Who needs it more...

[yougotabeeonyourhat]

I was listening to a some guy on TV talk about boxing and he said something that has been rolling around in my head for a few days. He said that in boxing so many of these guys come from such abject poverty that it often comes down to "who needs it more". Even after they become successful or rich, once you've lived in poverty the fear of returning to that life never leaves.

The reason it resonated with me is because I'm often disappointed in the level of grit with the current batch of MMA fighters. And I think that, for most of these guys, they've never truly been hungry in their lives. They grew up in middle-class homes, went to decent schools, played sports, wrestled in college, etc.

Turning down fights, cherry-picking opponents, pulling out over questionable injuries, being content to sit on a title and not defend it, wasting years of their prime. These are pretty common place today.

Of course there are exceptions but this DJ/TJ era of the UFC is underwhelming as fuck.

 

[Leinster Rugby]

UFC homeless division.

make it happen Dana.

 

[Matt Hutchings]

This reminds me of my favourite quote from my favourite fighter Fedor Emelianenko:

‘Years ago we hardly had anything to eat. Now I earn more money and I see every opponent as a man that tries to put me back to that poorer period. That man has to be eliminated.’

 

[John makfresshi]

This reminds me of my favourite quote from my favourite fighter Fedor Emelianenko:

‘Years ago we hardly had anything to eat. Now I earn more money and I see every opponent as a man that tries to put me back to that poorer period. That man has to be eliminated.’

Fedor?

 

[yougotabeeonyourhat]

This reminds me of my favourite quote from my favourite fighter Fedor Emelianenko:

‘Years ago we hardly had anything to eat. Now I earn more money and I see every opponent as a man that tries to put me back to that poorer period. That man has to be eliminated.’

That is pure awesomeness.

I've never heard that quote before.

 

[yougotabeeonyourhat]

UFC homeless division.

make it happen Dana.

UFC Bumfights <45>

 

[Leinster Rugby]

UFC Bumfights <45>

Dana Whites Tuesday Night Recovering Crack-addict Contender Series

 

[VVarhead]

Turning down fights, cherry-picking opponents, pulling out over questionable injuries, being content to sit on a title and not defend it, wasting years of their prime. These are pretty common place today.

You know why fighters turn down fights and cherry-pick their opponents? Because they don't get paid enough.
If you're ranked #5 in the world and get an offer to fight #12 you're not taking it because if you lose, you're back to 20/20k on your next contract and you'll struggle to make a living.


It was different back then because back in the day there was no real money to be made in MMA anyway. So people that got into MMA got into it because they loved the sport.

At least that's my assumption. Either you pay them peanuts or you pay them well, right now we're exactly in the middle and it doesn't work out.

 

[Flokk]

You know why fighters turn down fights and cherry-pick their opponents? Because they don't get paid enough.
If you're ranked #5 in the world and get an offer to fight #12 you're not taking it because if you lose, you're back to 20/20k on your next contract and you'll struggle to make a living.


It was different back then because back in the day there was no real money to be made in MMA. So people that got into MMA got into it because they loved the sport.

At least that's my assumption. Either you pay them peanuts or you pay them well, right now we're exactly in the middle and it doesn't work out.

Bingo. These guys can't afford to lose. They have zero protection.

Reebok money and 10 or 20k won't keep the lights on, not after taxes and expenses.

 

[Matt Hutchings]

That is pure awesomeness.

I've never heard that quote before.

Here's a memorable excerpt from his book:

"Fighting has also given me a second in my team, the Red Devils. All of us share a common goal - to push ourselves beyond our limits in order to reach our potential in the art of fighting. This entails three grueling practices a day, six days a week. We don't have fancy equipment or a personal chef. All we have are a few ancient mats, chapped sparring equipment, a very steep hill, an old tire, a sledgehammer, and a mess hall that serves meat and potatoes.

We believe in the old Russian training, which is basically to give everything you have plus a little you don't every time you show up to practice. It doesn't matter if none of us is fighting for six months. We are there three times a day, running five miles through the woods, sprinting up the mountain until half of us are puking, grinding out hundreds of push-ups, shadow boxing for hours on end, conducting position sparring on the ground, and sparring on out feet with enough force that blood routinely flows down our bodies along with the sweat. While other teams take time off after their fights, we return to the gym for another day of abuse. For the Red Devils, the gym is our home and training is a necessity of life."

 

[yougotabeeonyourhat]

You know why fighters turn down fights and cherry-pick their opponents? Because they don't get paid enough.
If you're ranked #5 in the world and get an offer to fight #12 you're not taking it because if you lose, you're back to 20/20k on your next contract and you'll struggle to make a living.


It was different back then because back in the day there was no real money to be made in MMA. So people that got into MMA got into it because they loved the sport.

At least that's my assumption. Either you pay them peanuts or you pay them well, right now we're exactly in the middle and it doesn't work out.

I'm sure that's part of it. But that kind of mentality is not one that a hungry fighter has. Every great fighter who has ever lived started out making shit money. And they fought their way up the food chain. They wanted it that bad. They needed it that bad. And they did it. This generation of fighters think they deserve big-dick money well before they've proven they deserve big-dick money.

 

[Flokk]

I'm sure that's part of it. But that kind of mentality is not one that a hungry fighter has. Every great fighter who has ever lived started out making shit money. And they fought their way up the food chain. They wanted it that bad. They needed it that bad. And they did it. This generation of fighters think they deserve big-dick money well before they've proven they deserve big-duck money.

They just need a baldfather to throw them million dollar birthday parties.

Kids can't eat bootstraps for dinner, in case you didn't know that.

 

[VVarhead]

I'm sure that's part of it. But that kind of mentality is not one that a hungry fighter has. Every great fighter who has ever lived started out making shit money. And they fought their way up the food chain. They wanted it that bad. They needed it that bad. And they did it. This generation of fighters think they deserve big-dick money well before they've proven they deserve big-duck money.

True warriors like Holloway, Ferguson, Aldo, Cerrone, Shogun, Edgar, Sakuraba, Gomi, etc. are hard to come by and we MMA fans will learn to cherish them as the sport grows older.
We're spoiled because the first generation of UFC and MMA fighters and champions has been (for the most part) really great. As the sport and business grows and evolves great champions and great warriors who take every fight, defend their title 2-3x a year, and truly want to prove they're the greatest will become rarer.

That's why it's important for us fans to appreciate and remember great fighters like that - so that the new generation of fighters know what to strive for and see what makes them immortal in this sport.
Plenty of these guys (like Cerrone for example) don't even have that great of a record, but I'm 100% sure there will still be Cerrone threads on here in 20 years.

 

[LouisBolanos]

UFC homeless division.

make it happen Dana.

 

[Leinster Rugby]

as always, incredible work sir <Lmaoo>

 

[Fight Professor]

This reminds me of my favourite quote from my favourite fighter Fedor Emelianenko:

‘Years ago we hardly had anything to eat. Now I earn more money and I see every opponent as a man that tries to put me back to that poorer period. That man has to be eliminated.’

That was Fedor before he had found religion.

 

[punky brewster]

You can have all the grit in the world, but it ain't gonna stop a flying knee straight to the jaw from knocking you out. You can take all your emotions from your shitty childhood and try to focus it into beating the shit out of your opponent, but a lot of times emotional fighting leads to reckless fighting, and that can mess up your record.

In regards to boxing, most boxers have at least 100 amateur fights (or more) before going pro. Those fights allow them to learn to control reckless instincts, and gain loads of constructive criticism. A lot of MMA guys have just a handful of ammy fights before turning pro. Hell, Stipe had six amateur fights, and had only six pro fights (in less than a two year period) before his first fight in the UFC, the pinnacle of MMA competion. Every fight on these guys' record counts and can determine if they'll make it to the top. For a lot of these guys, it's understandable why they're hesitant to blemish their record.

Mayweather had 92 ammy fights (84 - 8) before going pro, pro being the small local circuits with events in school gymnasiums. If Mayweather had only two years experience and six fights under his belt before he started fighting in the big leagues (WBA, WBC), do you still think he'd have an undefeated record?

I also think "abject poverty" and being "hungry" are terms overused by Americans trying to paint a picture of how bad their childhood was. Food stamps, subsidized apartments, neighborhood health clinics, and having to shop at the goodwill is not abject poverty. Living in a hut, malnutrition, picking through trash piles, and waiting for the next UN grain drop is abject poverty.