The underdog story of mixed martial arts is a long and interesting one. It is filled with such characters like Royce Gracie, Chuck Liddell, and Dana White.However, it is also filled with unsung heroes who were just as important as the legends of the sp…
The underdog story of mixed martial arts is a long and interesting one. It is filled with such characters like Royce Gracie, Chuck Liddell, and Dana White.
However, it is also filled with unsung heroes who were just as important as the legends of the sport.
Unfortunately, many of these men and their accomplishments have been forgotten for one reason or another. They have become buried in the mythos of MMA history that glorifies only a few select characters.
Who are these forgotten men and why are they so crucial to the history of mixed martial arts?
The UFC has had events in many countries around the world and plans to hold even more in the near future. However, having a roster of international fighters is what truly makes a promotion global, not just holding events at foreign venues.Does the UFC …
The UFC has had events in many countries around the world and plans to hold even more in the near future. However, having a roster of international fighters is what truly makes a promotion global, not just holding events at foreign venues.
Does the UFC cut it in this regard? Do they have enough international talent to truly be a global organization?
The answer is twofold and complicated.
UFC 134 is unique, not only because it takes place in Brazil, but because it features fighters from six different nations on the card. The nations are the United States, Brazil, England, Canada, Bulgaria and Japan.
In fact, fighters from a multitude of nations will enter the Octagon from now until December. Places such as South Korea, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the Bahamas, China, Germany, Croatia, France, Nigeria and Sweden will all have at least one fighter representing them in the cage.
However, that is part of the problem, many of these nations only have one fighter representing them.
In order to truly “capture” a market and turn it into a veritable farm for future stars, there needs to be more than one star to push in the overseas market that the UFC is trying to capture.
Germany is on the UFC’s list for expansion (they’ve had two events there but have still not managed to dispel all misconceptions about MMA; the UFC was banned from German television when it went to Germany last year).
The UFC has a successful German fighter, Dennis Siver, but they have only one. German prospect Peter Sobotta and German speaking Ultimate Fighter veteran Kris McCray didn’t exactly pan out; they are both out of the UFC.
Nevertheless, the UFC is still in a strong position internationally. The UFC’s success in England (and the UK in general) off the back of Michael Bisping has proven that a movement overseas can be successful with only one main native born star.
Thus, while the UFC isn’t truly international in the sense that they have a wide talent pool from varying nations across the world (aside from the major players such as Brazil and Canada), they are still international in the sense that they have at least one fighter from a myriad of nations.
It only takes the success of one native fighter to plant the MMA seed in a nation, and that is just what the UFC is going to do with its burgeoning multi-ethnic, multi-national roster.
The UFC has enjoyed immense success since Zuffa purchased the company in 2001 but the previous milestones the company has gone through in the last 10 years will pale in comparison to will happen in the current decade.It will be the UFC’s finest hour.Wh…
The UFC has enjoyed immense success since Zuffa purchased the company in 2001 but the previous milestones the company has gone through in the last 10 years will pale in comparison to will happen in the current decade.
It will be the UFC’s finest hour.
Why? There are five distinct reasons that put the UFC in a position to expand further and grow larger than anyone (besides perhaps UFC president Dana White) could have imagined back in 2001.
What are these reasons and why are they going to guarantee the UFC’s success? Read and find out!
UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre is one of the most recognizable fighters in MMA, is a fan favorite and is the UFC’s golden boy. However, to retain these accolades, he absolutely must finish former Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz…
UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre is one of the most recognizable fighters in MMA, is a fan favorite and is the UFC’s golden boy. However, to retain these accolades, he absolutely must finish former Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz at UFC 137.
It’s hard to imagine that at one time St-Pierre was an extraordinarily popular fighter and had few, if any, detractors. This was in large part due to his respectful personality, fighting spirit and exciting style that earned him the nickname “Rush.” But this would eventually turn sour.
After taking the UFC welterweight title from Matt Hughes at UFC 65 via devastating head-kick knockout, many thought the young phenom would remain champion for years to come. Unfortunately for St-Pierre, The Ultimate Fighter season four winner Matt “The Terror” Serra humiliated him in a brutal first round TKO victory.
Since then, St-Pierre has been a noticeably more careful fighter, especially after he regained the title from Serra at UFC 83.
Before winning the belt for the second time, St-Pierre had 17 fights with a 15-2 record overall. Only three of those 15 victories were by way of decision. Things changed once St-Pierre recaptured the championship from Serra.
In the six fights he has had since then, five have gone to decision and the only “finish” was B.J. Penn’s corner electing to stop the bout.
It can certainly be said that St-Pierre has faced tougher competition in those fights than in his previous ones and that’s why he hasn’t finished a fight in so long (it’s been over two years since the finish in the Penn fight) but many fans and pundits don’t adopt that attitude.
The fact of the matter is that a significant portion of the MMA community labels St-Pierre as a “boring” fighter who never seeks to finish the fight. According to them, he always looks for a decision and usually prefers to use his wrestling to negate an opponent’s offense while doing no attacking of his own; he is the quintessential “lay and pray” fighter.
Whether or not this sentiment is true or false isn’t particularly important because so many people believe it. Fans are angered when he doesn’t finish a fight and turns in a lackluster decision; they want to see fights finished, they want a champion who “stands and bangs,” they want…Nick Diaz.
Nick Diaz had a mildly impressive run in the UFC at 6-4. However, that is not what he is most remembered for by fans. The fans of today remember Diaz for his brash attitude (flipping off cameras, wanting to slap Ariel Helwani) and his thrilling, taunt-laden, never-say-die fighting style.
Even though Diaz started out as a hated figure in the sport due to his disrespectful nature, trash talk and purported classlessness, he is swiftly becoming something of an anti-hero. Fans are rallying behind Diaz because he represents the total antithesis of St-Pierre.
St-Pierre is a clean cut poster boy who never, ever speaks out of line (in fact he uses “canned answers” that have no real emotional attachment or care in the delivery; he is a PR person’s dream in that sense), and doesn’t always “put on a show” as it were.
Compare him to Diaz who is a scrappy, tough, trash-talking person (who was even involved in a post-fight brawl) that always seeks to finish fights either with his hands or by submission. The two could not be any more different.
Thus, going into the fight the fans will be torn. St-Pierre is the more popular fighter but many have been becoming increasingly annoyed with him after each decision over an opponent they feel he could’ve finished.
Diaz on the other hand has been putting on exciting fights for a while now and his fanbase is growing.
Should St-Pierre again win by a (boring) decision, the fans will be fed up and turn on him; they will grow to hate him. He may lose his ability to draw buys due to the fact that fans think he is boring; even his sterile personality will be hated on.
The fans will then support fighters like Nick Diaz who have a more crowd-pleasing style.
Thus, while St-Pierre fought conservatively in his other fights to guarantee victory which guaranteed fame, fortune and fans, in this case it is the opposite. Against Nick Diaz, St-Pierre needs to fight to finish to retain all of the gains he has made in the sport as well as his reputation as one of the greatest of all time.
With the recent news of the UFC signing a 7 year deal with Fox, it is safe to say this 18 year old sport is on its way to becoming “officially mainstream.”But in order to appreciate the now, we must look back, back to the multitude of fighters that got…
With the recent news of the UFC signing a 7 year deal with Fox, it is safe to say this 18 year old sport is on its way to becoming “officially mainstream.”
But in order to appreciate the now, we must look back, back to the multitude of fighters that got this sport through the dark ages of near extinction and helped to build the UFC into a new kind of sports organization.
Power ranking the 50 most important fighters in UFC history is not a job for mere mortals, at least not this one – so please forgive me for simply putting them in chronological order.
UFC president Dana White recently lambasted sports media superpower ESPN via Twitter for canceling his UFC 134 promotional interview with them due to the UFC’s new television deal with Fox. Some may be annoyed with White, but it may be something that p…
UFC president Dana Whiterecently lambasted sports media superpower ESPN via Twitter for canceling his UFC 134 promotional interview with them due to the UFC’s new television deal with Fox. Some may be annoyed with White, but it may be something that proves to be a watershed moment in sports media history.
“ESPN always hated us and now they hate us more now that we are on FOX. They canceled my int next week for UFC Rio Fuk ESPN”
While many fans may roll their eyes at this incident and say, “Here he goes again,” that sort of reaction is a bit short-sighted.
In truth, it is possible that White’s apparent feud with and distaste towards ESPN may shift the sports media world.
MMA is the fastest-growing sport in the world and the UFC is the fastest-growing sports brand in the world. The television deal with Fox will serve as a superlative catalyst to the UFC’s already impressive growth and will help to guarantee that the sport and the organization will be popular.
With this basically guaranteed popularity boost, there are two possibilities regarding the UFC’s tiff with ESPN.
The first possibility is that ESPN initially sticks to their guns but ultimately wanes in their stance until they give the UFC the same attention they give the other major sports. In this scenario, ESPN’s hand is forced by the growth of the sport; ESPN cannot claim they are the worldwide leader in sports without covering what will be one of the primary sports in the world, MMA.
The second and more interesting possibility is that ESPN forever holds onto their relatively anti-UFC stance. What would result from this would be a change in the sports media world.
ESPN would lose ground as the UFC becomes more and more popular. Other sports networks—more specifically, websites, since the world has been moving more away from television and more towards the Internet—will begin to gain ground on ESPN.
The increasing amount of UFC fans will head elsewhere, perhaps to websites such as Bleacher Report, for UFC coverage and will end up staying at such websites since they can get their dose of the other sports they follow as well.
It is possible that by not showing the UFC the reverence and practical worship they show the NFL and MLB, ESPN’s hegemony over sports will finally come to an end, usurped by smaller websites and citizen journalists…all thanks to one little tweet from Dana White.
Matt Saccaro is a Bleacher Report featured columnist and avid fan of MMA. For more articles like this and for 140-character insights into MMA, follow @mattsaccaro
The UFC has had events in many countries around the world and plans to hold even more in the near future. However, having a roster of international fighters is what truly makes a promotion global, not just holding events at foreign venues.