One of UFC’s most colourful characters, Dan “The Beast” Severn competed at a time when bareknuckle boxing was common and MMA judging didn’t even exist.
He spoke recently with MMAmicks.com to offer his view on fighter pay, judging and the new faces in the UFC more than 20 years after he made his own debut.
On fighter pay, Severn said fighters are doing better than in his days, but UFC could afford more.
I would hope to see MMA eventually rival the pay days of boxing. These athletes, sure they are making more money now then we used to. But realistically you only have one really dominant company in the world, the UFC. I would like to see a couple more companies rise up and not because I have an axe to grind with the UFC. I look at it like this, who is stepping into the cage and risking physical damage to their bodies to the point that they could potentially die or compromise the quality of their lives for the rest of their lives? It’s not the owners.
Another hot topic of late is the dreadful MMA judging. Carlos Condit was widely viewed as having been robbed in his title bout against Robbie Lawler last month at UFC 195 in a card that saw four split decisions.
Severn told MMAmicks.com there’s a simple reason the judges botch it up so badly all the time. They’re not fighters.
Because the referees, judges, athletic commissioners and regulators of the sport don’t have any true experience in the sport they are simply speculating. I think that legitimately you should have trained in martial arts for a certain period of time and maybe even competed to a certain degree but that’s kind of difficult to say. I can’t say you should have been a pro because its just not cut out for everybody.
Makes sense to me. In the beginning when there were so few fighters you couldn’t draw upon the expertise of many people because they were still competing in UFC. But after 23 years there are plenty of retired fighters who could become judges for the sport.
But at this point an inanimate carbon rod would be better than Barry Luxenberg.
Finally, Severn was asked who his favorite fighters are today. His answer:
There are some colorful characters out there that I like, such as Conor McGregor. Now, ironically and I’m not saying this just because I’ve got you on here and you’re Canadian but I’ve always liked Georges St-Pierre. I like the way he represented himself and also how he represented the sport. He was always in a sports jacket, a tie, and he always conducted himself as a true professional. Now, on the flip side, If I owned the company I want the crazy ass Conor McGregors, I want the Brock Lesnars, I want guys who are wearing silver chains and howling at the moon.
Arroooooooooooooooooooooooo!
What do you think of the “Beast’s” responses?