In terms of the quality of the fighters at this stage in their careers, there won't be a worse fight in the UFC this year than Elvis Sinosic vs. Chris Haseman at UFC 110 this weekend in Sydney, Australia.
Haseman is 40 years old, he's fought only once in the last five years, and he's 1-4 in his last five fights -- and yet he's got a better record than the 39-year-old Sinosic, who's 8-11-2 in his MMA career and hasn't won a fight in more than three years.
Haseman vs. Sinosic is not a UFC-quality fight.
And yet the fans in Sydney are, based on what I've heard from people in Australia, more excited about this fight than any other on the UFC 110 card.
Sinosic vs. Haseman is the long-awaited rematch of the fight you see in the video above, which took place in 1997 at an event called "Caged Combat 1: Australian Ultimate Fighting," which was pretty much the Australian premiere of the sport we now call mixed martial arts. That fight ended when Haseman forced Sinosic to tap by sticking his chin into Sinosic's eye, and this rematch will finally, 13 years later, settle a grudge that dates to that bout.
The Sinosic-Haseman fight is the first-ever Australian vs. Australian fight in UFC history, and it's something of a reward to longtime Australian MMA fans who have been eager to see the UFC Down Under ever since the first time Sinosic and Haseman fought. On that basis, this is a fight that makes sense.
So no, Sinosic vs. Haseman is not a good fight. But if it's a fight the fans want, it's smart business for the UFC to give it to them.