By Michael David Smith
- Lead Blogger
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UFC 100 is not only the biggest event in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. It's also a time to celebrate the history of the UFC and the sport of MMA. But some of that history is being ignored.
Although the UFC is recognizing its champions past and present this weekend in Las Vegas, two former champions --
Tito Ortiz and
Frank Shamrock -- are conspicuous by their absence. Both Ortiz and Shamrock have had personal and contractual battles with the promotion, and with UFC President
Dana White, and as a result they're not welcome at UFC 100, and the classic battle they had against each other at UFC 22 wasn't included in a fan poll of the greatest fights in the history of the organization. That has a lot of members of the MMA media crying foul.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer and Yahoo
writes, "It's so petty that they didn't even allow fans to vote for the fight."
Kid Nate at Bloody Elbow decries the UFC's tactics in
a post headlined, "UFC's Stalinist View of MMA History Erases Frank Shamrock."
Steve Cofield of Cage Writer and ESPN 1100 in Las Vegas
says, "Frankly, this whole thing is ridiculous."
Like everyone who follows MMA, I respect the accomplishments of Shamrock and Ortiz in the Octagon and would love to see them recognized as UFC Hall of Famers. But I don't think that's going to happen for a long, long time. The UFC won't be extending an olive branch to Shamrock and Ortiz any time soon.
For UFC 100 results all night Saturday, follow me on Twitter.
Read More: dana white, danawhite, frankshamrock, titoortiz, ufc 100, ufc100, front page, Frank Shamrock (MMA), Tito Ortiz (MMA)
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