MMA News Discussion Thread

[Midas]

Let's not confuse entertainment in sports with sports entertainment.

Sports entertainment is a type of spectacle which presents an ostensibly competitive event using a high level of theatrical flourish and extravagant presentation, with the purpose of entertaining an audience. Unlike typical athletics and games, which are conducted for competition, sportsmanship, exercise or personal recreation, the primary product of sports entertainment is performance for an audience's benefit, thus they are never practiced privately. Commonly, but not in all cases, the outcomes are predetermined; as this is an open secret, it is not considered to be match fixing.

UFC is a competitive sport!

The overall point others are making is that UFC can do what it wants and knows better then me the fan and if they chose to give Dan Henderson a retiring fighter who is ranked #13 a title shot I should trust that they know what they are the doing.

However as a fan of the sport I say that the job of the UFC is to protect their brand and name and the sport of MMA because without protecting it they could possibly ruin it.

From my point of view when they take a #13 ranked fighter and give him a title shot over men who deserve it more based on wins and rankings you are spitting in the face of the men who earned the shot and also making every single fight to determine the #1 contender pointless.

They are within their rights to put together any card they want and I am winthin my rights to save my money and not buy the card which is what I am going to do.

The UFC has made the choice to disregard their rankings and surpass fighters who deserve it more and proves my initial point of my post which was...

Ugh... most undeserving title shot ever.

To agree with this post and I have proven that this is the most undeserving title shot ever and the only counter given is "UFC can do what they want"!

[Cory]

Damn, Midas about to start a AllRankingsMatter movement outside UFC's new offices haha.

[Midas]

Damn, Midas about to start a AllRankingsMatter movement outside UFC's new offices haha.

LMAO...

[Flins.]

Most undeserving UFC title shot has to be Joe Soto.

Let's not hyperbole this too much, Dan Henderson is a legend in the sport, a guy who just KTFO Hector Lombard whilst he is nearing his 50's. He has toppled Fedor, Prime Wanderlei, Prime Shogun and more. If there ever was a guy who you could give an unwarranted shot, it is probably him.

[Midas]

Most undeserving UFC title shot has to be Joe Soto.

Let's not hyperbole this too much, Dan Henderson is a legend in the sport, a guy who just KTFO Hector Lombard whilst he is nearing his 50's. He has toppled Fedor, Prime Wanderlei, Prime Shogun and more. If there ever was a guy who you could give an unwarranted shot, it is probably him.

Yes this is your opinion... I am saying that his previous accomplishments in the sport should not over shadow the fact that he is 2-2 in the middleweight division and is retiring after this fight.

Ronaldo Souza just got a TKO victory over Vitor Belfort at UFC 198 and that is the very same Vitor Belfort who KO Dan Henderson back in November.

Gegard Mousasi KO his opponent at UFC 200 and got a TKO victory over Henderson in Jan 2015.

I can conceded that if we fall out of the top ten because of injury then yeah they can give Hendo the shot but two great names who deserve the title fight are right here and an unwarranted shot at a title because of having a legendary career rubs me the wrong way.

[Black Death]

So you feel UFC is going to go the way of boxing .... It about making money making fight not about ranking when fighter is book

[Cory]

What if they make this a non-title fight....would you be fine with that then? Nothing has been OFFICIALLY announced so they could certainly go that direction.

I could totally see this being a non-title fight, especially with Hendo being pretty well publicized as stating he's retiring. This fight is $$$ regardless of a belt being involved.

Danas exact quote:

"We're going to do Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping," White said on the show while seated next to Bisping, who was working the FS1 desk as an analyst. "It's a fight that the champ wants. It's a fight that the fans want. We're thinking about doing it in Manchester, England. But that's not signed yet."

He said nothing about it being a title shot.

Kinda like Diaz/McGregor.

[Jon]

I'd be fine with a non-title fight.

Most undeserving UFC title shot has to be Joe Soto.

He received the title shot... because Renan Barao pretty much collapsed the day before the fight with Dillashaw. Joe Soto was already on the card and they gave him the shot with less than 24 hour notice. Soto was 15-2 and a the former Bellator FW champ. It was either that or scrap the card completely. Thought it was a pretty ballsy move by TJ to accept it still, but it saved the card.

Not the same thing as if Hendo gets a straight up undeserving planned shot rather than having to step-in on short notice to save a card.   

[Midas]

So you feel UFC is going to go the way of boxing .... It about making money making fight not about ranking when fighter is book

You know the thought crossed my mind for a moment but to be honest I know very little about boxing and didn't want to speak about something I do not watch often enough.

However I feel that there are only a handful of boxers who can draw from the casual "fight" fan but this is from a outsiders point of view.

What if they make this a non-title fight....would you be fine with that then? Nothing has been OFFICIALLY announced so they could certainly go that direction.

I could totally see this being a non-title fight, especially with Hendo being pretty well publicized as stating he's retiring. This fight is $$$ regardless of a belt being involved.

Danas exact quote:

He said nothing about it being a title shot.

Kinda like Diaz/McGregor.

I will admit that I am jumping the gun because I made the assumption that if the champion is fighting on a card in a division he has the title for he would be defending it but yeah if it is not a title fight then I am shocked.

Here is why...

When UFC 200 was announced and the card had the rematch for the Diz/McGregor fight with the Interim title for the Aldo/Edgar fight I was outraged! Yes Duckman I was outraged! My life is short but I can still be outraged by something 

I did not understand why the champ would fight on a card against a person in a different division while the former champ was fighting on that same card for a title shot. Where was his fucking rematch!

A little off subject...

So my point is that if it is a non-title fight then I raise objection to the champ fighting on a card in his division without defending.

Hendo Vs Bisping is not a bad fight and is a rematch that should have happened already... Just a bad title fight under these circumstances in my humble opinion.

[Ty]

Most undeserving UFC title shot has to be Joe Soto.

Let's not hyperbole this too much, Dan Henderson is a legend in the sport, a guy who just KTFO Hector Lombard whilst he is nearing his 50's. He has toppled Fedor, Prime Wanderlei, Prime Shogun and more. If there ever was a guy who you could give an unwarranted shot, it is probably him.

Dude, no. John lober came into his fight with frank shamrock on a 6 fight losing streak. Randy couture got knocked out by Liddell them jumped up to win the belt from silva. Justin eilers got knocked out in his ufc debut and fought arlovski in his next fight for the title. Ken shamrock hadn't fought in the ufc for 5 years and was coming off a loss when he fought Ortiz. Frank trigg made his ufc debut against Hughes after fighting duds his career. Bj Penn was on a 2 fight losing streak at welterweight when he fought gsp. Brock lesnar.

Yeah, soto barely cracks the top 10 in my books.

[Cory]

Holy shit the first round of Ferguson/Vannata was insane...was looking like one of the bigger upsets in UFC history. Vannata has earned himself a fan here.

[Cory]

Nick Diaz suspension is up July 31.

LET'S GO!

[Duckman]

Wrestling Observer report on Chad Mendez being banned for 2 years.  Tested positive for HGH - which means these tests are pretty cutting edge because no one gets popped for HGH, and loads of guys are using it because it's so difficult to detect:

Continuing a month that has been full of noteworthy drug testing news, USADA announced on Wednesday that UFC featherweight Chad Mendes has been suspended for two years following an out-of-competition drug test failure.

The test that caused the failure was taken on May 17th and Mendes was informed of the potential violation on June 10th. The substance that triggered the failure was revealed to be growth hormone GHRP-6.

Mendes last fought Frankie Edgar in December of 2015 at the Ultimate Fighter 22 finale show. Before that, he lost to Conor McGregor at UFC 189 after stepping in for an injured Jose Aldo on short notice.

Mendes will be eligible to return to mixed martial arts competition in 2018.

The full USADA statement is available below:

"USADA announced today that UFC athlete Chad Mendes, of Sacramento, Calif., has received a two-year sanction for an anti-doping policy violation after testing positive for a prohibited substance.

Mendes, 31, tested positive for GHRP-6 (Growth Hormone-Releasing Hexapeptide) following an out-of-competition urine test conducted on May 17, 2016. GHRP-6 is a prohibited substance in the class of Peptide Hormones, Growth Factors, Related Substances and Mimetics under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.

Growth Hormone-Releasing Peptides are listed as Non-Specified Substances on the WADA Prohibited List. Under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, the standard sanction for an anti-doping policy violation involving a Non-Specified Substance is a two-year period of ineligibility.

Mendes' two-year period of ineligibility began on June 10, 2016, the date on which he received a provisional suspension. In addition, Mendes has been disqualified from all competitive results obtained on and subsequent to May 17, 2016, the date of sample collection, including forfeiture of any title, ranking, purse or other compensation.

USADA conducts the year-round, independent anti-doping program for all UFC athletes. USADA is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental agency whose sole mission is to preserve the integrity of competition, inspire true sport, and protect the rights of clean athletes. The anti-doping program run by USADA for UFC athletes includes education, science and research, testing, and results management. Official UFC Anti-Doping Program information and athlete resources are available at UFC.USADA.org."

[Cory]

champions cant defend their titles for shit in 2016

[Jon]

Amazing fight card. Great night.

So happy that Conor won too and it sets up a trilogy fight down the road.