Champions can't get a break around here

[Cheapshart]

Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

Mighty Mouse stays in his weight division and defends against all comers. Cleans out his division. Gets called a duck for not giving TJ an automatic TS after tying the record for most consecutive title defenses.

Tyron wins title and defends 3x in a year. Gets called a crybaby for wanting money fights against GSP, Diaz, and Conor.

GSP comes out of retirement, moves up a weight class and wins title. Criticized for vacating title following health problems due in part to weight gain.

What's a champ to do? Go up in weight? Stay? Only fight top contenders? No matter what they do, they're in the wrong.

It's actually really easy.

1) Fight often.

2) Take the most challenging/exciting bout on the table, whether it's in your own division or another.

3) Fight to finish.

Everyone would love you.

 

[jlj49er]

Woodley caught some shit before the defenses because he was after the money fights instead of defending when wonderboy was on a long win streak. Mighty Mouse did not take on all comers at his weight class, TJ was moving down for the fight, not asking MM to go up. That was by far the most interesting fight he could have taken, and basically the only one anybody cared to watch.

Woodley ask's for fights that he thinks he'll make money off of but he fights whoever. Number 1 contender twice in a row and number 4 contender in a year span.

MM was signed to fight Borg. The UFC wanted him to accept another fight with Borg still training in case TJ missed weight and they offered him 0 incentive.

 

[toronto1994]

If you're the champion you're supposed to be the best in the world, and the final step in being the best in the world is meeting Sherdog's standards.

 

[nostradumbass]

Woodley ask's for fights that he thinks he'll make money off of but he fights whoever. Number 1 contender twice in a row and number 4 contender in a year span.

MM was signed to fight Borg. The UFC wanted him to accept another fight with Borg still training in case TJ missed weight and they offered him 0 incentive.

And Borg's the one who missed weight.

Woodley doesn't get shit for ducking anymore. He did before he took those fights and wanted a money fight instead. That's why that wonderboy chasing Woodley gif got made. Bisping got shit for avoiding Romero for the same reason. Now Woodley gets shit cause his last few fights were stinkers.

 

[mmaelitefan000]

mm's division sucks. no known fighters that's why he's not respected around here much.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

It's actually really easy.

1) Fight often.

2) Take the most challenging/exciting bout on the table, whether it's in your own division or another.

3) Fight to finish.

Everyone would love you.

4) Be in a weight class above 155, otherwise you're a manlet and nothing you do is taken seriously.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

mm is a coward and a duck

op is just too fucking retarded to understand context

people are mad at connor because lw is one of the best division in the ufc full of contenders

mm division is fuckign shitty, its terrible, thats why he should fight tj, tj cant cut the line if there is not line

Conor? You realize there's a reason I left him out of the OP, right? This discussion is reserved for legitimate champs who actually defend. But don't worry, there's plenty of WWE to keep you busy while you're waiting for Conor's return.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

The better the champ, the more people cry about them. you should have seen the days of the infamous #1 p4p discussions between Fedor, Silva, and GSP.

I kind of get the irritation with Woodley. His pace of schedule is honourable, but the dude is the definition of "fighting not to lose". I can get over that, but his whining about money fights is irritating when he intentionally doesn't have a popular style with fans. For money fights to happen, people actually have to want to see that guy fight.

I was here for those discussion. And I seem to recall GSP, even before the Hendricks controversy, catching a lot of shit for being boring as well. I didn't mind though, I still enjoyed his fights. His LnP style was more entertaining than someone like Fitch.

 

[Phi-]

lol "playing the race card constantly" he mentioned race like 3 times and sherdog hasn't shut the fuck up about it since. And he wasn't even race-baiting. He gave his opinion. An opinion I originally disagreed with. Then the legions of white fans condemning him for even mentioning race showed the lack of respect people actually have for him. Even if he was blatantly wrong on all accounts, why is there such a vile reaction? I think people didn't like the source.

Latent racists don't like to get called racist, cause it stop all discussion and doesn't allow them to "explain how it really is ".

Nothing new.

 

[empsim]

you know what happens in every other sport if you decide to not defend your championship? you're not champ anymore

 

[D 1 Wrestler]

Take on all mandatory title defenses. Boxers pay hefty fines when they avoid mandatory fights.

Fines paid by their promotion lok

 

[sub_thug]

JJ was a legit champ. I don't understand the hate she gets. She defended against top contenders, put on good fights, and she tried to sell those fights. It was a little much at times, but that's the fight game.

MM is also very legit. Always fights top contenders, and he destroys them. I get him wanting more money, more support from the UFC, and bigger fights.

GSP beat the champ, didn't want to stick around in the division, and let the belt go right away. He didn't hold the division hostage or waste anyone's time. No issues at all with what he did.

Woodley is a bit of a cry-baby because he loves to play the race card, but he regularly defends his belt against the top guys. I don't love his style, but he's a decent champ. I think he's vulnerable, and that's why he wants to cash in on big fights now.

Wasn't a huge fan of the way that Bisping tried to cherry-pick contenders. McGregor won't defend his belt. Nunes just doesn't interest me in the slightest. TJ is a brand new champ. Holloway, Whittaker, DC, and Stipe are awesome. No issues with any of those guys.

 

[jreez]

Fines paid by their promotion lok

LOL and you think promoters don't handle what fighters get? You think fines they receive don't get subtracted from they're pay by their promotions? Heard of a guy named Don King?

Glad you used the Cormier gif. This is for you and your loved ones.



Happy Holidays.

 

[riitzni]

I would worry about precisely dick when it comes to what the Troglodytes that inhabit this forum think. Their opinions, wants, criticisms mean doodly squat in the real world since 90% of the board tells anyone who will listen that they stream all the fights and will never give the UFC money (lol) .

To put it in other terms, most of the people you're talking about are the ones sitting outside of a stadium while a football game is being played (American handegg, none of that footie garbage), talking about how everyone inside the stadium is a loser and the league is corrupt and the refs ruin every game. They're as important as a seagull flying by and shitting on the parking lot. Loud and smelly yes but ultimately irrelevant.

 

[D 1 Wrestler]

LOL and you think promoters don't handle what fighters get? You think fines they receive don't get subtracted from they're pay by their promotions? Heard of a guy named Don King?

Glad you used the Cormier gif. This is for you and your loved ones.



Happy Holidays.

Big name fighters don't give two shits about those fines and will vacate as they see fit to get bigger money fighters. Those fines are a drop on the bucket of the promoters

 

[Stranger Come Knocking]

The heavies is a disgusting place

 

[jreez]

Big name fighters don't give two shits about those fines and will vacate as they see fit to get bigger money fighters. Those fines are a drop on the bucket of the promoters

And that's why I find the UFC more entertaining, champs defend their division to mandatory challengers ( for the most part). Also everyone's under the same promotion. Unlike boxing where there's so much politics going into a prize fight. I'm the one who used boxing as an example, but I like the fact there's less politics in UFC (for the most part). I'm simply hoping they keep it that way. UFC fighters can't just shrug off fines like prized boxers can.

 

[tenniswhiz]

Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

Mighty Mouse stays in his weight division and defends against all comers. Cleans out his division. Gets called a duck for not giving TJ an automatic TS after tying the record for most consecutive title defenses.

Tyron wins title and defends 3x in a year. Gets called a crybaby for wanting money fights against GSP, Diaz, and Conor.

GSP comes out of retirement, moves up a weight class and wins title. Criticized for vacating title following health problems due in part to weight gain.

What's a champ to do? Go up in weight? Stay? Only fight top contenders? No matter what they do, they're in the wrong.

I noticed that you didn’t defend Michael Bisping and/or Conor.
Those are the two rotten ones.
Bisping led to this silly, irrelevant GSP situation.
Conor led to an “interim” belt which is totally unnecessary.

 

[AnotherOldGuy]

the tyron hate is ridiculous. It goes beyond his last 2 fights, people dislike him on a personal level it seems. And I don't give a fuck if im called a race-baiter, I think most of those people are closet racists. I used to think woodley was being to sensitive. Then I came to sherdog and saw the reaction to him "speaking out of turn"

Presumably they're also racist against Fedor, McGregor, GSP and Rousey, all of whom have way more hate threads against them than Woodley? And lets not forget Lesnar, Penn, the Diaz brothers (who get equal amounts of hate and love), Hughes back in the day, Royce ... well, you get the idea. The only two I can think of who didn't get much hate were Couture and Liddell.

I wonder if any other sport has such almost universal hate for its champions?

I think Woodley is a good champ, and that's more than enough to explain the hate he's getting. Look at the company he has: Fedor, GSP, Anderson, Jones, Aldo, McGregor, Cyborg, Rousey, Hughes, Penn, DJ, TJ, Cruz - if you're good, you're hated. I suspect Woodley takes the hate as a sign he's arrived, because the only people not hated are ones no one's heard about.

And the longer you're on top, the more hate you get.

 

[Rationality]

It's actually really easy.

1) Fight often.

2) Take the most challenging/exciting bout on the table, whether it's in your own division or another.

3) Fight to finish.

Everyone would love you.

Sounds good in theory -- but virtually NO fighters fit that definition whether champion or not. The actual comments and threads here don't even follow the reasoning you've laid out -- for example Bisping will fight anyone, fights often, and fights to finish or be finished but is universally considered to be inferior. Quite frankly, the fighters who have the most rabid fans on this site definitely don't do these things. I could rattle off all the standard names and none of them fight often against the hardest possible opponent in any weight class. NONE. There are statistics about all 3 areas that will show what I mean. Another example is that when GSP fought WW title fights his opponents had an astonishingly good combined winning percentage before he beat them -- very challenging fights for him. As for fighting to finish, many think "finish" = "one strike knockout" and nothing else. It's too bad that people can't appreciate both technical mastery and being able to land a strike on the button.