Now you are doing the same that the noobs that shit on Wandy and Mirko.
Kerr was a tormented guy that did almost as well in his early run in the UFC than in the WVC/Pride untli his addictions and demons (And a cute Succubus) lead him to destruction
Ricco did pretty well in Pride, winning all his fights and beating Prime Nog (You know the decision was poliitcal bullshit) and all his fights there, then following the Kerr route of drugs and booze for a while, and then becoming a minor league staple.
Lindland did more or less the same in the UFC than outside.
Chuck has virtues and flaws, as many pioneers.
To judge Mir career, that was already in a very steep decline in his last time in the UFC (2-6 with only victories against TRT deprived Pezao and Glasscannon Dufee), for his money grabbing fights in Bellator, is way worse that most of the ignorant post in this thread.
In the last year of SEG, they tried hard to keep the talent in but just couldn't do as much as they wanted, and were unable to expand further because the political harrasment left them pennyless.
In the early years of the Frittatas, they get rid of the Non-resident-in-North-America fighters (With some strategic exceptions like Vitor, and the fleeting obssesion with a Brit champion), were stingy as fuck, very impatient with some worhty fighters' flaws, overplaying favourtism, and basically made the UFC into a National Level Promotion, exacerbating the talent drain, while pretending that they were still the big deal, but managed to conserve their status as the second best MMA promotion globally (By a mile, everyone else were the REAL bush leagues), after RINGS folded.
Once the UFC exploded thaks to TUF, and PRIDE folded, no one can say that the UFC wasn't the best promotion overall. No matter how fond memories of Dream and Strikeforce are.