'"Super fights" are a cancer to the sport

[Rank Squatter]

Fedor vs Shinya too!

Shinya was too small imo but was still fun to watch two icons cross paths in some sort of fashion

 

[SuperNerd]

Prize. Fighting.

Imagine being told you never saw GSP/Silva because Thales Leites would have had to wait.

Fighters want money, owners want money, and more people are willing to pay for it.
The belt is a fake promotional tool, to get these things.

Who loses? The MMA purity mark won't stream the next event in protest?

I think there is probably a better argument that super fights keep prize fighting relevant.

 

[Sweater of AV]

Super fights are fantastic for the most part.

The people who are willing to fight anyone at any weight are ultimately what the sport is all about.

 

[FIghtxIQ]

boxing is a shitty sport that mma should not emulate in any capacity

They are both combat sports and mma should emulate it so they get better pay and contracts. Boxing is still the biggest combat sport globally and the highest paying combat sport.

 

[markg171]

Conor ruined it.

Aldo should've been allowed to move up though. If anyone did, it was Aldo.

BJ Penn's the one who ruined it by getting the ever loving shit kicked out of him by GSP. That's why the UFC refused to allow anybody to move up again until Conor. Here was a guy who was a former WW champion and had had a previous close fight with GSP already, who tried moving up again and instead got horrifically beat down to the point he quit. The UFC very understandably did not want to attempt this again as their LW champ looked like a joke now that everybody knew for sure that 15lbs away was someone on an entirely different level.

Conor didn't ruin anything. He's the one who made it at all possible by successfully doing it.

 

[Poirierfan]

If it was the old days when fighters fought more than once or twice a year, then yes, now a days no one is active enough to defend more than one title.

 

[WhosTheBoss]

IMO,

you should ONLY be allowed to be a double champ if you fought and defended your belt 3 times.
Anything less, F off.
Also you should be mandated to fight and defend still at both classes.
If you happen in to win… you’re fighting every 6 months. No more stalling divisions and screwing everyone else over.

 

[Poirierfan]

BJ Penn's the one who ruined it by getting the ever loving shit kicked out of him by GSP. That's why the UFC refused to allow anybody to move up again until Conor. Here was a guy who was a former WW champion and had had a previous close fight with GSP already, who tried moving up again and instead got horrifically beat down to the point he quit. The UFC very understandably did not want to attempt this again as their LW champ looked like a joke now that everybody knew for sure that 15lbs away was someone on an entirely different level.

Conor didn't ruin anything. He's the one who made it at all possible by successfully doing it.

Because of money they let Conor do it so therefore he ruined it, fighters should have never been allowed to hold 2 belts at once.

 

[Nightgunner05]

Yeah, who wants to watch super fight? Blah! It’s not like we watch mma for entertainment or anything.

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

I feel like the belts used to be on the line way more frequently and it's only the past few years that champs don't defend singular divisions regularly. Might just be me remembering wrong but I like the next contender up thing. Not just the top 5 to 10 eliminating themselves before they get a chance at the belt and make the divisions look stupid when one of them with a loss or two in the past couple of fights gets the shot.

To each his own. To me personally that doesn’t make the division look stupid.

 

[mister piscadinha]

They are both combat sports and mma should emulate it so they get better pay and contracts. Boxing is still the biggest combat sport globally and the highest paying combat sport.

nobody cares about boxing apart from fury or canelo.
everyone in boxing is 20-0 because a lot of buns make careers out of losing to "prospects"
also only the famous main eventers gets paid a lot, undercard guys ged paid scraps
mma needs to pay better, for sure. but boxing is not it pal, trust me

 

[JustOnce]

BJ Penn's the one who ruined it by getting the ever loving shit kicked out of him by GSP. That's why the UFC refused to allow anybody to move up again until Conor. Here was a guy who was a former WW champion and had had a previous close fight with GSP already, who tried moving up again and instead got horrifically beat down to the point he quit. The UFC very understandably did not want to attempt this again as their LW champ looked like a joke now that everybody knew for sure that 15lbs away was someone on an entirely different level.

Conor didn't ruin anything. He's the one who made it at all possible by successfully doing it.

well...I'm not sure about that, but I guess that's one way to look at things. I'm fairly sure that wasn't the reason, you really think Edgar would've beaten Aldo at LW or something? GSP is WW Goat, none of the guys that Aldo would have fought were remotely in that realm of greatness, and prime Aldo cut a lot of weight too.

 

[Pitier of Fools]

All the superfights that have happened in recent years just shows that there are too many weight classes. If weight classes were spread properly, there would be no jumping between them. Right now there are so many that it's a joke.

 

[markg171]

Because of money they let Conor do it so therefore he ruined it, fighters should have never been allowed to hold 2 belts at once.

Except once again, Conor was not the first person who they let attempt it. Not even remotely so. BJ Penn, and Dan Henderson too, were allowed to nearly a decade prior. Randy would've too if he wasn't instead hopping between HW and LHW every time he lost a belt there.

It's pure revisionist nonsense to try and blame this on Conor. The issue was entirely, as you can see by who was allowed to do so, that they kept losing when they did. So of course the UFC hated the idea of one of their reigning champs losing when they could avoid it entirely, especially when it ended as badly as it did for BJ. Wanting to strip Aldo first before he moved was just covering their asses that the FW champ wouldn't possibly have to go back to FW with his tail between his legs as a loser. Plus specifically for Aldo, I'm sorry but the dude back then was notorious for getting injured and pulling out of fights. Of course the UFC didn't want him holding up two divisions if he did pull it off. Which yeah, is ironic that Conor instead actually did just hold up 2 divisions.

Conor didn't ruin anything. He proved it was possible after it had always failed before. Hence why after he successfully did so they suddenly started allowing far more to do so as well. They clearly became less worried about the potential offset once Conor proved it possible.

I'd also argue Conor made the case for why "special" fighters like he was (at the time) should be allowed to do so in the first place. If you really are a phenom then a couple of pounds shouldn't matter, and indeed largely hasn't. Most of the champs since have won I believe. It's not like the UFC is randomly letting the Glovers of their champions try and become dual champs. They are still being selective about it and only letting their top ones attempt it. And Cejudo, DC, and Nunes went and defended their belts too, further proving they were right to be allowed to become dual champs and weren't simply stylistically advantageous matchups.

Champ vs champ superfights are fine. We just need to make sure that they actually are superfights. Something like Oliveira vs Usman is a cool fight, meanwhile Sterling vs Volk is not lol.

 

[GSP_37]

Let the best fight the best. Who gives a shit about weight division and "number next to his name".

 

[StonedLemur]

Are they though?? Really??

How many “super fights” have actually occurred??

How often have they occurred???

Like what once every 2/3 years?

It’s not that serious. You’re overreacting

It's not only about them occuring, it's about everyone wanting to, and everyone talking about it.

It's corny at this point, because like you said... how many have happened, yet it's on the tip of everyone's tongue all the time.

Stay in your division and go on a long run... that'll do more for your career.

 

[StonedLemur]

Except once again, Conor was not the first person who they let attempt it. Not even remotely so. BJ Penn, and Dan Henderson too, were allowed to nearly a decade prior. Randy would've too if he wasn't instead hopping between HW and LHW every time he lost a belt there.

It's pure revisionist nonsense to try and blame this on Conor. The issue was entirely, as you can see by who was allowed to do so, that they kept losing when they did. So of course the UFC hated the idea of one of their reigning champs losing when they could avoid it entirely, especially when it ended as badly as it did for BJ. Wanting to strip Aldo first before he moved was just covering their asses that the FW champ wouldn't possibly have to go back to FW with his tail between his legs as a loser. Plus specifically for Aldo, I'm sorry but the dude back then was notorious for getting injured and pulling out of fights. Of course the UFC didn't want him holding up two divisions if he did pull it off. Which yeah, is ironic that Conor instead actually did just hold up 2 divisions.

Conor didn't ruin anything. He proved it was possible after it had always failed before. Hence why after he successfully did so they suddenly started allowing far more to do so as well. They clearly became less worried about the potential offset once Conor proved it possible.

I'd also argue Conor made the case for why "special" fighters like he was (at the time) should be allowed to do so in the first place. If you really are a phenom then a couple of pounds shouldn't matter, and indeed largely hasn't. Most of the champs since have won I believe. It's not like the UFC is randomly letting the Glovers of their champions try and become dual champs. They are still being selective about it and only letting their top ones attempt it. And Cejudo, DC, and Nunes went and defended their belts too, further proving they were right to be allowed to become dual champs and weren't simply stylistically advantageous matchups.

Champ vs champ superfights are fine. We just need to make sure that they actually are superfights. Something like Oliveira vs Usman is a cool fight, meanwhile Sterling vs Volk is not lol.

Actually they made BJ vacate his LW title before fighting Hughes sir.
And they told Randy the same, and Aldo too.

 

[StonedLemur]

Let the best fight the best. Who gives a shit about weight division and "number next to his name".

The UFC did that to themselves creating the weight classes.
I think Sakuraba was a perfect example of a smaller guy beating monsters.

 

[StonedLemur]

mma is a niche sport and will never not be, so i really don't care about bringing the casuals in
but if has to happen, it should go as you say, let the guy clear his division before moving up/down
but still, if i was pink goof, i would make the fighter have to vacate his title to climb the rankings of other weight class

Or at least beat the #1 contender at the next weight class before fighting for the title.

 

[GSP_37]

The UFC did that to themselves creating the weight classes.
I think Sakuraba was a perfect example of a smaller guy beating monsters.

UFC made money by selling PPV featuring "championship fights". I'm guessing casuals fell for that.