When buisness is more important then a good fight

When comparing combat sports, such as mma and boxing, to other sports there is one key fact that sets them apart. Combat sport only involve one person. When you watch baseball you are watching the team. Andy Pettitte pitches a ball, which gets hit to Derek Jeter who throws it to first for the out. But combat sports is different. There is no team, there is just one man. Because of this combat sports can connect to a fan on a more personal level. Chances are the majority of Filipino's favorite fighter is Manny Paquiao. Not only because he is one of the greatest fighters today, but because he's filipino too. There is a major group of MMA fans who like Matt Hughes because he is a hard working farm boy. Fight fans like to connect to a fighter in some way. Kenny Florian will probably never have the belt, but I like watching him fight because like me he focuses on technique. I can honestly say that a good number of people who watch a fight don't watch it because they think it will be a good fight, they watch it to see their fighter fight. Fight organizations use this to make money. Sometimes they will have a two fighters fight just to have a big name on a card, but other times two fighters great fighters will not fight in fear of losing one big names popularity.

On August 17th at UFC 117 Anderson Silva is fighting Cheal Sonnen. Any one who has heard of the UFC has heard of Anderson Silva; with good reason. Anderson Silva is so good he makes some of the top fights look bad. "The performance he put on against Forrest Griffin. We have never seen anyone treat Forrest that way" (Joe Rogan commenting on the Silva Griffin fight). But recently Anderson 'the spider' Silva has come under a lot of fire. It seems in some of his last few fights he hasnt been fighting. In his most recent fight against Demian Maia (a distinguished BJJ black belt) He fought just enough to win the fight by desicion, but spent alot of the time running around. At one point he even hid behind the ref in mock fear. The fight was far from entertaining and because of it Silva lost a lot of respect among the fans. The fans pay to watch Silva dominate and then knock out his opponent. (like he did to Forrest). Anderson Silva is getting the rep of a fighter who wins with out fighting (and not in a good way). This isnt good for the UFC. People don't want to pay for a bad fight, so the UFC has to make Silva fight. Enter Chael Sonnen. An up and coming fighter who is coming off a three fight win steak with his most recent win over Nate Marquardt via Decision (Unanimous). Sonnen is a strong wrestler with powerful takedowns. He is being hyped as someone who will make Anderson Silva fight. So what is the match up really for? Can Chael Sonnen really beat Anderson Silva, or are we just trying to see the unstoppable Silva that we all love to watch? In the end this amateur blogger believes that this next fight is just a way for the UFC to give Silva his reputation back so people will keep paying to see him.


Another example of match up created for income was the fight between WEC feather wieght champion Jose Aldo, and everybody's favorite Urijah Faber. For those who dont know Im gonnna give a quick background. Urijah Faber is everyone's favorite California kid. He originally won the WEC featherwieght title back in 2006. He defended 5 times until finally losing it to Mike Brown in 2008. In that time Faber became the face of the WEC. Along with being a great fighter who always puts on a good show he is a relaxed cool guy. (or so i read). You can not dislike this guy. Enter Mike Brown. Mike Brown wrestled in high school and won a state championship in his junior year. He is a stocky little man with powerful takedowns. Brown took the belt away from Faber in 2008 when he won by knock out. People called the win a fluke cause he knocked out Faber as Faber was trying to do a spinning elbow. People called him lucky and said that Faber would beat him next time. Next time came at WEC 41 in january of 2009 where Brown beat Faber again by decision. It became clear that Brown deserved the belt. (In between the two match ups he also defended the belt by submitting Leonard Garcia). Just when things were looking good for Brown along came Jose Aldo. Jose Aldo was named 2009 fighter of the year by Fight Magazine. Jose Aldo came onto the scene at WEC 34 in 2008, and has been dominating ever since. He won the next six fights by way of knock out, three of them in the first round. His 6th knock out was against Mike Brown winning him the belt.

When Mike Brown got knocked out I assumed that he would get a chance at getting his belt back, just as Faber got a chance at getting his belt back from Brown after he lost it. There was one thing I was forgetting. I was forgetting how much money Urijah Faber brought in. Instead of giving Mike Brown a second chance, Urijah Faber was next to fight the man who had destroyed the only person to beat Faber since 2005.
Faber being Faber is was the fan favorite. But the basic logic of you cant beat a man who beat a man who beat you, twice, turned out to be true. Jose Aldo punished Faber for five rounds. His constant leg kicks left Faber sore to say the least

http://www.mma-core.com/fighter_photos/_Urijah_Faber_s_Leg_After_Aldo_Fight?fpid=1001106)

Mike Brown was next to fight Aldo, but that fight was derailed when Brown lost to Manvel Gamburyan. (Gamburyan fights Aldo at WEC 51).
I dont think I have to say anything more about this to get my point across. Faber fought Aldo, not because he deserved that fight, but because Urijah Faber's name on a card brings viewers.

I don't think this whole idea is really a secret. This isnt a big conspircacy and it has nothing to do with corruption. I am merely talking about what I see. I am not even to go as far as to say it is a bad thing that needs to change. Sure its a little unfair to the fighters sometimes and when I see it happpen I cant help but shake my head. But MMA is a growing sport. The people who run fight organizations such as the UFC, WEC, and Strikeforce, are trying to turn this fad into a normal reconized sport which I think it deserves to be. To do that you need people to watch it enough to become normal viewers. And if that means giving someone a title shot because he is well known and not because he earned it as much as this other guy did, then so be it.