It just doesn't feel the same anymore guys...

The narrative that "There are more fights now so it's better" is just wrong. There were plenty of fights back then, you just weren't watching them because you probably thought the talent was regional at best. Now you're watching regional talent on UFC cards and praising it. There was plenty to fill in the gaps with orgs like Cage Rage, Shooto, and more who were putting on good fights.

Take a look at this short period. Notable fights in April 2005:

Fedor vs Kohsaka 2
Minowa vs Yvel
Wanderlei Silva vs Hidehiko Yoshida
Rampage vs Shogun
Sakuraba vs Dong Sik Yoon
Dan Henderson vs Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Alistair Overeem vs Vitor Belfort
Igor Vovchanchyn vs Yuki Kondo
Dean Lister vs Ricardo Arona
Kevin Randleman vs Kazuhiro Nakamura
Diego Sanchez vs Kenny Florian
Forrest Griffin vs Stephan Bonnar 1
Rich Franklin vs Ken Shamrock
GSP vs Mayhem Miller
Frank Trigg vs Matt Hughes
Randy Couture vs Chuck Liddell
Anderson Silva vs Jorge Rivera

That's one month.

Let's look at April 2019:

Holloway vs Poirier
Adesanya vs Gastelum
Overeem vs Olienik
Hermansson vs Jacare
Rory MacDonald vs Fitch
Davis vs McGeary
Jiri vs King Mo
Horiguchi vs Nguyen

You may disagree with what I have and haven't called notable, but you can't tell me April 2005 didn't have a great line up.

The funny thing is that I pick and choose events like a casual now and only watch somewhere around the top two fights. There are more UFC fights now but I watch less than ever in total.
 
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vgff said:
nobody is making you have to like every card. you can still watch 1-2 cards a month like before :) now there's more to choose from, for a bigger audience
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Yea instead now if I watch a card there's 1-2 fights I care about. Back in the day the prelims and undercard were stacked and you made a day of it.

I'd rather dedicate one day to a sick MMA card a month than have to pick and choose the fights over the course of the month. Personal preference I guess if you like it more this way more power to you.
 
Hatorade said:
What's really weird to me is when I read shit like this and I begin to realize just how old I must be. some kid is talking about the old days, but it wasn't that long ago at all for me in the slightest because the old days fro me were over 20 years ago. The shit this thread is talking about feels like yesterday to me.

I feel the same way when I read the comments on youtube where someone is saying something like "this is when music was still great" in regards to some throw away song from like 2007. I can't even tell the difference between what was cool then and what's cool now because I was already not caring about new shit by that point. It feels fucking strange getting old and becoming more out of touch. The world is no longer mine or my friends anymore.
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Good news the thing in your AV will never go out of touch, I hope.
 
TheToqueville said:
Rogan/ Goldberg

1 badass card a month, stacked from top to bottom, even the prelims

You were hyped all month for it, anticipation building day by day before fight night.

Every Hooters/ BWW packed with fight fans cheering with you. Half hour waits for a table, standing room only, by the time the main event came around.

Spider, Rampage, BJ, GSP, Chuck, Bisping, Rich Franklin, Hendo, Shogun, Bork, Big Nog etc

There was something magical about the spectacle back then, that just isn't there anymore.


Anyone remember those days?

source.gif
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The good old days. PPVs at Hooters, Goldy and Joe for life!!

Anik, Cruz, Felder and ESPN can walk
 
TheBigJuicyGuy said:
I can cook a meal, take a shit, and watch the mains.

Sounds good right!

But back in the day I would drink brew dying for each fight, then flip, pull an all nighter and watch pride.

Ps. Bellator is sad, One FC is promising, Rizin is... I’m not sure, but it isn’t Pride.
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Yeah I hate to say it, but I barely watch Bellator anymore. I used to watch every card. I'll still watch the Pitbull bros, Moose, etc. I just don't get excited about their new blood. McKee, Caldwell, etc.
 
I agree. My interest in MMA is fading big time. I don't really watch it anymore. I get my mma news from gifs on sherdog.
 
kungfu_taichi said:
I don't remember those days because they never existed. (I've been along for the whole ride. I've got UFC 1, 2, 3, and 4 on VHS). Here's the thing. It's just not style vs style anymore. Plus or minus a Ben Askren, or Francis Ngannou, everybody does everything. You don't gat as many insane fight because fighters are BETTER. Any little mistake gets exploited.

Did ANYONE expect Cyborg-Lioness to end like THAT?
How about Cejudo-Dilleshaw?
DC vs Stipe?
Namajunes Jędrzejczyk 1?

The 'old days' when things were 'more exciting' are gone because the fighters are BETTER. Little timy miscalculations become gaping exploitable holes when you get to see ALL the tape on the opponent ahaed of time and get to fly in specific training partners to work on any perceived advantages. I'm a technician. Don't get wrong, I love brawling but I'm just too damn old. I fight adults every week who could be my grandkids. I need every trick in the book plus lying cheating and stealing to even hold my own. So I LOVE the modern UFC. It's a living library of techniques that evolves every day.
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Interesting perspective.
And yes, the style vs style era certainly produced more exciting fights than modern jack of all trades.

That being said, I think at the top we still tend to have specialists ruling. The difference is that they learned to defend the other aspects of combat.
 
Back in the day, it was rare to see guys with energy left at the final bell.

To me, that's the main difference...guys making silent agreements with eachother and turning fights into sparring matches.

It happens far too often.

When that final bell rings, you should be Dada 5000 in there...
 
Dead Spirit of MMA said:
The narrative that "There are more fights now so it's better" is just wrong. There were plenty of fights back then, you just weren't watching them because you probably thought the talent was regional at best. Now you're watching regional talent on UFC cards and praising it. There was plenty to fill in the gaps with orgs like Cage Rage, Shooto, and more who were putting on good fights.

Take a look at this short period. Notable fights in April 2005:

Fedor vs Kohsaka 2
Minowa vs Yvel
Wanderlei Silva vs Hidehiko Yoshida
Rampage vs Shogun
Sakuraba vs Dong Sik Yoon
Dan Henderson vs Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Alistair Overeem vs Vitor Belfort
Igor Vovchanchyn vs Yuki Kondo
Dean Lister vs Ricardo Arona
Kevin Randleman vs Kazuhiro Nakamura
Diego Sanchez vs Kenny Florian
Forrest Griffin vs Stephan Bonnar 1
Rich Franklin vs Ken Shamrock
GSP vs Mayhem Miller
Frank Trigg vs Matt Hughes
Randy Couture vs Chuck Liddell
Anderson Silva vs Jorge Rivera

That's one month.

Let's look at April 2019:

Holloway vs Poirier
Adesanya vs Gastelum
Overeem vs Olienik
Hermansson vs Jacare
Rory MacDonald vs Fitch
Davis vs McGeary
Jiri vs King Mo
Horiguchi vs Nguyen

You may disagree with what I have and haven't called notable, but you can't tell me April 2005 didn't have a great line up.

The funny thing is that I pick and choose events like a casual now and only watch somewhere around the top two fights. There are more UFC fights now but I watch less than ever in total.
Click to expand...

Basically everything he said.

Take a look at the upcoming events....7 events before UFC 239, and they're all complete trash. MAYBE 3 fights in total that I'll stream when I dont have anything else to do.

Cowboy headline a UFC card? LOL I like what he did to Alexander Hernandez just as much as the next guy but come on. Benevidez headlining? That's when you know the UFC is trying to stretch their product.
 
I'm making the UFC PPVs special again by not ordering any at home since Jones/Smith and only taking my family to a sports bar to watch ones that I really want to see. See? Now I have made it a rare Saturday night outing, thanks ESPN!
 
Dead Spirit of MMA said:
The narrative that "There are more fights now so it's better" is just wrong. There were plenty of fights back then, you just weren't watching them because you probably thought the talent was regional at best. Now you're watching regional talent on UFC cards and praising it. There was plenty to fill in the gaps with orgs like Cage Rage, Shooto, and more who were putting on good fights.

Take a look at this short period. Notable fights in April 2005:

Fedor vs Kohsaka 2
Minowa vs Yvel
Wanderlei Silva vs Hidehiko Yoshida
Rampage vs Shogun
Sakuraba vs Dong Sik Yoon
Dan Henderson vs Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Alistair Overeem vs Vitor Belfort
Igor Vovchanchyn vs Yuki Kondo
Dean Lister vs Ricardo Arona
Kevin Randleman vs Kazuhiro Nakamura
Diego Sanchez vs Kenny Florian
Forrest Griffin vs Stephan Bonnar 1
Rich Franklin vs Ken Shamrock
GSP vs Mayhem Miller
Frank Trigg vs Matt Hughes
Randy Couture vs Chuck Liddell
Anderson Silva vs Jorge Rivera

That's one month.

Let's look at April 2019:

Holloway vs Poirier
Adesanya vs Gastelum
Overeem vs Olienik
Hermansson vs Jacare
Rory MacDonald vs Fitch
Davis vs McGeary
Jiri vs King Mo
Horiguchi vs Nguyen

You may disagree with what I have and haven't called notable, but you can't tell me April 2005 didn't have a great line up.

The funny thing is that I pick and choose events like a casual now and only watch somewhere around the top two fights. There are more UFC fights now but I watch less than ever in total.
Click to expand...
2005 was a great year.
 
I somewhat stopped following mma after ufc 210 recently got back into it. Not sure what changed. Just seems more interesting now. There's more upcoming contenders than there used to be.
 
I feel like "glory days" should be a song companion for this thread. I too definitely miss the old days though, don't get me wrong. But for me it's less about MMA becoming stale and more about how I used to watch it. With friends at bars or houses crowded together. Watching our favorites win and shit. Smoking and drinking and talking crap for great chunks of the night as if we knew much about it. But, life. Jobs. Families. It's rare we all get together to watch these days. My intake of MMA is a bit different but I think the quality is better than it's ever been. I LOVE page vs hendo. My memory of that card is that it was AMAZING and one I introduced friends to MMA who took to it and so on. But was it really stacked? There's so much tied in to what we remember. Henderson vs Jackson. Champion vs champion. Houston Alexander fought allessio sakara on the main card, too.

There are so many more professional fighters now, fewer personalities. I can't dispute that. But the skills on display these days is mind blowing compared to some of these great cards and fights of yore. It goes both ways too, I know. Point fighting is a creature perfected in the modern era. Fighters care a bit more about their health, too. It's not necessarily my ideal "MMA", but I fully support the direction it's going skill wise.
 
That last one i skipped and did not watch any fight after.

First time that ever happen, i used to watch most, if not all, the fights on every card. Recently i started to watch the best fights, then got lazy and just watched fights with finishes aside the main event, and now this last one had lots of decisions and i didn't bother.
 
OP is spot on. Because there are more cards but completely watered down i hardly bother watching the events now.

It’s sad because the sport was so exciting for a period of 6-8 years.
 
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