If the UFC truly did only care about legitimate competition and not selling tickets why is Forrest Griffin fighting for the title when he lost to Keith Jardine, meanwhile Jardine was forced to fight Alexander, Liddell and Silva until he lost enough in order to justify not giving him a shot. Same with Machida or the fact that Fitch was forced to fight a gajillion fights before he FINALLY got a shot at the belt.

Meanwhile guys like Roger Huerta, Franklin and Liddell are given any and all opportunities to get title shots (repeat opps in some cases) b/c they are more marketable and “in” with UFC brass.

Don’t act like their completely above the same things you’re railing against.

But the main reasons I want it to succeed is for the industry as a whole.

Just being honest from a personal standpoint.

Kimbo Slice is not fighting cans. He can’t fight cans, because he’s completely unproven as a fighter. He’s just fighting people at his level (and with more experience).

A can is a level of quality of an opponent in terms of resistance, skill, quality of wins, etc. not a comparative fight title (IE: only cans can fight cans). For example, one would not consider Reggie Strickland above a ‘higher end’ can even though he has over 300 fights to his name in Boxing.

Another example is Nick Casal, who faced Timothy Crane (who was 4-13 when they fought while Casal was 1-0). While Casal spotted 16 fights, he blitzed Crane who was little more than a punching bag. Just because Crane had 16 more fights didn’t mean crap if he didn’t have the skills, desire, quality of wins, etc. to back himself as being a ‘quality’ fighter (and he basically quit from the get go, going down 3 fights to what were pretty much pushes).

Couture is another good example.

This is a trick question, since the UFC puts asses in seats by fighting the best against the best. I honestly don’t know how to answer that.

After, if all they cared about was entertainment, it stands to reason they would make a lot of entertaining mismatches, rather than “best vs best” fights with champions taking on “boring” challengers like Sylvia and Sherk.

Look for yourself. Go ahead, take a look at all the fights they put together in 2008 alone. Take a look at how many freakshow “entertainment” fights there were, and how many were great match-ups.

And how do you explain all the “boring” fighters that still get big fights in the UFC? You know, guys like Machida, Kos, Sherk, Sylvia. How do you explain the lack of Zulus and Kimbos fighting in the main event?

Hmmm… turns out Lesnar is the exception, and not the rule when it comes to how the UFC does business. Even then, they gave him a legitimate opponent to sink or swim against. Seriously, think about it. That’s absolutely retarded if they only cared about putting asses in seats, which many posters on this website pointed out. However, it makes sense if you put it in the perspective of an org that’s trying to take the sport seriously.

How much evidence do you want? I can literally go on for pages.

The UFC realized that great fights with legitimate challengers will keep the sport afloat and the fan interested. That’s why they’ve been giving us big fights with legitimate fighters every chance they get. That’s why Fitch is fighting GSP next. It’s the same principle that all of the major sports live by (aside from boxing, which the UFC overtook), and it’s working. A Brazilian middleweight that can’t speak English sells hundreds of thousands of PPV shows. It’s not because of youtube streetfighting clips or an intimidating beard, it’s because he destroys all the top fighters in his division and the fans know it and love it. Great fighters are a renewable resource, fad superstars are not.

On the other hand, very large light-heavyweights like Jardine, Rampage, Lidell, etc. aren’t that much small than CroCop and Fedor, but I don’t see them jumping to heavyweight and trying to prove themselves, even though in the UFC the division is literally empty.

Just sayin’…

On the other hand, very large light-heavyweights like Jardine, Rampage, Lidell, etc. aren’t that much small than CroCop and Fedor, but I don’t see them jumping to heavyweight and trying to prove themselves, even though in the UFC the division is literally empty.

Just sayin’…

…and UFC marketed Brock Lesnar using WWE clips. They didn’t bother tracking down his amateur wrestling footage. Who cares dude?

At the end of the day, it’s about entertainment, and getting people to tune in. Do you think the UFC cares about the best fighting the best more than putting on entertaining shows and putting asses in seats? Even 45 Huddle isn’t that naive.

And the fact is, most people don’t realize that Kimbo Slice is an unproven fighter that can’t hang with decent top 10 opponents. It’s bad enough having to listen to an ESPN sports anchor like Michael Wilbon from PTI say that he doesn’t care about MMA unless it’s a fight between Kimbo Slice and Rampage. Imagine if that kind of ignorance becomes widespread. It’d be a disaster for the sport in my opinion.

Kimbo headlining the first MMA show on a major network television channel sets the sport back in my opinion. I’m tuning in for the Lawler/Smith fight and the Carano/Young fight, then I’m turning it off.