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UFC loses both Jake O’Brien and its credibility
By Iain Liddle | April 14, 2008
Buried amongst the YAMMA headlines on Saturday morning came the news that the UFC have released Jake O’Brien from his UFC contract with Palace Fighting Championships likely to be his next destination.
The 10-1 heavyweight who is fresh off a loss to Andrei Arlovski had two fights remaining on his contract and was widely considered one of the best heavyweight prospects in world MMA. The reported reasoning for the decision is that the company simply had too many athletes under contract and he was purely one of the unlucky few chosen for the chop.
Until this news broke, and even now, I have no strong opinion on O’Brien as a fighter. I have seen maybe one non-UFC fight of his and have never interviewed him. I can’t even say that based on what I have witnessed that I could class him as a particular favourite of mine. His style is often derided as boring (sometimes unfairly) and there is no apparent charisma radiating from him to instantly grab a viewer’s attention.
Despite this however the news of his release was greatly disappointing without being too much of a shock. In fact it serves as a perfect microcosmic example of an issue that plagues the entire company. Quite simply, they aren’t a sporting league or entity and no longer can they have any claim to be so.
The aim of a sport is to determine who has the most legitimate claim of being the best in the world in their specific field / division. It’s impossible for the UFC to claim that this is their objective and must now be classified as an entertainment company rather than a competitive fighting league.
O’Brien has all the potential you could ask for. Bursting onto the scene boasting a decorated amateur wrestling pedigree he finished his first eight fights within six minutes. Two more dominant wins followed including a victory over a Heath Herring before he sustained what was a described as a potentially career threatening injury.
He suffered his first and only loss last month when returning from having his body re-built to take on a former UFC heavyweight champion in Andrei Arlovski. Ironically he was chosen as The Pitbull’s opponent in the hope that he would give the Belarussian a loss in the last fight of his contract - thus lowering his stock to any potential suitor.
It should be noted that O’Brien is still only 23 years old. Regardless of your opinion on his fighting style you cannot diminish his accomplishments in such a short space of time.
I’m not saying that every young fighter deserves to receive the Roger Huerta treatment where they are nurtured to stardom with a carefully selected list of opponents designed to test every facet of their game before moving on to fight a high level of talent.
Similarly the UFC do not owe anyone a contract. They could have as many or as little athletes under their control as they choose. However when the reason given for releasing someone is that you have too many competitors and yet people like Antoni Hardonk have an upcoming fight booked then it becomes clear that there is a massive case of double standards afoot.
Total MMA currently ranks O’Brein at number seven in their heavyweight rankings. There are only two people ranked above him in this weight class that are currently available to the UFC. One is belt-holder Rodrigo Noguiera and the other is Fabricio Werdum. Whilst these lists are obviously not official it illustrates the point that there are far more deserving candidates to face the boot.
The simple reason for his departure is that his face doesn’t fit. His style is not aesthetically pleasing in the way that say a Brandon Vera’s is and so he is considered dispensable. That he could beat the majority of the other heavyweights under Zuffa control is deemed irrelevant. It boils down to personal favouritism in much the same way that Dana White has twice reneged on his promise that the winners of supposed number one contenders fights would be in line for a title shot.
Arlovski defeated Werdum by unanimous decision at UFC 70 but did not fight again until nearly a year later with his stoppage of O’Brien. His performance in Manchester received the Dana White equivalent of a gladiatorial thumbs down and his recent bout was buried in the prelims and never shown on UFC programming due to an ongoing squabble over contracts.
Similarly the winner of the Gonzaga / Werdum fight in January was scheduled to face the UFC heavyweight champion in their next contest. Werdum stopped ‘Napao’ in the second round but now finds himself taking on Brandon Vera in June. It seems that number one contenderships are only valid if the person you want to win does so and even then it has to be in a fashion personally pleasing to the decision makers.
Those who have suggested that a few wins on the independent scene will see O’Brien return to the octagon should run that particular theory past Matt Lindland and see if he agrees.
It would be grossly unfair to apply the tag of being unprofessional solely to the UFC and maybe it is sometimes easier to choose the companies that do not fall victim to it. Elite XC, for example, are set to headline the biggest show in their short history and what will likely be the most viewed MMA card of all time with Kimbo Slice against James Thompson.
In the undercard of the same event Phil Baroni will face Murilo Rua. Both men are coming off at least one loss yet are given prominent placing on network television. Once again the message is loud and clear - if we like you then it doesn’t matter if you win or not as we’ll look after you anyway.
Whilst I understand the need for entertainment, depressingly it sometimes feels as though asking two poorly-skilled pugilists to stand in front of each other is all the men in charge feel the sport has offer.
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Iain Liddle, YOU have no credibilty. Jake wasn’t recognized as a top prospect for anything except a construction job. Thankfully we live in the digital era and you didn’t have to kill trees to write this waste product.
MMA is a business. The goal is to make money.
Jake O’Brien taking people down and laying on them for three rounds will not draw money. Any. He had a fantastic chance to show something against Heath Herring. He was outclassing Herring. He proceeded to take him down and hold him. For three rounds. That made no one ever want to watch him fight again. And those that do? Are hardcore’s, they’ll get anything UFC does anyway.
If he stops having his major skills be “Take them down” and then to “Take them down again if they get back up” as a backup plan, UFC will give him another shot. Until that point, he can work somewhere else.
Excellent write up. I am a huge UFC fan, and have been to several events and order everyone single one they have had on PPV. That being said, over the recent year the UFC has made some seriously bad decisions. Just horrible ones. Over the past year, my brother and I have started to fade as long time fans. We have seen a massive decline in the quality of match ups and most of it started shortly after the first season of their reality show on Spike. They’re screwing up and losing fans just as fast as they’re gaining them. It’s just a matter of time before they bleed more fans than they make.
“Those who have suggested that a few wins on the independent scene will see O’Brien return to the octagon should run that particular theory past Matt Lindland and see if he agrees.”
Completely different case and you know it. There has been more than one fighter who have been cut from the UFC due to losses and have worked their way back in. Marcus Davis and Brad Imes (although he did get cut again) are two of them.
Jake O’Brien is boring. Most fans don’t want to see him fight, let alone care about seeing him fight. This is a sports promotion, not a sports league. You’re talking apples and oranges. Teams in sports leagues aim to have the best players because if they don’t, they don’t make the playoffs. And if they don’t make the playoffs, they don’t make extra money. And if they don’t make extra money, that’s bad for business. But in the fight, the UFC allowing Jake O’Brien to lay on top of guys for 15 minutes and HBO allowing Klitcsko and Ibragimov to put on a jab clinic for 36 minutes is bad for business. That’s why the UFC is cutting Jake O’Brien and why in boxing, the fans booed Klitschko out of the building in his prizefight.
I don’t get people knocking Jake for his win over Herring.
He was a huge underdog who found a way to win. Herring is a well rounded extremely experienced fighter, Jake is a young developing fighter with a limited set of tools. Just like prospects like Roger Gracie and Brock Lesnar. The difference is that he’s 2-1 against top level competition.
Would you expect Roger Gracie to stand and bang with Cro Cop or for Lesnar to Pull guard on Nog?
Jake is the most accomplished 23 old HW in the world, and only has two boring matches to his name.
Most successful businesses work on the premise that it is more important to keep regular customers than to gain new custumers. The UFC doesn’t seem to agree. Their goal right now is for explosive growth and they are turning a lot of loyal customers away. It is working for them right now but how much longer can it go on?
Right now the UFC is the only store on the block of mainstream MMA. They can do whatever they want and still succeed. There are other players making moves though and the more core customers the UFC loses the more their competitors pick up. Another problem is the UFC is forced to develop their own talent. There is no minor league or college to bring up recognized fighters to transfer into the UFC. There are smallers orgs that allow fighters to grow skillwise but their marketability with the general public remains almost zero no matter how well they do. It takes lots of fights on televised cards from the UFC for the general public to be willing to pay for a certain fighter. Unfortunately for the UFC the sport itself is growing faster than they are and the talent pool is bigger than they can handle. This forces them to release fighters that they have made known. They may not be well known but they are known and the more the other orgs pick up the better they will do.
The UFC is turning away fans and giving away fighters. Sooner or later it is going to bite them in the butt.
MMA is a business. The goal is to make money.
MMA is also a sport. There are points at which one decides to so completely divert from one to try and be the other than it ends up being detrimental. Continuing to cut your best talent so that you can build around newer, much more untested guys is not a smart strategy to run a sport. Right now they have no one other than Werdum or Gonzaga under contract that can reasonably challenge Noguiera. Nobody.
Jake O’Brien taking people down and laying on them for three rounds will not draw money. Any. He had a fantastic chance to show something against Heath Herring. He was outclassing Herring. He proceeded to take him down and hold him. For three rounds. That made no one ever want to watch him fight again. And those that do? Are hardcore’s, they’ll get anything UFC does anyway.
And yet Heath is still there. Not for having had tremendously exciting fights, mind you, but because he’s perhaps more willing to engage in a fight Dana White approves of. So are a number of other far less qualified heavyweights than the number of which whom have been cut, let go, or have had contracts run out. The UFC heavyweight division is an absolute disaster right now.
Jake O’Brien is pretty good when he fight B level fighters. When he fight top competition, he resorts to Lay N’ Pray. He’s getting a chance to hone his skills in lesser leagues. Once he improves his skill in other aspects, and he continues his winning ways, the UFC will more than like take him back.
I find it hilarious to find these armchair analysts always criticizing the UFC for cutting some talent as if the UFC is the Pokemon of MMA. Gotta catch’em all! No you don’t! Look at the new talents in heavyweights that the UFC has picked up: Valasquez, Carwin, and Lesnar. Nogueira is champ, and they got Congo, Herring, Gonzaga, and Werdum. All of these guys are way more exciting than O’brien.
What’s the point of keeping O’Brien only to put him on the under card? Cry more, please. The same guys who clamor for these fighters are the same ones who admonish the UFC for putting up a PPV with such crappy fighters. O’Brien will never sell a UFN let alone a UFC.
I find it hilarious to find these armchair analysts always criticizing the UFC for cutting some talent as if the UFC is the Pokemon of MMA. Gotta catch’em all! No you don’t! Look at the new talents in heavyweights that the UFC has picked up: Valasquez, Carwin, and Lesnar. Nogueira is champ, and they got Congo, Herring, Gonzaga, and Werdum. All of these guys are way more exciting than O’brien.
Most of the top 20 heavyweights in the world aren’t in the UFC anymore, in spite of them being the “major league”. I think you’re entirely missing the point of what was said in this article.
This is where Dana & the boy’s decision to not feature a heavyweight devision in the WEC makes no sense to me. Yeah, I know the focus is supposed to be on the smaller guys, but if that’s REALLY the case then why bother having a 205 lb class?
The powers that be at Zuffa claim that the WEC isn’t any sort of a “developmental league” for talent, but honestly, if Brian Stann keeps winning, improving & building up a following there, do you really think they’ll keep him from mixing with the UFC’s big guns at light heavy? Of course not.
So, why not make a place for some “lower tier” heavyweights to gain a name & some experience in the WEC instead of cutting them loose?
Boo hoo Jake O’Boring is leaving the UFC.
This article should be raising the more important issue of why the UFC would let Arlovski go and try and burn him in the process with an snorefest intended match up with Jake O’Boring.
“widely considered one of the best heavyweight prospects in world MMA.”
LOL by who?
LOL by who?
Name three better prospects. Do I sense Lesnar being one of them?
Iian’s perspecitve is more than a little childish.
Please find me any sport that does not allow business to dictate what happens.
I have seen the Minnesota Twins get rid of many fine players based on paychecks, is this very different?
Kevin Garnett no longer plays for the Wolves, are they a disgrace now?
The Vikings have repeatedly cast away fine quarterbacks for cheaper, younger guys.
This is part of the business of sports. Learn a little about it and grown up.
Regarding your comments about Matt Lindland, there are many reasons why Matt is not in the UFC and many of those reasons have to do with Matt the man, not Matt the fighter.
If you think he was released simply because of his style, you really know little about it. Matt butted heads with many within Zuffa and verbally complained repeatedly on, and backstage, at live shows. Anyone remember Matt Hughes taking time to respond on a live show? Even some of fighters got tired of hearing him complain.
Lindland was made an offer a last year, but opted not to take it.
It has recently been said that the UFC is not interested in him, but part had to do with personality.
Most of the top 20 heavyweights in the world aren’t in the UFC anymore, in spite of them being the “major league”. I think you’re entirely missing the point of what was said in this article.
What’s his point then? That the UFC should take everyone who is considered a great prospect regardless if they’re boring or not?
Name three better prospects. Do I sense Lesnar being one of them?
Yes.
What’s his point then?
Maybe you could read the article? Everything most of the people here rail on him for he already addresses.
Yes.
How is that so? O’Brien’s got more than 5 times as many fights and has beaten a top 20 heavyweight/long time veteran of the sport. The only loss he has is to a top five heavyweight. To say Lesnar is nothing but “potential” is a gross understatement about a guy tapped in under two minutes by Frank Mir.
Maybe you could read the article? Everything most of the people here rail on him for he already addresses.
Paraphrase it then. Obviously, I’ve already read his article. You seem to think I didn’t. Tell me what is his point, oh great one?
O’Brien LNP to a victory over Herring. I guess in your world, that’s a great accomplishment. Even Herring admitted that he fought on an injured.
Define potential vs boring. One guy has potential, the other is boring. One guy sells tickets, the other doesn’t.
However, in yours and Ian’s world, the UFC has got take every guy with potential, regardless if the fans want to see them or not. A great wrestler can potentially LNP anyone to victory. That does not make him a great MMA fighter.
“The aim of a sport is to determine who has the most legitimate claim of being the best in the world in their specific field / division. It’s impossible for the UFC to claim that this is their objective and must now be classified as an entertainment company rather than a competitive fighting league.”
This horrible article is based on this false statement, as well as an egregious over-estimation of what O’Brien has shown and how sports is run.
It is amazingly silly to think that the aim of a professional sport is anything other than making money.
A question for the author, does that fact that Barry Bonds sits on the sidelines, unemployed, make MLB no longer a legitimate sport league and therefore merely ‘an entertainment company’? Based on last season’s performance alone, he is clearly better than 95% of major league baseball players. That’s proven, not ‘prospect’ like O’Brien.
Paraphrase it then.
The UFC certainly has a right to sign and cut and promote whoever they want, but with it comes the cost of legitimate competition. Wins and losses don’t matter to them (and many others), but mindless brawls, in essence, do.
O’Brien LNP to a victory over Herring. I guess in your world, that’s a great accomplishment.
Everyone fights injured, and at no point since has Herring looked particularly better. He looked horrid against Kongo and pretty awful against Imes too.
Define potential vs boring.
Merge this with discussion of sport as being about competition versus that of entertainment, and maybe you’ll get it.
However, in yours and Ian’s world, the UFC has got take every guy with potential, regardless if the fans want to see them or not.
He never says they have to do anything. Neither do I. Don’t put words in people’s mouths.
It is amazingly silly to think that the aim of a professional sport is anything other than making money.
And yet legitimate competition triumphs in every major sports over mere entertainment value.
A question for the author, does that fact that Barry Bonds sits on the sidelines, unemployed, make MLB no longer a legitimate sport league and therefore merely ‘an entertainment company’?
Barry Bonds comes with a lot of luggage, not the least of which being a possible federal conviction for perjury.
I feel bad for O’Brien, but if you read anything on my site, you’ll see that his lay-n-pray style has lost a lot of respect from writers and fans. He’s 10-1, but records mean nothing. Just look at Randy Couture.
Jake O’Brien probably might be a young bright prospect. But why is that a reason to keep him around? Let him fight in the indy circuit until he hones his skills. He’s good enough to KO lesser fighters but resorts to lay n pray against top competition. I say let him develop in the smaller leagues. Palace Fighting Championships is perfect. Hell, EliteXC might be a good fit for him too. EXC just might be what O’Brien needs to up his game. Why does every prospect have to be in the UFC right now? The UFC is top dog and WEC doesn’t have a HW div so they can afford to let this guy fight for the competition to hone his skills, gain a personality, etc. And I say this as a guy who is very critical of the UFC.
And one the things I’m critical of when it comes to the UFC is the vast number of vanilla fighters on their roster who aren’t exciting, have no personality and don’t really get you excited to watch them fight. Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck (though his last fight was good) and pre-Evan Tanner Fight Yushin Okami are good examples of what I’m talking about. Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz are all stars who you look forward to fight. Tito is the least exciting of the three but he personifies charisma and knows how to talk shit. Kimbo Slice has the look of a star. Brock Lesnar has the look of a star (he’s not that great on the mic though). These are the guys that fans can’t wait to see. No one says, “oh man I gotta watch UFC XX or UFN XX to watch Jake O’Brien and Keith Jardine!” Not even the hardcores. It’s the same as how boxing fans never say “oh I can’t wait to see Klitschko and Ibragimov jab for 12 rounds!” If you are a fighter, you are responsible for your own marketing. That’s what seperates the Oscar De La Hoyas and the Vladimir Klitschkos.
And one the things I’m critical of when it comes to the UFC is the vast number of vanilla fighters on their roster who aren’t exciting, have no personality and don’t really get you excited to watch them fight. Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck (though his last fight was good) and pre-Evan Tanner Fight Yushin Okami are good examples of what I’m talking about.
Okami is the best 185lb fighter in the entire world available for Anderson Silva to fight. Hell, he might be the best opponent period right now. Fitch and Koscheck have beaten tons of high end opposition. It doesn’t matter if they win? Do you care about the sport aspect of MMA at all?
Not even the hardcores. It’s the same as how boxing fans never say “oh I can’t wait to see Klitschko and Ibragimov jab for 12 rounds!” If you are a fighter, you are responsible for your own marketing. That’s what seperates the Oscar De La Hoyas and the Vladimir Klitschkos.
Yes, because Wladimir Klitschko’s potential audience as a boxer is as large or larger than Oscar De La Hoya’s, or that their promotion is in any way similar. Fuck, Oscar didn’t even become a star promoting himself, he made his first $100 million with Bob Arum and then ran off to start his company while badmouthing him constantly. Given the folks here, you’d think he’d get criticism for leaving a promoter capable at the time of giving him big fights to leave and then not do business with any of his fighters even in a promotional capacity for years.
Okami, Fitch and Koscheck don’t really excite me. Though Okami and Koscheck were exciting in their last fights and I’d change my mind if they kept it up. I’m sorry to disappoint that I’m not a MMA purist. You know, I watch MMA to be entertained, not to act like an elitist “purist” on the internet who says they enjoy watching everyone on sherdog or mmaweekly top 10 to gain internet mma community cred. In case you didn’t notice, I prefer PRIDE to the UFC. That disqualifies me from being a purist right there and I’m fine with that. PRIDE was obviously more entertainment-oriented. Though the UFC and boxing aren’t exactly pure sporting either.
Let’s use other non-MMA examples. The New Jersey Devils were the best at one point and the Greek national soccer team were the best at one point but yet so many people in the media called them boring. Is that wrong? Klitschko was booed heavily for his 12 round jabfest with Ibragimov and the commentators on HBO were saying that he needs to be more exciting and go for knockouts. The fast that Klitschko is boring is hindering his earning potential and his career. He’s the #1 heavyweight in the world but no one gives a damn about him. Professional sports are intended to entertain. This isn’t the Olympics, where you have amateurs competing in “pure” sporting events.
The UFC certainly has a right to sign and cut and promote whoever they want, but with it comes the cost of legitimate competition. Wins and losses don’t matter to them (and many others), but mindless brawls, in essence, do.
I disagree with his assertion that somehow the UFC is the embodiment of the sport of MMA. It is just a promotion. By cutting O’Brien, it by no means diminish any legitimacy in competition. If there was a rainbow over in MMA land where every fan’s dreams come true, Fedor and all top fighters would be fighting each other under one MMA umbrella. Unfortunately, there isn’t. MMA promotions are run as a business first and foremost.
Moreover, the assertion that O’Brien is top competition is wishful thinking. O’Brien didn’t suddenly just become some great mythical MMA fighter. He’s a guy who continually reverts back to LNP when faced with top competition. Any top wrestler can grind out 3 round LNP decisions if that’s their intention. Why would you keep a fighter that would turn fighting the best fighters (Arlovski and Herring) into a horrible LNP match? He tried to LNP Arlovski and got pretty much demolished. This pretty much showed the UFC that O’Brien is a one trick pony and his win versus Herring was most likely a fluke. O’Brien isn’t any where near the second coming of Fedor or even Brandon Vera.
Fans criticize the UFC for everything under the sun; now we can add cutting boring fighters to that list.
Okami, Fitch and Koscheck don’t really excite me. Though Okami and Koscheck were exciting in their last fights and I’d change my mind if they kept it up. I’m sorry to disappoint that I’m not a MMA purist. You know, I watch MMA to be entertained, not to act like an elitist “purist” on the internet who says they enjoy watching everyone on sherdog or mmaweekly top 10 to gain internet mma community cred.
So, basically, to appreciate Koscheck’s skill means that you’re a purist and looking for some sort of credibility? What?
Though the UFC and boxing aren’t exactly pure sporting either.
Boxing is certainly a sport, in spite of the way many promoters have treated it. Same as MMA. If you feel that Kimbo/Thompson and Brock Lesnar are better keys to the future than having the top fighters fight each other, so be it.
Let’s use other non-MMA examples. The New Jersey Devils were the best at one point and the Greek national soccer team were the best at one point but yet so many people in the media called them boring. Is that wrong?
Who said it is? Last I checked, the NHL didn’t kick out the New Jersey Devils and UEFA didn’t refuse entry to Greek club teams, nor did FIFA intentionally put them in brackets intended to eliminate them from play.
The fast that Klitschko is boring is hindering his earning potential and his career. He’s the #1 heavyweight in the world but no one gives a damn about him.
Klitschko had been KOed or KOed his opponent in 15 of his previous 16 bouts. That fight with Sultan alone is not why Wladimir Klitschko doesn’t have a massive fanbase in the US, and if you think it is, you’re nieve as hell.
I disagree with his assertion that somehow the UFC is the embodiment of the sport of MMA. It is just a promotion.
You’ve probably posted on a hundred or so occasions how incredibly vital and important the UFC is and how they are the face of MMA, and furthermore, the failings of everyone else and why they will exist as the sole major promotion indefinitely into the future. Excuse me if I laugh slightly at this statement.
Moreover, the assertion that O’Brien is top competition is wishful thinking. O’Brien didn’t suddenly just become some great mythical MMA fighter. He’s a guy who continually reverts back to LNP when faced with top competition. Any top wrestler can grind out 3 round LNP decisions if that’s their intention.
No, they can’t. If Koscheck could have done that in rounds 2 and 3 against GSP, you bet your ass he would have tried. That’s a ridiculous statement.
Fans criticize the UFC for everything under the sun; now we can add cutting boring fighters to that list.
You asked me to paraphrase and I did. You still don’t get it. There’s nothing else I can do for you.
I think the Zuffa is treading a fine line here of true sporting legitimacy vs. entertainment.
Personally, I don’t mind the O’Brien cut because, simply put, he is boring as fuck. I don’t ever need to see the guy fight in any organization until he develops another skill-set besides laying on other men.
Further to this point, however, I don’t know if I like the fact that they continually give us mediocre sluggers like Alexander, Hardonk, Sakara, McFedries, Leben, Irvin, etc. I don’t mind the occasional freak show matchup — and let’s face it, Alexander vs. Sakara was classic freak show simply because it was a Redneck Challenge-level fight happening in big leagues — but I think they’ve been going overboard recently.
In the end, though, I don’t mind Zuffa pursuing the goal of entertainment — for those of us who were PRIDE fans, isn’t that after all why DSE was so successful? — the problem is that what I find to be entertaining does not quite align with what the UFC’s casual fans find entertaining.
As far as someone’s point that the UFC is turning away “loyal customers” because they cut O’Brien? Pshaw. Anyone who really needs to see O’Brien probably also needs likes eating shit for breakfast.
Building up a prospect like Jake O’Brien is what creates bad fight cards. Prospects need fights just as often as your popular fighters need them, and there’s only so many cards and so many fights on those cards available.
Why make the fans suffer so Jake can build his experience and skill set? Give that fight to the more deserving veterans that got sidelined longer than they’d like because the cards were already full. Let Jake build himself on the smaller shows, then come back.
I appreciate Koscheck’s skill. I just don’t think he’s exciting. Though he was in his last fight and maybe he’s finally learned that he had to step things up to avoid getting placed in an undercard again. If so, that’s good.
Boxing is indeed a sport. But it’s also a sport where fans will boo the hell out of you if you want to be the cure for insomnia. And your pay will reflect this. Klitschko is the #1 heavyweight but he’s not being paid like a heavyweight champ. The heavyweight crown was the prestigious in the world but it’s not like that now anymore. Boxing promotion can’t be considered pure sport when the best heavyweight in the world isn’t getting paid large, isn’t being promoted heavily and isn’t creating a buzz amongst fans. You go on the street, ask people who Wladimir Klitschko is and most will have no clue. Ask them who Mike Tyson or Rocky Marciano are and you’ll be in luck. Fight sports are about larger-than-life figures.
The NHL didn’t kick out the NJ Devils but they changed the rules to prevent the offside trap I believe. They purposely changed the game in an attempt to make the game more exciting. As for FIFA, they are an independent international sanctioning body. They don’t own the Greek national team. The UFC is a promoter that directly hires the fighters, big difference.
As for Klitschko, he has a track record of being a knock out artist (and having a glass chin himself) so it’s true that lack of KOs isn’t holding him back. It’s his lack of charisma and lack of a larger-than-life character like previous heavyweight legends that has hurt him. And the 36 minute jabfest with Sultan just hurt his stock with American fans even more. If you’re hinting that the American fans are xenophobic towards him , note that it’s not like a non-American fighter has never been endeared to the American fans.
what is surprising about this is that it leaves very limited match ups for the heavyweight title. Kongo was just beaten by hearing, hearing just beaten by nog. Gonzaga just beaten by both couture and Werdun, Werdun beaten by AA. Strong rumors now that AA has left the UFC, which appear to have been confirmed by a post at sherdog by his potential opponent Ben Rothwel. So you have a potential Nog V Werdun, which is not a good heavy weight showcase for the UFC.
“MMA is a business. The goal is to make money.”
It is BOTH business AND sport.
And if we neglect the sporting aspect… you’re left with mud.
I want MMA to be a sport FIRST, and business to tag along. That way business surely won’t suffer, and the fans will be pleased.
If we go the other way around, it soon becomes - politics.
Who fights whom, who stays and who goes, should be based on logic and accomplishments.
Yes, MMA is a is BOTH business AND sport. But in end, the world’s most successful businesses will alway listen to their customers or at least know their market to ultimately make a profit. Overall, The release of Jake O’Brien is a tell-tale sign of what the fans probably want to see. For every 1 fighter the UFC released, there’s probably another 1000 lining up to fight in the octagon.
In a perfect (scholastic) world, MMA should be a sport first and without politics. But in the end, market forces and profits will always remain a priority. If you have shareholders or owners demanding that your business make a profit, the “MMA should be a sport first” argument is pretty useless.
If you want pure sport, perhaps you should watch amateur wrestling or some non-profit beer league.
Zach, I am extremely disappointed with your choice of writers. Unless you planted him as a troll or a mark to increase page views, it would be a lot more appropriate to hire another writer with a lot more common sense and an acumen for business.
Next time, I’ll simply skip over this troll’s article than waste my time responding to such a foolish article.
If the UFC catered to the wishes of most Hardcore MMA fanboys, like Iain, they’d still be stuck in the dark ages with minimal following. Plus, sites such as Fight Opinion, MMA Junkie, etc, would not have such a large white demographic following (the core of the UFC audience).
I appreciate Koscheck’s skill. I just don’t think he’s exciting.
Fine. Does that make it so that people who can appreciate and even enjoy the occasional Koscheck match are “looking for credibility”? What a ridiculous statement.
Boxing is indeed a sport. But it’s also a sport where fans will boo the hell out of you if you want to be the cure for insomnia. And your pay will reflect this. Klitschko is the #1 heavyweight but he’s not being paid like a heavyweight champ.
What is “being paid like a heavyweight champ”? He’s not the undisputed champion. Who is he being compared to? Mike Tyson? Lennox Lewis? Both would be faulty. He makes significantly more than many well known American fighters when he goes back to Germany and takes on bouts there on national TV. Right now he’s *the* highest paid heavyweight in the world, bar none. Probably among the 5-6 largest draws.
The heavyweight crown was the prestigious in the world but it’s not like that now anymore.
Are you blaming a single Wladimir Klitschko fight for this? The heavyweight division’s interest level in the US has been on a decline since the mid 1990s. You can argue this has even been the case since the late 70s.
Boxing promotion can’t be considered pure sport when the best heavyweight in the world isn’t getting paid large, isn’t being promoted heavily and isn’t creating a buzz amongst fans.
Why? Because the heavyweight champion must be pushed above all others? For what reason? You’re telling me that Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns, and Roberto Duran were what, sports entertainment? They were a lot bigger in drawing power than Larry Holmes, Big John Tate, etc.
You go on the street, ask people who Wladimir Klitschko is and most will have no clue. Ask them who Mike Tyson or Rocky Marciano are and you’ll be in luck. Fight sports are about larger-than-life figures.
How did Tyson and Marciano ascend to that status?
The NHL didn’t kick out the NJ Devils but they changed the rules to prevent the offside trap I believe. They purposely changed the game in an attempt to make the game more exciting.
Basically offset in MMA by standup rules for inactivity.
As for FIFA, they are an independent international sanctioning body. They don’t own the Greek national team.
Wait, do you mean to tell me that comparison was horribly flawed from the start? GASP
It’s his lack of charisma and lack of a larger-than-life character like previous heavyweight legends that has hurt him.
He’s a major sporting figure in Europe, where he commands major cash. He doesn’t translate well in the US, just as many athletes whom are great don’t. Dirk Nowitski is a hell of a basketball player, but he’s not setting the endorsement world aflame in the States.
If you’re hinting that the American fans are xenophobic towards him , note that it’s not like a non-American fighter has never been endeared to the American fans.
That’s prototypically because they have strong nationalistic bases of support in America. Acting as if there’s not a natural inclination to root for people from one’s hometown/nation in sports is pretty bizarre.
In a perfect (scholastic) world, MMA should be a sport first and without politics. But in the end, market forces and profits will always remain a priority. If you have shareholders or owners demanding that your business make a profit, the “MMA should be a sport first” argument is pretty useless.
“I’m not saying that every young fighter deserves to receive the Roger Huerta treatment where they are nurtured to stardom with a carefully selected list of opponents designed to test every facet of their game before moving on to fight a high level of talent.
Similarly the UFC do not owe anyone a contract. They could have as many or as little athletes under their control as they choose. However when the reason given for releasing someone is that you have too many competitors and yet people like Antoni Hardonk have an upcoming fight booked then it becomes clear that there is a massive case of double standards afoot.”
Do you people read? At all? Or do you look at the title of the piece and write a critique?
I think the issue here is that UFC is sort of biting itself in the ass with this. Yes, JOB was a boring, boring fighter. I’m not a fan in the least, but UFC has hired some real lummoxes when it comes to their heavyweight division, and hell, still employs guys like Vera and Sanchez that are just not good. I think JOB makes for perfect undercard, untelevised fights while he builds his skill, and at least would make good fodder for some top name fighters (c’mon, that is what most of the non big name heavyweights are anyway).
cyph’s anti-”armchair quarterback” gimmick is getting tiring. Can we let go the fact that we might not like other people’s opinions and realize we are all kinda just doing the same thing? Talking about stuff we like on the internet.
The NHL always had interference rules that prevented the effectiveness of the neutral zone trap. They just started enforcing it more using a zero tolerance policy.
But they did also change fundamental play of the game using other rule changes at the same time that necessitated an entirely different type of player and skillset. Gone were the skill-less muckers and grinders (the Jake O’Briens of the NHL) and in came the faster, smaller, more skillful players who were being smashed out of the NHL previously.
So, yes, the NHL isn’t kicking players out, but they are using methods that force the teams to cut these “boring” players if they want to win under new rules.
The same goes for all other sports that run as a business; rule changes happen all the time in many other sports that force teams to cut certain players in favor of others.
I think, D.Cap, that you are showing moral outrage based on your expectation that “business sports” should act more like “pure sports” (like the Olympics, let’s say.
Can we let go the fact that we might not like other people’s opinions and realize we are all kinda just doing the same thing?
I think we are all criticizing Iain’s position on this, not him as a person. I appreciate the article and his opposing viewpoints. Some times the backlash is too great and certain writers are driven away from putting on future articles. That would be a shame. I hope Iain continue to write.
Do you people read? At all? Or do you look at the title of the piece and write a critique?
Could it possibly be that we read the article, understood it, but disagree? D Cap, you’re too angry some times. It’s easy to criticize the UFC keeping Hardonk vs cutting O’Brien. However, are you privy to how much they’re getting paid? What other reasons could there be for keeping Hardonk? Could it be that he is a stand up fighter VS O’Brien’s LNP? He it be that is paid less but is more marketable? Who knows?
I think, D.Cap, that you are showing moral outrage based on your expectation that “business sports” should act more like “pure sports” (like the Olympics, let’s say.
I agree. EliteXC is booking Kimbo VS tomato can as a main event. Why? Because it sells. If fans demand LNP fighters like O’Brien, then they should vote with their pocket books. MLB allowed rampant steroid abuse in baseball because the long ball sells. The bean counters in the UFC determined that LNP fighters don’t sell. That is the point that I think people disagreed with in Iain’s article.
When will the MMA purists learn that if the UFC did not cater to the mainstream and to entertain the audience, we’d still be stuck with 105,000 PPV buys AT BEST for a UFC card. Not to mention that the Fertittas would have “tapped out” long ago in 2005 and not let the UFC go on. And with PRIDE inevitably being screwed by the Yakuza scandal and Zuffa going bankrupt, what would be the result? We’d still have Japanese MMA (hopefully) from FEG/Zombie PRIDE maybe, Shooto for sure , maybe WVR and some other small orgs. But we’d have no MMA in North America except for mainstay small promotions like IconSport, KOTC, etc. There would be no ProElite to try to capitalize on the UFC’s success. Scott Coker would still be doing kickboxing with Strikeforce.
The MMA scene wouldn’t look so hot if the UFC didn’t try to reach new demographics. And even back THEN, characters like Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz and Randy Couture were very crucial to the survival of the product. You had to have matches like Liddell vs Ortiz to hit at least 100k buys in those days. It’s amazing how far these guys came along from their beginnings with Semaphore Entertainment Group to now. Charisma, personality and putting on exciting fights matters. If you want to draw and you want to create stars, you need guys like Liddell, Couture and Ortiz. Guys like O’Brien are people that fans don’t get pumped up to see and even get annoyed watching. Unless O’Brien improves his game and he has that chance in small orgs. I’m rooting for O’Brien. I hope he goes to EliteXC on CBS, knocks guys out like he used to and creates a buzz for himself. But he’s a liability to the UFC at this point, even on the preliminary card. You don’t want to put the fans in the audience to sleep.
Can anyone make an economic argument for why Jake O’Brien should not have been cut?
The UFC badly needs a heavyweight division in WEC. Jake O’Brien would probably knock everyone out put in front of him there. He has a very impressive KO ratio for a wrestler but what works in TKO/KOing guys in the smaller leagues doesn’t work in the UFC. I think the ideal situation for everyone would be to send Jake O’Brien down to WEC. But Zuffa for whatever reason doesn’t seem keen on building the heavyweight division.
Are you kidding me? The WEC is successful and awesome in large part because it doesn’t have a HW division. Their niche is focusing on the lighter, faster-paced, and more skilled weightclasses. Bringing in HWs would defeat that. Furthermore, the UFC can barely sustain their own HW division, so how is Zuffa going to recruit fighters for two HW divisions?
Could it possibly be that we read the article, understood it, but disagree?
Obviously you and others do not. You’re seem to be arguing that Iain is wrong because the UFC has no credibility when it comes to its legitimacy as a competition centered promotion. Oddly, this is exactly what he’s saying.
It’s easy to criticize the UFC keeping Hardonk vs cutting O’Brien. However, are you privy to how much they’re getting paid? What other reasons could there be for keeping Hardonk?
He answers this in the end of the article.
I think, D.Cap, that you are showing moral outrage based on your expectation that “business sports” should act more like “pure sports” (like the Olympics, let’s say.
“Business sports” that are successful and are respected actually run themselves as actual, competitive sports. Comparing rule changes in the NHL to firing fighters you don’t like and attempting to discredit them as some here are is enormously stupid.
I agree. EliteXC is booking Kimbo VS tomato can as a main event. Why? Because it sells.
Its theorized that it will sell. The entire undercard is filled with, as Iain likes to say, poorly skilled pugilists. Marketing the sport as glorified Toughman isn’t a very bright move and not something that’s likely to ensure its longterm survival.
If fans demand LNP fighters like O’Brien, then they should vote with their pocket books. MLB allowed rampant steroid abuse in baseball because the long ball sells.
I can’t even begin to tell you how faulty this is. I would ask you to think about what you’re writing, but I know you won’t.
The bean counters in the UFC determined that LNP fighters don’t sell. That is the point that I think people disagreed with in Iain’s article.
Iain’s article at no point goes against that line of thought. If you read it and understand it, you should know that.
When will the MMA purists learn that if the UFC did not cater to the mainstream and to entertain the audience, we’d still be stuck with 105,000 PPV buys AT BEST for a UFC card.
The UFC has typically tried to keep some semblance of competitive balance to the sport. Nate Marquhardt thrilled no one prior to getting a deserved title shot against Anderson Silva, and yet somehow that show did more than 105,000 buys. So did other shows featuring fights that meant tons for hardcores (Liddell/Rampage II, Silva/Henderson, etc). There is crossover, you know.
I hate to add an extra post, so you can tag it along with the one above me if possible:
Its also worth noting that in spite of how supposedly hated lay and pray fighters are, the most popular draw in US MMA history got a deserved reputation for being exactly that. Who here enjoyed Matyushenko/Ortiz? Anyone? Anyone at all?
Wow, thanks for all the responses guys - apart from the first one.
I won’t go over everything mentioned above as it would take too long (and probably turn into a seperate column altogether) but I appreciate the debate that has ensued.
Remeber to make sure Total-MMA.com is always your second port of call on the internet… after FO of course.
Iain
Good article.
In both cases, the sports organization is trying to make their product more palatable for their fans in order to increase revenue.
These situations are extremely similar, whether you have the intelligence to recognize it or not.
D. Capitalized is pretty much wrong.
Silva/Marquardt wasn’t the draw of UFC 73, Ortiz/Evans was. Half the audience had left before Silva had even stepped in the octagon.
Funny how you ignore Ortiz as the draw in one post and then call him the biggest draw in the sport in the next.
D. Capitalized is pretty much wrong.
Silva/Marquardt wasn’t the draw of UFC 73, Ortiz/Evans was. Half the audience had left before Silva had even stepped in the octagon.
That it wasn’t the draw doesn’t diminish what that fight was supposed to accomplish. Hell, how is Ortiz/Rashad a fight intended solely to entertain? Are you trying to make the point that fights that interest hardcore fans can cross over to have mainstream appeal and give the sport legitimacy, or was that accidental?
In both cases, the sports organization is trying to make their product more palatable for their fans in order to increase revenue.
There’s a difference between making rules changes to increase scoring and eliminating competitors because they are too dangerous to give to guys you want to sell shows with. One changes the sport. The other directly impairs the legitimacy of the competitive nature of the sport in that they’re basically saying that winning and losing is meaningless.
These situations are extremely similar, whether you have the intelligence to recognize it or not.
I see exactly what you’re trying to say and you’re way off base.
I disagree, they are one and the same. Have you ever even watched the NHL?
The NHL made rule changes to specifically prevent “boring” teams like the NJ Devils from going to the playoffs every year and lowering their revenue.
They made these rule changes not just to increase scoring — they could have just made the goalmouth bigger if they wanted to do that — they wanted to put a premium on smaller, faster, skilled players like Sidney Crosby. And they wanted to get rid of muckers and grinders and goons (in other words, the LNPers of the NHL).
And guess what? It worked. The game is much faster and the “boring” players they wanted gone, are have been eliminated through attrition.
So, in other words, you’re pontificating out of your ass as usual.
If HBO stopped putting Klitschko (who the American fans can’t stand) on their televised shows, the fans wouldn’t give a damn. So why should UFC keep O’Brien around?
I disagree, they are one and the same.
No, they are not “one in the same”. The UFC is not changing rules about standups or about activity on the ground or about elbows or anything else because, clearly, they don’t want to. They could. They could ask for shorter periods on the ground and no elbows and a wide assortment of other things and get them tommorrow. But they aren’t going to do that because there are people like Tito Ortiz and like Sean Sherk who make that their bread and butter. The legitimate competitive nature of the UFC is thus minimized virtually to nothing because it clearly shows that winning fights is meaningless.
The NHL made rule changes to specifically prevent “boring” teams like the NJ Devils from going to the playoffs every year and lowering their revenue.
But this doesn’t work as a comparison because the sport was changed as a result. You’re right, players who slowed the game down and made it more defense oriented have to adjust or leave because the rules ascertain it to be so. There is no rule against lay and pray. There is no rule stating that standup is the most exciting form of combat, and thus is clearly preferable. There are no rules beyond the current rule regarding standups as a result of inactivity in place in MMA to change this. O’Brien is fighting within the rules given to him and is getting treated differently than other fighers, fighters as boring as he is who aren’t even as good as he is or whom have the credentials he has, basically on the promoter’s whim.
So yeah, I don’t think its the same at all or even comparable.
If HBO stopped putting Klitschko (who the American fans can’t stand) on their televised shows, the fans wouldn’t give a damn.
Instead, he would be on Showtime. Do you really believe a guy that’s sold out MSG on his own twice and is a major international draw would be completely forgotten overnight? Do you even actually know any boxing fans? This is asinine.
So why should UFC keep O’Brien around?
You are not connecting with the point at all.
“Are you trying to make the point that fights that interest hardcore fans can cross over to have mainstream appeal”
LOL what? I’m just pointing out that your argument sucks, isn’t based on anything resembling a fact, and has strayed so far from your original point that you don’t even know what you’re trying to say anymore.
D.Cap, I can see where you’re coming from but you’re splitting hairs to make some arrogant point of never being “wrong”.
Regardless of the means, the end results are the same in both cases. They got rid of athletes they didn’t want who were accused by fans of being “boring” and potentially affecting their bottom line. For you to say these situations are not comparable is amusing to say the least.
Anyway, we’re just going around in circles. Let me just say one last thing that I actually agree with you that the UFC is employing a double-standard with regards to O’Brien and I don’t like the constant stream of shitty one-dimensional brawlers the UFC has been feeding us recently. And I do agree that the UFC is testing their sporting legitimacy.
What I don’t agree with is that other sports don’t effectively do the exact same thing; many, if not most sports manipulate the rules and the players to get the results that they want.
Oh, and btw…
If you’re going to be condescending, make sure you’re right.
My usage of “one and the same” is legitimately correct. You are just plain wrong.
The UFC can’t change the rules because the SAC sets the rules. And I bet that if they changed the rules to discourage lay n pray and stalling instead of just getting rid of boring fighters, a lot of the same purist mma fans would be on fightopinion and sherdog protesting bloody hell anyway.
As for Grape Knee High’s comment on one-dimensional brawlers, I agree. Seeing brawlers with no technique and throw wild punches is getting old. I actually want to see more K-1 quality (not freak shows) strikers imported into MMA instead.
LOL what? I’m just pointing out that your argument sucks, isn’t based on anything resembling a fact, and has strayed so far from your original point that you don’t even know what you’re trying to say anymore.
You don’t even understand what it is I’m arguing. Do you still think the argument made in the piece is that the UFC owes him a contract?
Regardless of the means, the end results are the same in both cases.
They are not the same. Making a rule change affects every team in the NHL. Cutting a fighter affects that fighter. Why do you keep making this point over and over when its clearly a poor one?
Anyway, we’re just going around in circles. Let me just say one last thing that I actually agree with you that the UFC is employing a double-standard with regards to O’Brien and I don’t like the constant stream of shitty one-dimensional brawlers the UFC has been feeding us recently. And I do agree that the UFC is testing their sporting legitimacy.
This is the entire point that the article made and that I’ve defended. Did I ever say I liked watching O’Brien lay on Herring? Did I say I looked forward to him coming back to lay on other dudes? I didn’t, did I? I pointed out repeatedly that Iain said right from the onset that the UFC has all the legal and moral right to cut whomever they want and promote MMA bouts in any way they see fit. Will actions like this create a positive image for the sport? Will it be good for the sport? Does it foster legitimate competition? Those are actual questions posed by the article, which 95% of the negative responses to have mindlessly missed to try and prove that which is admitted midway through the article.
You need some meds. And a better Grammar Nazi Handbook.
If you actually read any of my posts in the midst of your blog rage, you would have noticed that I never even attacked you.
Maybe because the end result is the same? It is manipulation by the leagues to make their products more palatable for casual fans. If really you can’t see that, you’re lacking some brain cells.
Maybe because the end result is the same?
But its not the same. For it to actually be the same, they’d need to eliminate *everyone* that’s guilty of it. Sean Sherk is getting a title shot after losing his belt because of pissing hot. There is no equivalent to that in the NHL.
I agree with D., that they (UFC getting rid of O’Brien and NHL’s rule changes) aren’t really the same. It’s not like K-1 MAX changing the rules to better fit Masato, or the NBA bringing in the shot clock, or anything like that. It’s more comparable to the WWE getting rid of a wrestler because the writers have nothing to do for that wrestler (it happens A LOT). The NHL can’t just go to a player and say “listen, the fans don’t like you, you’re boring, et al YOU’RE FIRED!!!”. But Zuffa Sports can do that. What the NHL did was more “weeding out” than getting rid of players. Like let’s say you go to join the wrestling team of your high school before the season starts. So you go to pre-season practices, and the coach(es) works your ass off with exercises. It is too much for you (either because you are too lazy, not in good enough shape, not athletic, you didn’t take it seriously enough, whatever the case may be) so you and others quit (I wrestled in high school, I have seen it happen). Were you kicked out by the coach or coaches personally? NO!! Because of their practices you quit, maybe even forcibly. That is weeding out. To compare to what happened to O’Brien, the coach would have got right up to him and say “I don’t want you here anymore, get out!”.
There is a major difference between weeding out from example and/or practice, and outright getting rid of people personally for whateevr reasons. The latter happened to O’Brien. I am not saying the UFC was in the right or wrong (I’m sure O’Brien can do fine for himself in other feds, but it does suck when a person loses his/her job for whatever stupid reasons) I am just saying most of you guys’ comparisons to NHL changing its rules to Zuffa outright firing a guy is down right ridiculous. We don’t even know for absolute certainty that the reason he got fired was because he is a LNP guy.
One other thing:
The winner of Werdum/GG was not talked about as getting a title shot. Bot guys were coming off losses and each needed a win to get back on track.
Saying it certainly helps the authtor’s argument, but it simply is not correct.
I think you’re making an assumption that Zuffa is employing a standard of getting rid of fighters who LNP. They don’t.
They simply dump fighters they don’t think are marketable. Zuffa obviously thinks Sherk is marketable.
Jeremy, Dana White confirmed that Werdum would get a title shot against the winner of Sylvia/Nog. Of course, that was when Zuffa fully expected Sylvia would beat Big Nog.
White also said that Arlovski would get a title shot if he beat Werdum and we all know that never materialized either.
Jeremy,
The Napao/Werdum fight most certainly was walked about as a No. 1 contendership fight. I shall try and find an article that supports this.
It’s arrogant and frankly offensive to say I made it up for the purpose of my article.
Yes, of course, the process is different. That much is obvious. You guys are thinking too much about the “how”, but not enough on the “why”.
The “why” is exactly the same: they wanted to get rid of athletes and styles of play that reduce the marketability and revenues of their sports.
The end result? The players that the NHL wanted gone and the fighters that the UFC wanted gone, are gone.
Are we arguing semantics here, or are you and D.Cap really arguing that “fair” application of rules is acceptable?
Because if that is the case, I have a hard time believing that you guys wouldn’t be upset if the UFC instituted a 15-second standup rule. But that’s “fair”, right? Because it affects everyone?
Wow have we gone off on a tangent!
Sports league cut players because they no longer help the bottom line.
The UFC cut fighters because they no longer help the bottom line.
People need to understand that all businesses make decisions for a reason. They do not do things randomly. The NHL cut players for business reasons and so do the UFC.
Everyone is assuming that O’Brien was cut because he’s boring. That may probably be part of the reason, but there are other reasons that we may not be privy to. If you only look at the roster of the heavyweight division currently, you can see that there is some order out of the madness: new faces coming in and old faces out. O’Brien’s been around for two years. He hasn’t progressed much. Cut the losses, no?
Look at Koscheck and Ken Flo and other fighters who have progressed greatly over the last two years. How many new faces have we seen in the past few years? The UFC’s modus operandi has always been to give fighters a chance to see what they can do and then cut out the excess. Then they bring in new fighters and the cycle start anew. Why is this a surprise? What’s surprising is that people actually cares that this particular fighter is cut. Weird.
Has anybody watched O’Brien-Herring? He hardly lays on the guy. He takes him down, passes his guard easily but he has absolutely no submissions, so Herring takes defensive positions to stop any damage from punches.
O’Brien has been with the company for 20 months and had a 13 month gap in fights due to injury. So he’s only been active for 7 months. Considering the severity of the injury, he’s lucky to still be fighting. He’s a good young fighter. He is one of their top guys so why cut him? They’ve stood by far duller fighters than him.
The NHL made rule changes to specifically prevent “boring” teams like the NJ Devils from going to the playoffs every year and lowering their revenue.
Funny how they’re in the playoffs again—
back to the issue at hand…the UFC started as a tournament and its working in more mma orgs around the world so it clearly has validity. They dont’ need the live gate to be amaazing as long as they can get the big spenders to come. They can have live events anywhere and get them outside the NSAC rules limitations make the events have Vale Tudo rules (actually a sport) and get judges that really understand Vale Tudo not Boxing/Kickboxing(C.Peoples..etc..)
Also it would be nice to realize that the UFC is technically not a sport and the ruleset it uses and the matchmaking it has has clearly stated this fact. A true sport has even tournaments to decide winners not just oh….whoever we feel would be exciting/profitable.
Also important to consider is that the Fertitas based their decision to purchase UFC on the success of the PRIDE grand prix in 2000. The pride formula has always been that an exciting competitor is invited back if he can show true warrior spirit and compete no matter the results of the match. Guys who are boring/ lackluster would get the axe quickly. So there is definitely some things that the UFC could do to better legitimize its sport like trading elbows on the ground for knees on the ground and giving contracts to its tournament winners…which could be hosted in Puerto Rico/Costa Rica/ etc…to avoid the whole NSAC nonsense. and as far as having good judging get a few experienced MMA judges like Matt Hume and maybe even let Big John be invited as a judge(not a conflict of interest that being a ref would be.)
How would trading elbows for knees better legitimize mixed martial arts?
I’m afraid that the MMA puritans just won’t understand how the business works. The whole goal of any professional sports business is to make money. Let’s just leave the whole “he’s boring” thing out of this for now. I ask this: What money is Jake O’Brien bringing into the UFC? Aside from a small minority of MMA purists, no one cares to watch O’Brien. Do you expect the UFC to lose money on purpose? They won’t even pay over half their roster livable salaries and yet you expect them to not downsize financial dead weight like Jake O’Brien? The UFC would lose less money and make more money employing other fighters. In the NHL, NBA, MLB and NFL, teams cut financial dead weight all the time by releasing players and trading them to other teams. Why can’t the UFC do the same?
“Why can’t the UFC do the same?”
Difference between UFC andNHL, NBA, MLB, and NFL……UFC fighters don’t have union protection, those other sports do. As I said before, I am not saying Zuffa releasing O’Brien was a good or bad thing, but it is different that comparing to those other sports. And as I also said before, it’s more comparable to a pro wrestling company releasing a guy than those other sports getting rid of guys. Hell, I am of the opinion that O’Brien is PROBABLY better off in other feds (possibly EliteXC, or maybe even IFL) than in UFC, for now at least.
Can anyone make an economic argument for why Jake O’Brien should not have been cut?
Here’s the answer: if the UFC continues to arrange fights based on public opnion instead of pure sport (ie WINNING THE DAMN FIGHTS) eventually the mob rule of public opinion will have undeserving fighters getting title shots at champions and with the punchers chance and 4 oz gloves, can and will happen. See Serra vs St. Pierre. This fuxx the rankings, and in the end gives fans what they dont want to see, talentless and unskiled fighters as paper champions. Which, after word gets around, undermines the promotion.
The UFC is being short sighted here, in the interest of showcasing “exciting” and Adonis-like fighters such as the grappling deficient Kongo, the O’Briens, Lindlands and Buentellos are pushed out and we have lackluster and frustrating title matches like Arlovski vs Eilers, and top name fighters are top shelved. Top shelved because they can only fight once or twice a year against big name fighters who match UFC preferential criteria.
Which is bad for fighters, fans, and ultimately the promotion. It’s being short-sighted and while I can see why the UFC wants to make the most of its 15 minutes, disappoints guys like myself who want the longterm success of the sport and its major promotions.
If the UFC was really serious about keeping wrestling relaint fighters out of the game, they’d lobby the athletic commissions to change the rules. What they’re doing to O’Brien is really underhanded.
Overall, I enjoyed the article but I think most fans already know this is the type of thing to expect in the MMA world and the UFC.
It comes down to entertainment and yes, that comes at the price of trying to eliminate the possibility of boring fights. Fighters are very aware of this nowadays and many are focused on putting on a good show as much as they are focused on winning. Some have responded by changing their whole fighting style and strategy. For example Chris Lyttle went from being a a kinda boring defensive fighter to being a raging slugger and its only done good things for his career. Maybe Jake O’brien needs to follow suit.
Still, I dont think the business model of the UFC is to make a fight league as it seems their business model is more like the WWE and pro wrestling.
I just wish some organization outside of Japan would really get more involved with the Grand Prix tournament style format of fighting. Then you could actually create a legimate sport where you basically have elmination tournaments held over the course of 6-8 months (much like a season). That way, fights are not picked but are earned instead. As long as you have match makers like Joe Silva making fights, MMA will be nothing more than prize fighting and not a true sport.
Correction: Bad for the fighters (like O’Brien), the hardest of the hardcore fans but not for the promotion.
The UFC catering solely to the hardcore fan is a suicidal business move. If the UFC promotes more and more Jake O’Briens, you know what’s going to happen? Fans are going to stop going to the events in large numbers and fans are going to stop ordering the PPVs in large numbers. And you’ll be stuck with lackluster 1.1-1.2 ratings on Ultimate Fight Night as was evident in the last event, which was hardcore-heavy but didn’t offer much appeal to the casual fan.
Do you think Zuffa wants to jeopardize their cash cow? Zuffa turned their business into a success story off the backs of Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz and Randy Couture, all charismatic guys who met their star potential. Liddell = Rockstar, Ortiz = Arrogant Bad Boy, Couture = All-American Hero. Their characters/personality won the fans over. Liddell vs Ortiz II wasn’t the fight that made the most competitive sense back then but it was the largest drawing fight in UFC history. Think about that. A UFC that caters to only the hardcore fan is a UFC that probably wouldn’t have hit the big time in the first place.
As for the idea of a fighters union in the UFC, I like it. A fighters union would give the UFC more legitimacy.
Boxing on the other hand has been hurt by the fact that there is very little money in the sport except for the very top tier. If the UFC had a union which ensured better money for all UFC fighters, more quality athletes would enter the sport. If you are an athletically gifted man who is 6′8″, 260 lbs., are you going to play ball in high school in college and try to make it in the big leagues where you’ll be set for life? Or are you going to get punched in the face for $100 a fight like many boxers do when starting out?
Many quality American heavyweight athletes decided to play football and basketball instead of taking up boxing because the easy money is in the NFL, NBA and MLB. That’s why you are left with little guys in boxing like Mayweather who are too small to make it in the NFL or NBA. And even then, smaller athletes have choices like MLB since not all baseball players are steroided sluggers. There’s also the NHL but the NHL doesn’t have much of an impact in stealing American athletes away from combat sports.
Even myself, growing up as a kid I wanted to be a professional soccer player (of course I was never good enough but all kids dream right?). Never have I even considered the prospect of being a professional fighter. I would never get into a sport like boxing where I could end up with brain damage or a sport like MMA where I could end up like Kazushi Sakuraba before I’m 40. And for most fighters, you get peanuts for doing this. But if you’re sitting on the bench for an English Premiership club or a NFL/MLB/NBA/NHL team, you’re already making an easy six figures and it’s a lot less hard on your body. Very high risk to reward ratio in combat sports. But the risk is much lower in mainstream team sports.
And don’t forget that NBA, MLB, NFL etc. also have pension plans for retired players so they will still make money in retirement. There is NOTHING like that in combat sports. Fucking A, they need it much more than some ball-slingers.
I am deleting my bookmark to FO due to this article.
cyph, Grape Knee High, Dave2, thank you for your intelligent comments. Unfortunately, your efforts are wasted on these fanboys and trolls.