(As always, “WAR WAND! PRIDE NEVA DIE!” is an acceptable write-in vote.)
Peep this, Potato Nation — in honor of March Madness, we’re putting together a big bracketology feature on the best fights in MMA history, with your votes determining the #1 Greatest MMA Fight of All Time. (Launch date: TBA…but pretty soon!) I’m looking forward to it, and you should too.
The only problem is, our interactive bracket only has space for 16 entries, which means that a bunch of classic MMA matches won’t be included. I can’t reveal the bracket yet, but I can reveal the ten honorable mentions that are all competing for the last spot. Check ’em out below, and click those links for video clips of each one.
After the jump, you will find a voting widget. Cast your vote on which of the above fights is most worthy of a place in the bracket, and that fight will earn the sixteenth spot. Votes must be in by Thursday morning at 9 a.m. ET.
Make sense? If not, please drop us a line in the comments section or on Twitter. Now get to voting…
(As always, “WAR WAND! PRIDE NEVA DIE!” is an acceptable write-in vote.)
Peep this, Potato Nation — in honor of March Madness, we’re putting together a big bracketology feature on the best fights in MMA history, with your votes determining the #1 Greatest MMA Fight of All Time. (Launch date: TBA…but pretty soon!) I’m looking forward to it, and you should too.
The only problem is, our interactive bracket only has space for 16 entries, which means that a bunch of classic MMA matches won’t be included. I can’t reveal the bracket yet, but I can reveal the ten honorable mentions that are all competing for the last spot. Check ‘em out below, and click those links for video clips of each one.
After the jump, you will find a voting widget. Cast your vote on which of the above fights is most worthy of a place in the bracket, and that fight will earn the sixteenth spot. Votes must be in by Thursday morning at 9 a.m. ET.
Make sense? If not, please drop us a line in the comments section or on Twitter. Now get to voting…
By the time that this is published, the ceremony that will make Stephan Bonnar an official member of the UFC Hall of Fame will be underway. Bonnar’s resume includes an 8-7 UFC record, a flawless 0-0 record in UFC title fights, two failed drug tests and the significance of his TUF Finale bout against Forrest Griffin – a fight so important to UFC history that it has its own Wikipedia page. Bonnar also is on good terms with Dana White, which is arguably the most important criterion for induction into what is supposedly the UFC’s highest honor.
Regardless of how you feel about Bonnar’s induction, that last sentence should make you feel uncomfortable. A company that already has trouble convincing non-fans that it isn’t glorified professional wrestling selects people into its hall of fame the same way that the WWE does – by allowing one person to dictate who is worthy of the honor. Both halls have some debatableinductions. Both halls have some notableomissions. Neither hall is taken seriously by most fans of either sport.
While many articles have been written about how Bonnar’s induction highlights everything that’s wrong with the UFC Hall of Fame selection process, pretty much none of them offered any solutions. Below you’ll find a few suggestions to fix the hall, as well as reasons that they may not work. Let’s start off with the most obvious fix…
(Well? Photo courtesy of Getty Images.)
By the time that this is published, the ceremony that will make Stephan Bonnar an official member of the UFC Hall of Fame will be underway. Bonnar’s resume includes an 8-7 UFC record, a flawless 0-0 record in UFC title fights, two failed drug tests and the significance of his TUF Finale bout against Forrest Griffin – a fight so important to UFC history that it has its own Wikipedia page. Bonnar also is on good terms with Dana White, which is arguably the most important criterion for induction into what is supposedly the UFC’s highest honor.
Regardless of how you feel about Bonnar’s induction, that last sentence should make you feel uncomfortable. A company that already has trouble convincing non-fans that it isn’t glorified professional wrestling selects people into its hall of fame the same way that the WWE does – by allowing one person to dictate who is worthy of the honor. Both halls have some debatableinductions. Both halls have some notableomissions. Neither hall is taken seriously by most fans of either sport.
While many articles have been written about how Bonnar’s induction highlights everything that’s wrong with the UFC Hall of Fame selection process, pretty much none of them offered any solutions. Below you’ll find a few suggestions to fix the hall, as well as reasons that they may not work. Let’s start off with the most obvious fix…
Let the Journalists Vote
Why it would work – Because that’s pretty much what every legitimate Hall of Fame does. It may not make too much of a difference as to who gets inducted (more on that in a second), but at least then we’ll be able to take the hall seriously.
Why it wouldn’t work – Or will we? If the only journalists who are allowed to vote are those who are on good terms with the UFC – and unwilling to do anything to jeopardize this – the results will inevitably be just as biased as those adorable “official UFC rankings.”
Let the Fans Vote
Why it would work – Because halls of fame are for the fans in the first place, so why not let them decide who they want in them? Also, current UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz seems to believe it would work. Via MMA Junkie:
“I think [the Hall of Fame selection process] should be a fan vote,” Ortiz said. “That’s what it should really come down to. The fans should consider how much they’ve known the person, how much they’ve watched them fight and so forth and just how much the fighter had significance in the sport in general. I think that’s the answer.”
Why it wouldn’t work – How’s this for irony: Ortiz doesn’t think that Bonnar deserves to be in the hall of fame, but thinks that allowing the fans to induct their favorite the most worthy fighters is the solution. If you’re even slightly familiar with the voting process for the NBA All Star Game, then this requires zero explanation. If you aren’t familiar with it – and were too lazy to click the two links in this section – then let’s just say that guys like Bonnar would only be more likely to be inducted into the hall if the fans were allowed to vote.
Mark Cuban’s Weighted Fan Vote
Why it would work – The problem with letting the people vote on the Internet is that anyone with an unhealthy obsession with an athlete and too much free time can significantly affect the outcome, regardless of how often they even watch the sport. In an attempt to fix this, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban offered a solution – count votes cast in arenas during events twice as much as Internet votes. This not only rewards fans who are loyal enough to buy tickets to events, but also helps ensure that votes from educated fans aren’t immediately cancelled out by votes from people looking to troll the election. Win/win.
Why it wouldn’t work – At best, counting arena votes twice as much as Internet votes is like putting a Band-Aid on a gaping wound; if you’re trolling an election online, you aren’t just voting once. At worst, keep in mind that it’s estimated that as much as 60% of a sporting event’s live gate comes from casual fans, which means that the Affliction clad oaf who thinks Brock Lesnar is the best fighter on the planet would now havetwice as much influence on the outcome as the hardcore MMA fans watching the event from home.
Use Statistics
Why it would work – If the current problem facing the UFC Hall of Fame is human bias, then adding even more humans to the mix isn’t going to fix anything. Let’s just take a look at the stats – Win/loss record, takedown percentage, strikes landed; etc. – and let the numbers determine who really belongs in the hall of fame.
Why it wouldn’t work – The fighter who has landed the second-most strikes in UFC history, the third-most takedowns and left the organization with a 14-3-1 UFC record isn’t a member of the UFC Hall of Fame. Is this proof that we need to use statistics to determine who should be in the hall?
The Ranger Up crew are known for two things: making hilarious/awesome t-shirts and making hilarious/awesome/creepy videos starring either Tim Kennedy or Jorge Rivera. They’ve parodied everything from Monty Python to Katy Perry, but more often than not, their videos amount to little more than a dose of anti-Michael Bisping propganda. We would be quick to declare these videos an undeniable success had they not severely backfired on Bisping’s opponents in each instance, but they were at least moderately entertaining in failure nonetheless.
And today, Kennedy and the gang have decided to shift their focus from that of public humiliation to that of social responsibility. We’re talking about voting, people. It kicks ass. And regardless of your stance on the candidates at hand, the economy, gay rights, abortion, or having binders full of women, you should probably vote, because if you don’t, you could end up like the poor gentlemen above.
The Ranger Up crew are known for two things: making hilarious/awesome t-shirts and making hilarious/awesome/creepy videos starring either Tim Kennedy or Jorge Rivera. They’ve parodied everything from Monty Python to Katy Perry, but more often than not, their videos amount to little more than a dose of anti-Michael Bisping propganda. We would be quick to declare these videos an undeniable success had they not severely backfired on Bisping’s opponents in each instance, but they were at least moderately entertaining in failure nonetheless.
And today, Kennedy and the gang have decided to shift their focus from that of public humiliation to that of social responsibility. We’re talking about voting, people. It kicks ass. And regardless of your stance on the candidates at hand, the economy, gay rights, abortion, or having binders full of women, you should probably vote, because if you don’t, you could end up like the poor gentlemen above.
Personally, I will be penciling in my vote for Al Donnelly this year, because I’ve been told that since both voting and Al Donnelly kick ass, when you put the two together, you’ve got yourself some kick ass shit. That’s all the motivation I could ever really need.
We should probably feel sad about the fact that we live in a country where people get more passionate about voting for the winner of a reality show than they do for voting for their school board representatives. Or that many of you have probably quoted “the Founding Fathers™” inaccurately in a typo-ridden Facebook rant at some point in your lives. Or that many of you don’t know when this year’s presidential election is, yet have already voted for the awards we’re about to shamelessly plug.
But if we did that, then we might miss out on one of these fighters winning an ESPY. We wouldn’t want that, would we? Didn’t think so.
We’re about to win at IRONY! TOP SCORE!!!
We should probably feel sad about the fact that we live in a country where people get more passionate about voting for the winner of a reality show than they do for voting for their school board representatives. Or that many of you have probably quoted “the Founding Fathers™” inaccurately in a typo-ridden Facebook rant at some point in your lives. Or that many of you don’t know when this year’s presidential election is, yet have already voted for the awards we’re about to shamelessly plug.
But if we did that, then we might miss out on one of these fighters winning an ESPY. We wouldn’t want that, would we? Didn’t think so.
Yesterday, voting opened for this year’s ESPY Awards, which will air live on ESPN on July 11 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. While MMA fighters may not be eligible for “Male/Female Athlete of the Year” (Ronda Rousey is not impressed), our sport finds itself represented in two categories.
Obviously, “Best Fighter” has UFC athletes Anderson Silva and Jon Jones up for nomination, along with boxing’s Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Andre Ward. An MMA fighter has never won “Best Fighter” since the category’s inception (?!), but with Floyd Mayweather being broken by jail and Anderson Silva fighting two days before the voting ends, this year may very well give us an MMA fighter winning this category, like God intended.
Also of note, Edson Barboza’s third-round wheel kick knockout of Terry Etim at UFC 142 is up for “Best Play of the Year”. Voting in this category is 16 seed tournament-style, with the first eight matchups having a voting period ending on Tuesday. The winners advance to an Elite Eight round from July 3-9, and voters will have all of July 9th to pick the winner from the final four plays to advance.
This round, Barboza’s wheel kick KO is matched up against a freaking golf highlight. We can’t possibly let ourselves lose to golf, can we? Then click here to vote for Edson Barboza, and click here to vote for the other categories, including “Best Fighter”. Go out and make your voices heard!
