Are you happy with where MMA is and going?

[LindyBrah]

These guys man, wmma has more talent than ever in history. I just don't understand where these people come from. Lol

I mean Joanna Champion only got her blue belt in 2021 lol. The talent has expanded but it’s only an inch deep in most cases.

 

[Megatronlee]

The year of 30th UFC anniversary is over. Time flies, especially when it comes to following MMA. It feels like just yesterday when there was this irish kid coming to UFC with nice knock out power with slick angles and precise combos, but that Irish kid is one of the biggest combat sports star of all time now. Back then, watching JMMA early in the morning was a pain in the ass, but no more do we have any orgs worth staying up for. YAMMA pit happened, but now we have even dumber PowerSlap and Bareknuckle.

There are no more PRIDE, WEC, Strikeforce, Affliction, Dream/Sengoku, K-1 Hero’s and so on. Rizin used to be decent with fighters like Jiri, Nemkov, Kape and so on, but you know, if you look at their cards, it’s unfortunate. PFL and ONEFC aren’t much better. Bellator were really the only org that carried the last torch of hope, but they got bought out by PFL this year.

UFC successfully weeded out possibly boring but excellent fighters like Shields, Fitch, Okami, Romero, Mousasi, Bader, Corey, Davis who likely have derailed exciting prospects over the years and selectively brought on board very few elite level wrestlers majority of whom seems to have gone onto Bellator. They are careful in making stars out of someone with lesser skills like O'Malley with favourable match ups all the way to the top, the fighter who would have never in his wildest dreams won the Bellator BW GP. I say this as the only guy who I know that had O'Malley as a better striker on Sherdog than Petr Yan long before that fight happened, and I lived on Sherdog for a long, long time.

Coming into this year, there aren't all that many exciting prospects to look out for. There's no more Bellator, and no more organization left that can hold a candle to UFC. MMA has fully gone mainstream, and I'm not sure if we go back 20 years ago to when first getting into MMA, if it was as mainstream as it is now, I may not have gotten into MMA at all.

I know people tend to error when looking back as if the past has been better. I don't think I am making the same error when I say the past days of MMA that will not be repeated has been the brighter one than MMA now and where it is headed.

It's a pity, but the life goes on.

And who was the genius that worked on this new Sherdog forum design? But I digress.

I don’t care about that.
Mi care about the fights


I don’t like how guys fight

 

[Hellowhosthat]

It’s crazy to think that 10 years ago is 2014 - to me it feels recent. Ronda got KTFO 9 years ago against Holm. I started watching MMA early 2000s, only 7 years after UFC 1. But by then, it was nothing like those early UFC - it already felt like a sport and we had Pride and K-1 doing really well.

What’s wrong with MMA now is the complete lack of competition, and the abundance of shitty fighters on every single cars every single week. UFC on FOX was still OK, but the ESPN deal is killing it. There aren’t enough fighters, or good fighters aren’t fighting frequently enough, to run events almost every week. UFC 300 is shaping up to be a good PPV but nothing like UFC 100 or an average PPV from 10 years ago. It was simply so, so much more stacked with elite talent.

Was it though? Were the likes of Dan Hardy, Chris Cariaso, Mark Hominick, Patrick Cote, Eddie Wineland etc really elite level challengers?

 

[BangBang]

I just want great cards and memorable fights without all this dramarama!

 

[Dr Fong]

The ESPN deal has been an absolute cancer on the sport.

U Fight Cheap's current leadership will remain a disgrace, but they would be slightly less of a disgrace if they were forced to actually try again.

 

[Lawrence]

The year of 30th UFC anniversary is over. Time flies, especially when it comes to following MMA. It feels like just yesterday when there was this irish kid coming to UFC with nice knock out power with slick angles and precise combos, but that Irish kid is one of the biggest combat sports star of all time now. Back then, watching JMMA early in the morning was a pain in the ass, but no more do we have any orgs worth staying up for. YAMMA pit happened, but now we have even dumber PowerSlap and Bareknuckle.

There are no more PRIDE, WEC, Strikeforce, Affliction, Dream/Sengoku, K-1 Hero’s and so on. Rizin used to be decent with fighters like Jiri, Nemkov, Kape and so on, but you know, if you look at their cards, it’s unfortunate. PFL and ONEFC aren’t much better. Bellator were really the only org that carried the last torch of hope, but they got bought out by PFL this year.

UFC successfully weeded out possibly boring but excellent fighters like Shields, Fitch, Okami, Romero, Mousasi, Bader, Corey, Davis who likely have derailed exciting prospects over the years and selectively brought on board very few elite level wrestlers majority of whom seems to have gone onto Bellator. They are careful in making stars out of someone with lesser skills like O'Malley with favourable match ups all the way to the top, the fighter who would have never in his wildest dreams won the Bellator BW GP. I say this as the only guy who I know that had O'Malley as a better striker on Sherdog than Petr Yan long before that fight happened, and I lived on Sherdog for a long, long time.

Coming into this year, there aren't all that many exciting prospects to look out for. There's no more Bellator, and no more organization left that can hold a candle to UFC. MMA has fully gone mainstream, and I'm not sure if we go back 20 years ago to when first getting into MMA, if it was as mainstream as it is now, I may not have gotten into MMA at all.

I know people tend to error when looking back as if the past has been better. I don't think I am making the same error when I say the past days of MMA that will not be repeated has been the brighter one than MMA now and where it is headed.

It's a pity, but the life goes on.

And who was the genius that worked on this new Sherdog forum design? But I digress.

The last month going without any UFC fighting events hurt me a lot less than I thought it would.

 

[Pepy]

The last month going without any UFC fighting events hurt me a lot less than I thought it would.

same here, a decade or so ago it used to be staying awake in Europe and watching at least every main event. Since then, the ESPN era killed it and now I just catch up on 2-3 fights per card that really have my interest.

 

[sdpdude9]

I don’t like that they’ve gone more and more the way of sports entertainment over legitimate sporting league. For me, the best fighting the best is much more hype than money fights between names.

I also feel card quality has dipped and the roster is very bloated with regional level talent. But having cards nearly every weekend is a decent trade off.

 

[TGArthur]

Look at the threads now. We seem to deviate away from talking about fighters and their talents and now we are talking about Colby's Twitter posts and Sean/DDPs verbal abuses now.

UFC was about bringing in the best fighters, and now I don't feel that way anymore. All watered down cards with the UFC trying to pay the cheapest fighters they can find.

And now we have Slap Fighting?

However, putting all the complaining aside, I will still always watch fights and always be a true fan.

 

[Local Plata]

I wouldn't say MMA is in decline, but the product has become progressively shittier since the TUF era. Dana spent years and years slamming boxing for being a scam, 1-fight paper views, best fighters not fighting each other and instead opting for pay days. Then turns around and does the same thing sprinkled with literal WWE fucking fangirl dork shit the second he could.

The endless pandering to pro wrestling fans/shithole states sucks, and the careful manufacture/protection of 'stars' is annoying and has no place in a real sport. But there are still great fights sometimes.

 

[JohnMandick]

I have to be honest I miss WEC and Pride so much, I loved them both. Never missed an event. I feel its gone downhill since both were finished off.

UFC has improved in the lighter weightclasses, but LHW and HW has gone backwards badly and the skill level is not there.

For some reason I forget about WEC. Agreed, it was so good!

Bushido was awesome too.

 

[BarbellzNbacon]

Not as many people call the sport of mma "UFC" these days

 

[Barteh]

Not really. Too much WMMA, too many midget weight classes and just watered down cards in general.

UFC 299 is looking like it's gonna be sick though.

 

[Ibm]

No

 

[LostMyBlackBelt]

WWUFC is great

 

[Frank Kain]

Heavyweight could use some juice. Losing Ngannou and keeping Aspinall without an opponent for what… 7 months?…that’s not good.

 

[KnockoutsGalore]

The UFC is mostly a joke when it comes to rankings and title fights. I'm most unhappy that ONE FC is lowering their Muay Thai and Standup output in favor of more MMA matchups.

 

[IndyCovaHart]

Sadly I’ve more or less stopped giving a shit but I’ve been around long enough for it to get stale.

The money created too many divas.

 

[sonhow]

I don't know where it's going tbh.

All I can say I wouldn't mind if every ppv didn't have Trump in special attendance.
(I dont mind him here and there either)

 

[Westbrick]

MMA is at it's lowest level of skill since the early 2000s