Is it time for ZUFFA/UFC to raise the bar a bit?

[Tallica1981]

Last week the UFC on FX card had a few good fights, but man was the undercard stacked full off fighters who should not be fighting in the organization. I undertand that there are more cards than ever these days and other factors come into play such as injury replacements, etc, but the bar is way too low to get into the UFC these days. During the event, I posted the tweet by Tomas Rios that read something like this:

Up next, Anonymous white guy #42 versus Anonymous white guy #67

When i read it, i laughed, but it was true. To many random guys filling up the roster these days. Just a week ago or so, Zuffa cut about 10 guys. I think it's time they cut about 30.

I've never been one of the people saying their is oversaturation of the sport, but these type of lineups make it feel that way. I still don't think fewer cards is necessary to avoid this problem. I think the following things would help:

I think 10 fights a card is plenty, especially with all 5 round main eventers. Dropping from 12 fights to 10 drops a large amount of filler fights on a yearly basis.

Stop guaranteeing a second chance for stepping up on late notice. It's sweet that Gabe Rudiger was willing to get his ass beat by Lauzon, but do we really need to see him again to know he's not UFC caliber? He is getting paid 10X what he would have gotten elsewhere and is being given an opporunity to show he belongs. I think that's enough compensation for short notice.

Start having these guys fight more often. I understand not everyone is going to be like Cowboy and try to fight 5 times a year, but for your mid level guys, 4-5 isn't out of the question. No reason high level guys shouldn't be fighting 3-4 times if they want to. From what I read, most guys would like to fight more. Some of the top level fighters may want to only fight 2 times a year, but that should be a small minority.

I think Prelims are starting to look more and more like boxing cards, and that is not a good thing. Part of the appeal of MMA is that fans are more incclined to care about the guys fighting on the 6th figh of the card than the guys fighting on the 2nd fight in a boxing card. Now, i may be skipping over my first UFC PPV since Franklin v Okami and my favorite all time fighter is headlining (Wanderlei).

Thoughts?

[Cbear]

It does seem strange that the UFC owns 99% of the best fighters in the world and yet we complain that almost every show isnt stacked. Big names fighting twice a year should be minimum and it seems some of them barely get in 1 a year. Bones was one of the exceptions and of course cerrone will fight every weekend.

[RPD]

I'm on the fence because we don't see champs defend the belt enough across the board and yet we have cards damn near every weekend but because Best 80's keeps buying tickets to events everyone and their mother pulls out due to injuries.

[LordZardoz]

Last week the UFC on FX card had a few good fights, but man was the undercard stacked full off fighters who should not be fighting in the organization. I undertand that there are more cards than ever these days and other factors come into play such as injury replacements, etc, but the bar is way too low to get into the UFC these days. During the event, I posted the tweet by Tomas Rios that read something like this:



When i read it, i laughed, but it was true. To many random guys filling up the roster these days. Just a week ago or so, Zuffa cut about 10 guys. I think it's time they cut about 30.

I've never been one of the people saying their is oversaturation of the sport, but these type of lineups make it feel that way. I still don't think fewer cards is necessary to avoid this problem. I think the following things would help:

I think 10 fights a card is plenty, especially with all 5 round main eventers. Dropping from 12 fights to 10 drops a large amount of filler fights on a yearly basis.

Stop guaranteeing a second chance for stepping up on late notice. It's sweet that Gabe Rudiger was willing to get his ass beat by Lauzon, but do we really need to see him again to know he's not UFC caliber? He is getting paid 10X what he would have gotten elsewhere and is being given an opporunity to show he belongs. I think that's enough compensation for short notice.

Start having these guys fight more often. I understand not everyone is going to be like Cowboy and try to fight 5 times a year, but for your mid level guys, 4-5 isn't out of the question. No reason high level guys shouldn't be fighting 3-4 times if they want to. From what I read, most guys would like to fight more. Some of the top level fighters may want to only fight 2 times a year, but that should be a small minority.

I think Prelims are starting to look more and more like boxing cards, and that is not a good thing. Part of the appeal of MMA is that fans are more incclined to care about the guys fighting on the 6th figh of the card than the guys fighting on the 2nd fight in a boxing card. Now, i may be skipping over my first UFC PPV since Franklin v Okami and my favorite all time fighter is headlining (Wanderlei).

Thoughts?

The prelims for FX were largely anonymous. There were 2 guys who i could recall having seen fight before out of 16 prelim fighters. However I am not especially bothered by it. The prelim fights for a free TV event, televised or not, are exactly the place those guys should be fighting. Everyone needs to start somewhere.

- The only difference between fight cards now and fight cards 4 years ago is that more people have the option of watching the filler / prelim fights. If they can get paid real money to show them on TV, then why not do so? The only knock against the prelim fights is that the fighters are largely anonymous. The level of competition is still very good compared to what you get on HDNet. As long as they have the venue booked, you may as well put the extra prelims on.

- Even if they are anonymous filler, you still get Fight of the Night / Knockout of the Night / Submission of the Night from the undercard from time to time.

- Many of the under card guys already fight 4 or 5 times a year. Problem is many of them suck and get cut. Anyone good enough to get paid to fight in the UFC 5 times a year is not going to be in the prelims very long. Think it through, when was the last time you saw a fighter get a 5 fight win streak within the UFC and stay entirely on the prelims?

- Guaranateeing someone does not get cut when they step up on short notice is about the only way anyone would do it. Otherwise why step up at all?

- UFC 147 is a stunningly weak card due to the injuries that caused so much juggling of fights lately. But skipping a PPV because the fights look weak on paper is hit and miss. I will agree that UFC 147 is a hard sell though.

END COMMUNICATION

[Spectre]

If Good fighters are fighting X times per year, and there are Y events, then reducing the amount of fights/events won't result in more of X fighter fighting. In other words, reducing the amount of bouts does nothing to increase the amount of big name fights. So I don't quite understand that suggestion.

I also don't understand your wanting it to be riskier for fighters to accept short notice fights. That will make it less likely for anyone good to take the spot, and moreover, a last minute fill in is almost always going to suck. How is that addressing the problem you highlighted in OP?

[Cbear]

Plus, strip the damn belts if they cant be defended and stop this interim belt tomfoolery.

[Ash]

Without question they have to continue bringing new fighters in. Most fighters won't be the next Anderson Silva nor even the next Forrest Griffin, but how else would you know otherwise? People seem to slag off The Ultimate Fighter, and hate that prelims are largely unknowns, but how else do you bring new fighters in then? I'd rather see prospects on the undercards and on TUF rather than those guys being thrown to the wolves on the main card against more established guys.

[Tallica1981]

If Good fighters are fighting X times per year, and there are Y events, then reducing the amount of fights/events won't result in more of X fighter fighting. In other words, reducing the amount of bouts does nothing to increase the amount of big name fights. So I don't quite understand that suggestion.

I also don't understand your wanting it to be riskier for fighters to accept short notice fights. That will make it less likely for anyone good to take the spot, and moreover, a last minute fill in is almost always going to suck. How is that addressing the problem you highlighted in OP?

Reducing the amount of fights per card by just 1 or 2 and allowing fighters who want to fight omre often to do so would allow for a reduction in roster size and an increase in overall quality of the fight cards.

I see your point about the late replacement fighters, and it's one I bounce back and forth on. However, i think a lot of this problem can be alleviated by not feeling obligated to give the gabe rudigers of the world another fight after having proven repeatedly they don't belong. When Zuffa calls them, It's their lucky day. It sucks they might only get 2-3 weeks notice, but there is a risk/reward factor that the fighter needs to assess, and if they don't like the deal, pass. There are a lot of others who won't.

[Tallica1981]

Without question they have to continue bringing new fighters in. Most fighters won't be the next Anderson Silva nor even the next Forrest Griffin, but how else would you know otherwise? People seem to slag off The Ultimate Fighter, and hate that prelims are largely unknowns, but how else do you bring new fighters in then? I'd rather see prospects on the undercards and on TUF rather than those guys being thrown to the wolves on the main card against more established guys.

I'm not implying new fighters should not be brought in, but rather those who don't deserve to be there should cut when that becomes apparent in order to allow those who might a chance. I'm not siggesting every fighter on every card should have name value. However, when i listen to expert analysis of these fights and it's apparent to those who do follow regional MMA that certain guys just aren't UFC material yet they still get called to the bigs, it seems like a poor decision.

[AngryBill]

It's also my understanding that a lot of the undercards are filled by local fighters. That may be more for the crowd than the viewer at home.