he fought Bernard Ackah under exhibition rules.

Wasn’t there some football player dude that had a stroke or some shit?

???

Innumerable smaller shows?

Which ones? The ones running outside major commission states or in indian reservations? I’m sure the UFC would love to go to Soboba. Real step up for them.

Fedor/Zulu might have not gotten approved. Might not have. But only because it was so high-profile. You do recall the torrent of bullshitting and posturing on the part of Armando Garcia that followed Cesar Gracie’s forgettable loss to Mr. Frank Shamrock, right?

It would high profile because its the world champion against a guy with no verifiable record. A guy who’s 1-0 but really good beating a buy down who’s 0-2 but isn’t that well trained is not exactly what we’re talking about.

And if you don’t think the market decided whether or not Tito would fight Ken 18 times, you’re out of your mind.

The UFC were the ones who decided to do the rematch and put it on TUF. Before then, who was calling for the fight other than Tito back at a PPV that almost no one saw in comparison? The 3rd fight was only done because the second fight was a huge draw and ended in disappointing and dissatisfying fashion to everyone watching. But hey, its really because he thought Takayama/Frye was entertaining. Oh, and PRO WRESTLING.

Fedor/Zulu might have not gotten approved. Might not have. But only because it was so high-profile. You do recall the torrent of bullshitting and posturing on the part of Armando Garcia that followed Cesar Gracie’s forgettable loss to Mr. Frank Shamrock, right?

And if you don’t think the market decided whether or not Tito would fight Ken 18 times, you’re out of your mind.

The ability to make money and recieve media exposure also happens to dive straight into the ground going to places like that. Tyson/Lewis was a success in spite of its location in Memphis, but that could have sold 15,000 tickets in Greenland if they held it there, and it was hardly a “freakshow attraction”. I don’t see any such fight existing now or on the horizon that would do that kind of draw or those sort of numbers, short of Bruce Lee coming back from the dead with a 3rd degree Gracie black belt and a ADCC unlimited weight class win.

And it is for that reason that you will almost certainly never see fights like a Fedor/Zulu be approved under any circumstances.

It should be conditionally noted that this is only true in a seriously regulated state and not Oklahoma, Tennessee, etc. where paying the licensing fee is the only ‘real’ regulation going on.

You’re equating pro wrestling and MMA, however. Pro wrestling builds matches that it wants to happen by booking storylines and the finishes of matches to get the outcome they desire. MMA does not do this. They certainly do “hype” for events that may be prewritten, but the bouts themselves are not. They are why the fans watch, not because they want to see Chuck Liddell ride on a zamboni to the octagon, or in the hopes that Brandon Vera will do a run in and break the proverbial glass ceiling. Saying that the market will decide such factors is ridiculous. The market can decide certain facets, but in the end, unlike Japan, combat sports in this country are privy to the approval/disapproval of state atheltic commissions, both for amateur and professional fights. And it is for that reason that you will almost certainly never see fights like a Fedor/Zulu be approved under any circumstances.

It is both the close relationship with pro wrestling and the general attitude taken towards pro wrestling culturally that made so many of the bouts in PRIDE and K-1 possible. The UFC does not have either and likely never will. They are cognizant of their place, and I find it very unlikely that they’re about to test any athletic commission with their matchmaking in a desperate attempt to make a few bucks with a strategy they’ve not yet really bothered to employ.

Perhaps I wasn’t clear enough. My first post was meant to be analogous, and not at all meant to be taken literally. My second post, the point of which has largely escaped you, was meant to clarify my first post.

People get down on PRIDE because of the freakshow fights. These people are what we call Americans, the most fanatic of whom are rather accustomed to the UFC, which plays host to very few freakshow fights, because its audience does not demand or like to watch such bouts.

The Japanese mixed martial arts organizations have, on occasion, employed the services of freakshows in order to entertain their audiences and bring in revenue, which is necessary to pay fighters like Fedor to fight other fighters like Mirko to fight one another. Is there anything wrong with this? As far as the Japanese audience is concerned, it’s a twoferone: they get to watch some fucked up dudes “fight” and some really great dudes [i]fight[/i]. When Americans criticize the Japanese sensibilities because it in some way impinges upon the purity of the sport, they are failing to recognize that the Japanese are simply paying to see what they want. This is not hard to understand.

Kimbo and Tank will probably not happen in the UFC, because the UFC’s audience has not demanded it. They have demanded Chuck and Tito and miscellaneous shots of Ms. Jameson’s gruesome, overworked cleaveage. But that is not to say that the audiences of Cage Rage, Strikeforce, Pro Elite or any local shows would not demand the fight.

I am NOT saying it’s okay to run freakshow bouts in MMA because of its association with professional wrestling. I am saying it is okay to run freakshow bouts in MMA when the demand for the bout is there, just as it is in professional wrestling. Both MMA and pro wrestling are forms of entertainment. If fans demand a bout, it will happen, because fans are the reason these institutions exist. There is nothing wrong, or hypocritical with this scenario. What the objective observer can do, is encourage good MMA and discourage bad MMA, even if it is good entertainment. But ultimately, promoters are responding to the demands of their audiences when they hold freakshow bouts, and that is in no way harmful to the sport – especially when Chuck and Wanderei are fighting on the same card.