Thus far, one can say some great things about the year 2013 in MMA. With an injury-plagued 2012, fans hoped to get the fights they want, but they expected not to talk about those fights until they happened.
In that respect, the UFC indeed has lived up to the majority of expectations because they have been able to deliver on their cards with only the occasional bites from the injury bug. In fact, only the UFC on Fuel TV 9 card suffered much from pre-fight injuries and main-card shuffling. One could also argue UFC 159, though the injuries and bad calls happened during the event as opposed to before the event.
However, looking at the fights promoted by the UFC, it really makes one second-guess whether or not the promotion really did live up to expectations so far. Remember, last year, things differed greatly from how they appeared this year. Fans found excitement in Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar and they ridiculed Jon Jones for turning down Chael Sonnen.
Fast forward to 2013, and fans appear to react in a new way altogether. While fans did not have a problem with Aldo vs. Edgar itself, they still felt Edgar did not deserve the title shot. In the same breath, fans who once felt Sonnen would’ve destroyed Jones on eight days’ notice suddenly pointed out that Jones eats wrestlers for breakfast, cooks them for lunch, and finishes them off for dinner.
So, in retrospect, are the fans really getting what they expected? Do the fans even know what they expected when they went from one opinion to the next almost overnight?
In a way, they did because most fans just wanted the best fights in the world, and they witnessed them live and in living color. At the same time, though, they likely did not because certain fights played out differently live than they did in their heads, while fights that flew under the radar stole the show.
Then again, what did everyone expect? The UFC might always load a card and carry expectations to deliver a flawless show, but they always run under the idea that nobody ever knows how fights will transpire before fight night. So far, though, only a handful have played out as expected in one way or another, while the outcomes of others have surprised many.
So again, we must ask what everyone expected from the most unpredictable sport in the world in 2013. If we expected them to put up or shut up and avoid the injury bug while showcasing stacked cards, then yes, they delivered on expectations.
Also, if they thought the UFC would prove somewhat unpredictable, some might say they delivered there as well, because plenty of these fights seemed to just come out of nowhere.
However, if they expected the UFC to deliver fights that made sense, even after vocalizing their desire to see more of the ones that made dollars and cents, then perhaps they only delivered in spurts. Truthfully, it all depends on who gets asked the question. Therefore, allow for it to pose itself just once more:
What, MMA fans, did you all expect from the UFC in 2013?
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