Rome knows more about business than those fools at MMAPayout.

See, a dude like Rome is qualified to talk legal matters way better than bidness. The efforts are appreciated, but come off as a bit crass.

While I appreciate guys like Michael Rome attempting to wrap his head around some problems or issues related to the MMA business world, he and others often come off sounding uneducated in business attempting to forecast buyrates, analyze financial statements, pricing stocks, television ratings, and numerous other things. If these guys were that qualified they’d be running a real MMA business instead of blogging about it.

The last thing I want to read about is someone who is not qualified or has no business (pun intended) offering their opinions on the business world to the masses. Let them blog about what they know and are good at; not what they think they know. I’ll go to MMA Payout for my MMA business news.

It returns to your definition of “big win”. I mean, you can always claim something to the contrary to try and establish your position.

I’m not even saying the UFC Lightweights are generally better then the Lightweights from Japan. What I am saying is that they are on equal footing.

How do we know that? BJ Penn is the #1 guy. I wouldn’t question that for a split second. Everyone else? I have no idea. When the UFC had no lightweights, PRIDE, Shooto, and HERO’s did, and they paid a premium for the best. Those guys never ended up coming to the UFC, for the most part, and so the fighters who are in the UFC at the moment cannot reasonably be compared. They’re typically far less experienced fighters and they fight amongst themselves. Those who’ve stepped up to fight BJ Penn have been beaten like redheaded stepchildren. Forcing 4 UFC lightweights in the top ten just because lots of people watch the UFC automatically devalues the concept of ranking via personal merit.

That the Top 10 should likely have 4 UFC Lightweights, 4 DREAM Lightweights, Gomi, & Thomson. Of course, things aren’t going to be exact like that, but you get the point.

Two days ago, no one even spoke of Affliction and EXC working together, and now there’s talk about a January show with them working alongside of GBP. That’s like, important.

If you think its a big deal, why don’t you bring it up, analyze whats necessary for it to come about, and what the implications of it are for the overall MMA world?

I enjoy watching others instead. Its blogging, man. None of us are doing anything important.

(TUF round robins? Are you serious?)

Yeah, I am, to be honest. Kenny Florian might be closer to a title shot now than before. Or not. Who even knows what BJ Penn is gonna do at 155? So in the meantime, the rest of the division fights each other and basically splits a bunch of fights. The fights are plenty good, but its impossible at the moment to compare them to the guys who were at the top 2-3 years ago when PRIDE was the dominant home for lightweights because they aren’t fighting each other.

But one big win in the last 3 years is still better then no big wins in the last 3 years (like Kawajiri). You are tripping over your own words at this point.

I’m not even saying the UFC Lightweights are generally better then the Lightweights from Japan. What I am saying is that they are on equal footing. That the Top 10 should likely have 4 UFC Lightweights, 4 DREAM Lightweights, Gomi, & Thomson. Of course, things aren’t going to be exact like that, but you get the point.

This bias was shown before when Cro Cop & Shogoun came to the UFC. It is was shown to be incorrect.

I don’t buy that. You go about picking apart small aspects of business stories while ignoring the bigger picture. You bring up a boxing/MMA card on CBS, even though thats a longshot at this point. If you think its a big deal, why don’t you bring it up, analyze whats necessary for it to come about, and what the implications of it are for the overall MMA world?

You aren’t doing that. Instead, you’re arguing about the distinction between fans who watch fights and people who follow the business, and so forth.

I think you put forth a lot of good arguments. But those are undermined by your obvious biases (TUF round robins? Are you serious?) and your generally negative attitude.