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Daniel Puder in UFC?
By Luke | March 16, 2006
By: Luke Nicholson
After Daniel Puder’s performance at the record-setting Strikeforce show in San Jose last Friday, now might be the perfect opportunity for UFC to sign him and start to feature him, and build him as a superstar. From all reports, Dan Puder came off as a superstar. He entered wearing a “I hurt Kurt” t-shirt (referring to his fight with Kurt Angle in WWE), and displayed all the charisma and personality of a fighter who people will eventually pay to see.
At 6-3 235lbs, a great look, and all the charisma and personality previously mentioned. Daniel Puder sounds like the potential Heavyweight superstar that Dana White has wet dreams about. With Puder’s success on WWE Tough Enough, he’s already got a semi-established name with the mainstream fan.
UFC can use all the marketable personalities they can grab, and with WWE dropping the ball with Puder last year, the time is right to sign him before WWE realizes the mistake they’ve made. UFC needs some marketable fighters at each weight class. Heavyweight is the weight division that is the most depleted, in terms of talent, and marketability – in my opinion. Dan Puder would be a nice addition to that division. Along with Brandon Vera and Andrei Arlovski, I think these three would give UFC a nice base of marketable fighters to build from.
One drawback of signing Daniel Puder is his lack of experience in MMA. He has only two professional fights under his belt, and signing him would probably be an insult to other heavyweight fighters who have been toiling on the independant scene for much longer than Puder, who feel worthy of a shot in UFC.
The other drawback might be money. I don’t know what Daniel Puder was paid to fight for Strikeforce, but given the name that he’s made for himself through Tough Enough and WWE, I can’t imagine that he’ll be willing to fight for 2/2. But, who knows, maybe Dana will see the dollar signs, and will realize that if the proper care was taken, Puder could be a Chuck Liddell-level draw for UFC in the future.
Topics: All Topics, Luke Nicholson, MMA, UFC | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
I’d say it a good idea. He may not be the bestest fighter in the whole wide world, but hes not bad either. Plus he has that magical thing that so many lack, really decent personality.
Considering the UFC let in Sean Gannon after 1 Pro MMA fight (and based on the ‘legendary’ brawl with Kimbo Slice) and Frank Mir after 2 Pro MMA fights (at least he proved himself an asset later on), I don’t see any reason for them to refuse Puder in terms of experience.
Puder is a natural personality and worth bringing in. Looks must be deceiving because he doesn’t look all that big to me….more Light heavy than heavy. And with weight cutting I guess he could go either way.