i fear that my precious sport(mma) is about to be ruined

i have been afraid of this for some time. i have been an avid fan for more than 10 years and have followed it very closely.
we all know pride, the ufc, but there are others.
recently, pride disbanded and ufc got some of the fighters...fedor has fought in bodog since and is in the process of negotiating with ufc. thing is, the ufc wants fedor exclusively and fedor wants to be able to fight in any org or event, IN RUSSIA. now, ufc is balking at that. they don't want to do it. there are sambo and combat sambo events that fedor wants to compete in.
now, lets assume fedor does not go to ufc...you have the baddest man on the planet not even fighting in the premier org. is ufc going to send their fighters over to face him? imo, they should come to him, wherever he is. HE is the champ. HE is the one that has demolished the heavy division.
now, i was hoping it would go to one promo but i was hoping that pride would buy ufc.

now, i have notices little things lately...in the ufc everyone has a nifty nickname..chris leben is the crippler? who has he crippled?
if you have a nick thats fine but they give em namses just to give em names. as of late, dana has been coming out to the ring to announce fights..just like the WWE.
did you guys not see what was going to happen?
couture 'retires' right before cro cop comes over. heavy title changes and captain america is back, just at the right time...this reeks of wwe crapola.

last but not least is the most disheartining news i have heard about my beloved mma in quite some time.
i need to back up for a second.
fans will no but others will not.
the past few years, parking lot bare knuckle matches have been popping up on the net. mainly 'starring' 1 guy. guys name is kimbo slice. he is a 30 year old ex convict and the bodyguard of the milfhunter people.
now he fought an 'mma' no name named sean gannon in an underground match more than a year ago. gannon handed kimbo is only loss and low and behold, ufc gives gannon a fight. they give him hinkle and hinkle destroys him.

well, kimbo just one is first official mma match in the caged fury fighting championships against ray mercer...now what is even WORSE is kimbo is being trained by BAS RUTTEN...bas is a legend in this sport. i can not believe that he is training kimbo.
so, at the fight tank abbot is in the seats. we all remember tank abbot. the 'pitfighter' from the early ufc's. now tank could throw heavy hande but that was back in the day and he has ZERO cardio. so, kimbo calls out tank and tank starts going off about fighting in the parkng lot.
so what happens? kimbo and tank abbot are penciled to fight in cage fury in september.
we have an ex con, street figting porno bouncer against a washed up 'pitfighter' from the early days.

this is HORRIBLE.....
these are the types of freak show deals that is going to set mma back.
i am very disturbed with this as i am very passionate about this sport.
i want the sport to succeed but as more and more orgs start popping up, the people with the fat pockets are going to get in on it and i am afraid they are going to taint it.
i do not want it to turn into worked matches, pre determined outcomes, costumes and gimmicks...i want my sport to stay legit.

mma fans, are any of you saddened to hear that bas rutten is officially training kimbo?



small clip of bas training kimbo

www.youtube.com...

[edit on 27-6-2007 by Boondock78]

It used to be that if I saw a MMA fight on TV I'd always watch it, but now so many are boring that I usually don't bother to watch.

I can see what you mean and that's a shame.

But you know that good fights are always going to happen as long as they aren't fixing all of them. You just have to sift through the bull. Don't bother to watch a fight if you can tell it's going to be boring or lame, that's what I do.

I some what agree with the OP. There is nothing I want more than to see Fedor fight. The UFC has always had a tough stance about getting exclusive rights about their fighters. But, the UFC has put MMA on the map. Without the UFC no one would be talking about MMA fights. It has been turning into a WWE atmosphere, espically when Dana White was supposely going to fight Tito Ortiz.

As for Kimbo, he very well might get his ass kicked, but I will pay to see it, and so will you.

Originally posted by testrat
I some what agree with the OP. There is nothing I want more than to see Fedor fight. The UFC has always had a tough stance about getting exclusive rights about their fighters. But, the UFC has put MMA on the map. Without the UFC no one would be talking about MMA fights. It has been turning into a WWE atmosphere, espically when Dana White was supposely going to fight Tito Ortiz.

As for Kimbo, he very well might get his ass kicked, but I will pay to see it, and so will you.

first, no i will not pay to see kibmo fight..not in cage rage against tank. if he fights on a card with other fighters i like i will pay but only then. i am very disappointed with him entering mma and even more disappointed with bas training him.
also, IMO it was not so much the ufc that put mma on the map but it was royce gracie and his brother rorion...rorion started the ufc to showcase the grappling skills of gracie jui jitsu and the ufc was born. credit is due to them. they were figting in vale tudo matches down in brazil for 60 years before the first ufc was held.
i think the ufc is going to turn into a steaming pile of mma crap and i am very botherd by it.
with the disbanding of pride, fedor more than likely not signing with the ufc and all the tuf fanboys that think mma started with season 1 of tuf, i think it's gonna go down hill. i HOPE not but i fear that.

also, IMO, unless someone from the ufc beats fedor, their heavyweight will never be the champ in my eyes. if ufc and the fertitas were smart, they would give fedor what he wants and let him fight in russia a couple times a year....he is a huge draw and can you imagine him in a cage....we are talking total destruction here.

this day in age i don't think people like kimbo and tank belong in the mma ring.
now kimbo is young. if he trains with bas for a few years and then jumps in, ok. but no, he has been with bas a couple weeks and he is already in the game. has another fight penciled with tank. thats a freakshow match with a couple of bangers. that is not an mma match. it's a freakshow with 2 people that give the sport a bad name.

Originally posted by Novise
I can see what you mean and that's a shame.

But you know that good fights are always going to happen as long as they aren't fixing all of them. You just have to sift through the bull. Don't bother to watch a fight if you can tell it's going to be boring or lame, that's what I do.

point is i am afraid they are going to start working matches. also, i don't know about you but i have been a long time grappler and fan of mma and i can not tell when a fight is going to be boring.
anything can happen in mma.

did you guys not see nick diaz tap gomi with a friggin gogo?
when is the last time you saw a gogoplata in mma competition?
i bet never...people thought gomi was going to destroy diaz....
here is the result of that

Well you are right I can't tell what fight will be boring in general, but I can tell if I am into it or not. If I don't care who is going to win and they are not doing anything then I am going to flip the channel. I'm sure I've missed some good stuff doing that. It's just different.

There are just parts of it that are boring to a non-martial artists like myself that aren't worth sitting through hoping something cool will happen. So while I like the sport there are points where it gets boring.

It's because I don't understand the subtleties, not really because the fight was boring.

Originally posted by Novise
Well you are right I can't tell what fight will be boring in general, but I can tell if I am into it or not. If I don't care who is going to win and they are not doing anything then I am going to flip the channel. I'm sure I've missed some good stuff doing that. It's just different.

There are just parts of it that are boring to a non-martial artists like myself that aren't worth sitting through hoping something cool will happen. So while I like the sport there are points where it gets boring.

It's because I don't understand the subtleties, not really because the fight was boring.

totally understand and it's actually cool as hell that you say as much.

nothing against you but a lot of people that do not ike or complain that a fight is boring, especially when it is on the ground it is because they do not know what is going on.
that said, fights can get boring as a mo sometimes.

you been watching the IFL? free mma you know