With more cuts inevitable, UFC boss not interested in staring-contest champions

http://mmajunkie.com/news/21498/with...-champions.mma

"It's no different than any other professional sports organization," White said. "That's exactly the way it works. If you want to stay at the top of the food chain, you do. If you don't perform, you don't.

"You know how many [expletive] guys get cut in the NFL and Major League Baseball every day? It's crazy. Staggering. It's the same thing here. There's no difference."

White said the key to UFC longevity is to fight hard, regardless of result. Take, for instance, five-time "Fight of the Night" winner Tyson Griffin, who retained his position with the organization despite suffering his third-straight defeat at this past weekend's UFC 123 event.

"I'd rather have two guys in a dog fight and have a guy lose and keep him around than have a guy who's in the Ultimate Staring Competition for five minutes," White said. "Nobody wants to see that [expletive]."

"It's a dog-eat-dog world. There's so many good guys out there. You're literally fighting for your UFC life every time you fight."

Fair enough I guess. Although I hope this motivates more activity in fights and not more careful fights with less action.

[J.B.]

"You know how many [expletive] guys get cut in the NFL and Major League Baseball every day? It's crazy. Staggering. It's the same thing here. There's no difference."

Who wants me to list all the differences?

[Tyburn]

Originally Posted by J.B.

Who wants me to list all the differences?

Originally Posted by J.B.

Who wants me to list all the differences?

Actually I would be interested to see how many people get cut DAILY.
Not yearly or anything.

[J.B.]

Originally Posted by atomdanger

Actually I would be interested to see how many people get cut DAILY.
Not yearly or anything.

Do you mean in other leagues like the NFL or MLB? Sometimes a lot, sometimes zero. It just depends.

[rockdawg21]

Sounds good to me. Even if a guy isn't winning, as long as he's always bringing it to his opponent, I'll always be excited to watch him fight. Granted, I understand results-based cutting as with the NFL or NBA, but their source of income is PPV and people buy to watch exciting fights.

[J.B.]

For one, guys don't really get "cut" during the NFL season.

Getting "cut" implies you couldn't perform. That happens during training camp and in the pre-season when teams are building their final rosters. The guys who get "cut" are not typically under contract, and if they are, that means they still get paid. The veteran free agents and walk-on's who tryout during these times (like Brock Lesnar did in 2005), know right from the beginning that they have no job security because they have no job yet. When players get released from teams during the season, it's almost ALWAYS because of a disciplinary issue, or mutual agreement between both the player and the team.

That's not to say that the UFC is wrong for cutting people, or that fighters who keep losing should always get to stay in the UFC, but the fact is that it is NOTHING like the NFL or any other major sports league for that matter. Those leagues have players unions and a system of checks and balances that ensure a fairer approach then what the UFC does. They are also two completely different entities, with different factors that come into play when considering who should be "cut" and who shouldn't. This is another reason why people laugh when Dana talks about the UFC being bigger than those leagues, yet he continues to try and project MMA, namely the UFC, as being on that level.

Fighter's will come and go, they will win and lose, and with fight fans a fighter is only as good as his last fight. Teams in those leagues are embedded into the culture of every major city in America. A team can suck for years and still make more money than the UFC. It's as if each league has 30 little UFC's inside themselves. The fans of each team are connected with the stars of those teams, even if they are B-level in terms of the rest of the league.

[J.B.]

Originally Posted by rockdawg21

Sounds good to me. Even if a guy isn't winning, as long as he's always bringing it to his opponent, I'll always be excited to watch him fight. Granted, I understand results-based cutting as with the NFL or NBA, but their source of income is PPV and people buy to watch exciting fights.

That's a double edged sword...

Most people may only want to see "exciting" fights, but then everybody in the mainstream complains when the integrity of the sport is compromised.

MLB turned a blind eye to steroids just because Sosa and McGwire kept jacking homeruns, and when the Mitchell report came to light, everybody who loved watching all those homeruns turned against baseball. Now, they cleaned up the roids and the pitchers are dominating and everybody loves pitching again...

Paul Williams brought it to Sergio Martinez and it got him KTFO...

I wanna see the best fighters fight. If some people have an unrealistic expectation of what every fight should look like, that's their problem. They might complain, but they will keep spending their money because there are still enough violent knockouts happening all the time to appease their one-dimensional tastes.

Originally Posted by J.B.

When players get released from teams during the season, it's almost ALWAYS because of a disciplinary issue, or mutual agreement between both the player and the team.

um that is false

Will Billingsley
Jarvis Moss
Chevis Jackson
Ed Gant
Andre Brown
Brett Ratliff
Dave Zastudil
Jeff Reed
Brad Childress (coach)


There is a list of players who were released or waved from NFL teams since Nov 16. It happens a lot we just dont hear about it. Also teams regularly bring in players for workouts and just dont sign them. When it comes ot big name players though you are correct, it is usually a disciplinary action.

[J.B.]

Originally Posted by Max

um that is false

Will Billingsley
Jarvis Moss
Chevis Jackson
Ed Gant
Andre Brown
Brett Ratliff
Dave Zastudil
Jeff Reed
Brad Childress (coach)


There is a list of players who were released or waved from NFL teams since Nov 16. It happens a lot we just dont hear about it. Also teams regularly bring in players for workouts and just dont sign them. When it comes ot big name players though you are correct, it is usually a disciplinary action.

Umm....what is false? I said they ALMOST always get released for those reasons.... Does the UFC still pay the fighters they have under contract when they "cut" them?

and brother...you friggin list BRAD CHILDRESS????

Why don't you say that Jeff Reed is a kicker? Or that Ed Gant was caught using roids? No hate man, but do you even watch football? (I would hope so with that sig, lol)