FanPost

If you want to complain about the UFC getting rid of the "sport" aspect of MMA in favor of the "entertainment" aspect, don't.

Jon Fitch has just been released and to my surprise, there's plenty of fans outraged. I'm pretty shocked, but outrage wasn't something that I was expecting. He's a "boring" fighter and his name has become a negative verb, he's lost to the champ twice, and aside from a victory against Erick Silva he's hasn't been doing all that well. He got cut recently, for reasons unbeknownst to us yet, and there's lots of fans immediately assuming that it's because he's "boring." Now I'm positive there's more to it than this, but even if that's the reason it's still not that big of a deal. If you're whining that the UFC is getting rid of the "sporting" aspect of MMA and you think it will lead to their down fall, stop. Actually educate yourself about other sports what they did to get ratings up and have entertaining match ups. If you think the UFC is the only one that does this you're not even remotely educated about other sports.

In the NBA there is a de facto star system where guys like LeBron, Kobe, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant get calls that other players won't. They get these calls because the NBA doesn't want their best players getting ejected from games. They also <strong>PER SE DE JURE CHANGED THE RULES</strong> to make the games more exciting with the shot clock. The NBA owners and the league itself repeatedly do things to make the game more exciting caring very little about the "purity of the game."

The NFL? The Polian Rules? It's illegal to play pass defense in the NFL and it's still the most popular sport in the country. They did this to make it more fun to watch. The pussification of the sport to keep QBs healthy? Again, changing the WRITTEN rules to make the game more entertaining. They don't want Tom Brady or Peyton Manning done for the year, they want those big Sunday Night ratings. The rules in the NFL change all of the time, partly because it was invented by ivy league professors to make a better soccer and so no one has romanticized it yet, but also because the NFL is in the business of entertainment.

MLB? Well they ignored steroids in the 90s when they figured out it was bringing fans back. There's teams that are encouraged to bring in the fences so there's more runs scored and the team's more fun to watch. Hell in 69 they lowered the mound to create more offense and excitement. Recently umpires have tightened the strike zone to lead to more offense and players are still juiced (just like they are in every other sport) and they're doing quite a bit to make the game more entertaining for fans. Pushing for wi-fi in stadiums to improve "fan experience" and other efforts have been made in the game.

So this isn't just a UFC thing, as a fan of other sports this doesn't bother me too much. I want to watch the most exciting fights and see some excitement if I'm going to spend 60 bucks on a card or spend four hours at a BWW. I mean Jon Fitch shouldn't have been cut if it was because he was boring, but this is hardly a shocker to the "sporting" aspect of the game. It could of been that there's plenty of 170 prospects coming up in a log jammed division and someone had to go. It could be that he's getting paid too much relative to what he's worth. It could be over EA licensing. But even if it were because he was "boring" that's not the end of the world. It's not like they cut Dominick Cruz because he's boring. He's a guy that may fall out of the top ten of 170s and he's on the downslope of his career. Not a champ.

Like what I have to say? Hate what I have to say? Think I'm full of it? Let me know in the comments.

In This FanPost

Fighters