We are frustraded because we like to see fighters not players

[tramendous]

Those things you named gave better tools to stop takedowns and gave more weapons to wrestlers after a takedown. I'm all for knees to the head, which I think is a probably bigger difference maker than kicks to the head.

Yes it gave more tools to wrestlers to 'fight' by allowing them to do more if they took someone down. However none wrestlers still did well, bjj guys also had 10 mins to do something on the ground. Passing guard was also more rewarding because of the already mentioned knees to the head and north south was lethal for the same reason. Strikers could corner people in the ring. The whole thing just encouraged confrontation and finishing a fight. It was much more fight oriented than UFC currently is.

 

[Th3Sav4ge]

More like torches, revel fires and the occasional burnt offering.

idk why but i believe you

 

[Emjay]

Fuck the sport. As a viewer I'm trying to be entertained. The viewers make the events possible. These wrestlers are costing us numerous matchups / potential stand up wars, and the UFC is always derailing their own hype trains because of their striker vs grappler match-up fetish.

Ok Millennial

 

[Brom Bones]

Dude, you don't speak for Sherbros. We all have our opinions. I don't necessarily enjoy his style but respect the hell out of it. Same as with GSP back in the day.

 

[Cpt Migraine]

If its up to a fighter to use bad tactics to keep entertained, what differentiates it from professional wrestling? The point of MMA (like all sports) is to see who is better under a given rule set (if no rules then everyone is bringing in weapons and friends). If that's to be put aside to make things more entertaining, then it'll quickly turn into fighters working together to make things more entertaining, because two fighters cooperating can make for much better action than two fighters opposing each other -- super entertaining, flashing moves only work when fighters cooperate.

Real combat (ask any soldier) is often boring, often involves retreat or stalling, involves waiting for your enemy to make a mistake, involves waiting for time to run out. Constant action is part of movie combat, not real combat.

I'm not a soldier but with that said i agree with your points..

Unfortunately for the purist the amount of entertainment is a factor..

Silva vs gsp equation.. i respect the shit out of gsp and hold him higher than silva but when watching highlights (and highlights are what makes the product make sense) silva is the man..

Usman shit the bed.. he went against a guy that people were excited to see and did "nothing".. the guy he faced fucked up till, diaz and askren in spectacular fashion..

I get it's not easy to look good against masvidal but if i knew nothing about fighting i'd say usman was afraid of jorge and did anything to not have to fight him..

3 guys judging mma will say usman won but someone expecting a fight would usman was waiting for someone to break it up..

 

[Gmork]

If you have been watching MMA since the 90s you know that current UFC is not just MMA, it's MMA under a strict ruleset.
In PRIDE you couldn't really stall because of the ring, lay and pray was there but it was definitely less common just because judging didn't value top position as much as today. You look confused about the comparison, it's not about having bad decisions and it's not about the best figher, it's about the scoring system. Whatever system you chose it's going to affect the fighters, they are going to plan to win the points. A round by round control-oriented judging IS VERY different from what MMA used to be.

Lay and pray was more common in Pride, because elbows weren't legal. Once you were in somebody's full guard, the fight came to a screeching halt. In the UFC guys from both the bottom and top of the guard have real offensive options because of elbows, and the cage helps people stand back up. Fighters have also generally gotten better at takedown defense and getting back up.

 

[ThunderL1ps]

This is why so many champion PRIDE FC. The rules forced fighters to fight. The ring environment forced fighters to fight. Yes, there would be the occasional stinker, but that is when the fighters didn't want to fight and were punished appropriately (yellow cards or not brought back).

I'll mention the UFC here, but it happens in other organizations, the company will pretend like fighters last fight wasn't a stinker. Dana and company will tout a fighters record, call them "world class" and other hyperbole. Fighters will be packaged in some sort of highlight that shows you exciting moments rather than the lay and pray or wall and stall moments of their bouts. So many people fall for it and you can see that by their pissing and moaning on Sherdog. To those people I'll say, "you're a moron if you expect a donkey to perform like a race horse."

Too many fans show their brain damage off by having a short memory of fighters past bouts.

 

[savantor]

Much of the entertainment value in Usman fights may be derived from acknowledging the many things he didn't have to do to win.