Generally speaking in this sport, if you win that's good enough for fans. It's a fairly simple premise and for that reason a lot of fighters are happy to just saying kind of nothing most the time and not rock the boat. In this instances however, whether during the fight itself, the way they won or how they reacted to the win... fans were not happy. In fact, these fighters actively lost fans on these nights.
There is no single worse or more wild week in UFC history than that of UFC 223 in 2018. Everything went wrong. The card lost have of it's fighters, it had a major PR disaster on it's hands and the main event barely hung on after everything. This was the most insane week in UFC history.
They say hard work beats lazy talent. While you would call anyone lazy in this video minus maybe a few exceptions, there's no doubt that motivation and doggedness was the difference maker in these fights. Fighters where you thought you knew for sure who would win and it just went the other way.
MMA has always been full of shady characters and fight promoters are part and parcel of that. There have been so many incidents of promoters doing sketchy things to fighters over the years and these are the top moments. Dana White, Scott Coker, Bjorn Rebney, Donn Davis, you name it. They've all had a shady business tied to their promotions.
One thing you've probably heard about BJ Penn, if you've ever followed his career, is that "he should have gone down as the greatest ever". In this video, we explore the exact reason for that statement through his incredible achievements. He is an absolute legend of the UFC and MMA as a whole, who held a record for 15 years at lightweight. This is the story of BJ Penn .
Dana White has been up to A LOT these days. It's not just the UFC, it's not just Powerslap, but now it's all TKO Boxing. His roles with the UFC have increasingly become less and less over the years and his true passion has always been boxing. Will he be able to keep this all going or is this somehow all possible?
Winning is everything they say.... but is that always true? Especially when you really look at the stories, sometimes the story makes the win far bigger than what happened in the cage itself, for others is actually dimishes it quite heavily. These are the gigantic wins that are missing a massive part of the story when seen on face value.
Career declines are inevitable and a bit of sadness always comes along with them. Hopefully, they end in a well enough way where their retirement feels just as much a celebration of their accomplishments as much as it is a goodbye. Robbie Lawler's retirement was about as good as it gets for example. But in these cases, man it really hits you hard to see what these fighters go through.
Alex Pereira just lost his world title to an unpopular fighter in Magomed Anklaev, who some would even classify as boring at UFC 313. Pereira is by far the most popular star in the UFC currently, pair that with Belal Muhammad and Pantoja who are also being accused of being boring.... it begs the question. Is this the boring era of UFC champions?
What's worse than being reaaaally bad at something? Probably having no idea and having to find out in the worst way possible. In the case of MMA this happens with a brutal KO or submission and embarrassment worldwide. These are the worst fighters to ever compete under the UFC banner.
Alex Pereira just lost his world title to an unpopular fighter in Magomed Anklaev last night at UFC 313. He is by far the most popular star in the UFC currently.... so it begs the question. Is this bad for the sport?
Sometimes ya gotta do what you can to replace a fighter on a card last minute, but these ones are beyond the pail. And in the worst cases like with Michael Bisping, it robbed of us a true goodbye in the cage. A throw away fight that he didn't have time to prepare for.
Some champions just become so elite, so untouchable that you never expect them to lose and if they do, certainly not in such one-side, oblierating fashion. That's exactly what has happened in today's video. Those times a dominant got completely crushed to the surprise of pretty much everyone.
There are two minds fans typically take in this sport, that of wanting the best fights possible and the others that take up the UFC's perspective. How can the UFC or an MMA organization become most successful? If the sport is successful, then hopefully it's good for fans too, right? Well... no. At least not always. These are the time the UFC/MMA orgs made business that were good for them, but not really us.
You ever notice the UFC's roster seems to be getting much older without necessarily the new stars to pass the torch to? It turns out all of the UFC's divisions are getting older and so are their champions.
So many fights have nearly happened in MMA/the UFC, but these fights are the ones everyone seems to forget about. Truly massive, blockbuster fights that would have easily headlined a PPV event.
These are the moments that exploded MMA into the consciousness of new MMA fans around the world, grew it's reach and made it even bigger than it was before. Alex Pereira, Brock Lesnar, Rousey, McGregor, these were the moments that birthed them as unbelievably big stars.
There are those fights between legends that will probably be debated forever. Decisions so close and so disputed that it's impossible to forget. How did you see these decisions?
It's crazy looking back at what some things were said about fighters that have come true over the year's. Father's plan with Islam and Khabib from Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov or Ilia Topuria pretty much calling his shot the whole way. Lots of interesting stories here.
You know the saying, success is luck meeting preparation. In these cases, let's be honest, it's a bit more luck than preparation. There are a few like Seth Petruzelli vs Kimbo where clearly Petruzelli was just well prepared, but then there's Chael vs Jon Jones. Unless he hurt Dan Henderson on purpose, he was never getting his title shot or a chance on TUF.
You would figure the best fighter of every division is basically just the champion right? Usually, that is the case, but that's definitely not always true. Sometimes the best talents are obvious just at arms length of the title and we're simply waiting to see them get their opportunity.
Sean Strickland just spent another fight card focused more on promoting a war than actually trying to deliver it. The epidemic of trash talk with no substance is really getting old. Good on Dricus Du Plessis for his win at UFC 312. Maybe we'll actually get some fun fights now.
You ever just see something, like a video online and you assume it's AI or a clever fake only to find out it's 100% real? Well, that's how all of these MMA/UFC records went. Just unreal stuff.
Imagine making your way to the top of your division, the peak, and a title shot is in hand. All you have to do is get one more when, then suddenly.... you wake up. Not only do you not remember what happened, but what's worse is it's because you were brutally KO'd by your opponent. That's what has happened in the MMA/UFC fights.
Everyone has their long-held beliefs, but some are much more strange than others. Does that mean it's true or not? Well as they say in this sport, anything can happen in MMA....
They save half the battle is mental in MMA/UFC and these fighters probably went a bit closer to 100% without the skills to back it up. Looking scary is helpful to an extent, but it won't help you win a fight. Everyone has to train.
A new MMA organization has cropped up to compete with the UFC and it's called the GFL or the Global Fight League. And for some reason, they decided to kick off their giant launch party with the worst AI slop I think I've ever seen. Check it out as we go through it all.
Something's been in the water lately, because it seems on every card, there is a major prospect losing and losing in a big way. Payton Talbot and Rinya Nakamura just lost at UFC 311 and the question has to been asked.... who's next?
This sport is tough enough in general but betrayals can make it much more tough, especially on an emotional level. Just like Mike Golberg unceremonious exit from the UFC or Jorge Masvidal vs Colby Covington, there are plenty examples of MMA fighters getting backstabbed.
It's gotta be asked now that Islam Makhachev just broke the all-time title defense record and 155lbs...is he now the greatest lightweight of all time? Does he surpass Khabib's legacy? Some of you may already have him as such and no doubt this discussion will be ongoing.
