Bomber

I notice a lot of turnover of the guys who are just below contender status. It seems in the UFC that if you don't keep moving up, into the top three or four spots, you're moved out.

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Randy Couture: I’m more of a battle of attrition, take you down, beat you up till you really don’t want to fight anymore, type of fighter

BJ Penn: It's just the wrong time to fight BJ Penn.

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LET'S GET IT ON!

St.Pierre_is_the_best

He even doesnt need to fight the top contenders, i would be happy to see him fight like Diaz if he was stil there, Karo Parysian, Sanchez, liek there is still so many good fighters there for him to figh.

lwbfl

You also have to remember, all the big names right now, started as "debuters". On that same note, some of these newbie fighters are the big names of the future.

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RobOne

see you have to look at it from the UFC's stand point. How is Trigg sticking around beating up on up and comers doing anything for the WW division? All it will do is mess up alot of possible ww title match ups. That is the reason Jeremy Horn and the UFC parted ways. Jeremy Horn was beating all of the #1 contenders in the MW division, but stated he refused to fight Rich Franklin because they do train together, and he refused to move up or down a division.

Crashsti

Bigger names do not mean you are paying for a better fighter. there are alot of young talented fighters who deserve a shot at the UFC. alot of fighters, ie. Frank Trigg and Joe Riggs could be considered bigger names that have'nt lived up to their hype. both have had title shots and failed to come away with the belt. in Riggs case he failed to even make the required weight. why would the UFC pay these fighters when they have already had their shot? GSP was once a debut fighter and he is currently one of the most popular.

Nimmy

i think a balance of fighters is needed to make a good event, i think reserving debutants for UFN opposed to PPV events would be a better idea. that way the PPVs would sell more and debutants could make an impact on the smaller shows, let them make an impression then be given a PPV oppourtunity.

Crashsti

my thoughts on it are this, the only way to find out of a fighter has what it takes to make it in the UFC is to give them a shot. there is a growing pool of talent in the smaller promotions where alot of guys have undefeated records, in alot of cases they come to the UFC and get schooled. in other cases, like with GSP, they have gone on to be contenders for a title. Brandon Vera is another example of a newcomer who has gained immense popularity. should the rookies be limited to free TV? i think there needs to be a balance between a strong main event with UFC veterans and an undercard that gives young talent an opportunity.

Tuffguy

Why pay for old big names, when the names they want (Franklin, Liddell, Hughes, Leben, Sanchez..etc.) are sticking and fighting. In my opinion UFC has opted to not pay for older fighters who "might" be entertaining, and are really capitalizing on their new Ultimate Fighter show to bring new blood into the sport.

It's a smart move on Dana's part because they offer 2 six figure contracts (over 3 years) and get all new blood or eager fighters looking to make a name for themselves. They weed out the ones who were posers or couldn't hang by the finale and have at least 4-6 new fighters who will draw crowds with their debuts.

People watch the show and in turn get hooked (whether it be the drama, or the skill, or whatever they like) and then watch the PPV looking for their favorite "characters" from the show.

It makes no sense to pay for past big names when they're essentially making new big names on their own. One stop shop, bring in a no name, hype him up, give him exposure, let him showcase his skills, learn from the best (and all the coaches are the best regardless of the seasons...well Shamrock was a bit of a lazier coach from the impression I got from the show) and then go out and whoop ass and draw a crowd.

Genius. My only complaint is that I didn't think of it first :P

TaddT189

I think TUF is a great idea. The UFC is getting the top young guns in the game. Diego Sanchez, Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar, Josh Koscheck, Chris Leben, Mike Swick, Joe Stevenson, Rashad Evans, Keith Jardine, Josh Burkman, Melvin Guillard, Ed Herman, Kendal Grove, Micheal Bisbing, Matt Hammill. All of these guys are good and for their age they are really good if not great. Almost all of them have a shot of being champ one day. I think alot of them would do good in Pride and would dominate most anyone in any other fighting association.

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St.Pierre_is_the_best

I like seeing new fighters come into the UFC don't get me wrong, but I dont like seeing as many debut fighters come onto one ppv. I would rather see them on free tv as they make a statement like Brandon Vera did, then see him fight a regular in a ppv. Like UFC 55 Fury had 7 newcomers and look what everyone thought of the ppv. If they are going to use newcomers in a ppv, at least list the known fighters first, give us a main card, and then list the newcomers for undercards. I have no problem wid newcomers comign, its what they fight for, but i think the ufc is looking to hard for new blood in teh ufc. They are bringing fighters with like 5 or 6 fight records, i would rather see the experienced fighters debut.

Actually the main reason i started this poll was i was talking more about the heavyweight debuters. I think they should build ppl like Vera and Gonzaga and even Christionson and bring back soem heavyweights.

There has been many good debuters already, but there is still too many in my opinion.
I like Lambert, Vera, teh TUF guys, Hominick, Stout, I think Kongo will be a contender in the HW division soon, but its hard for me to get excited abuot a ppv when they are listing mostly fighters i havnt heard of.

lwbfl

I don't think just because they are know fighters that they should bypass the new guys on the PPV. I mean look at Mir -vs- Christison!

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St.Pierre_is_the_best

I think they could make some good matches with some losign fighters that arent necessarily contenders. I think Eilers vs Silva would be a good match or Stout vs Edwards. Like we dont always need to give up on fighters after a loss and look for a new fighters, we could use some fighters again and get great match ups.

MMA freak

Guy Mezger retired and hasn't faught since 03 due to a stroke that ended his career. And UFC already has Evan Tanner and Nate Marquardt they have both faught this year.

Grave

Ummm they already brought back Nick Diaz. But he got beaten up by Diego and then again by Riggs.

If he is gone again thats his own fault, the dude got beat up by friggin' DIEGO SANCHEZ of all people!!!

St.Pierre_is_the_best

I really dont think that is fair to say about both Nick Diaz and Diego Sanchez. Nick is an amazing fighter, if anything, he is a great fighter for fighters to overcome to get their title shots. I think Nick could cut to 155 which would be sweet to see for the LW division.

Diego is obviously good or he wouldn't have won the show. They had a stacked ground of talent on TUF 1, Koshchek, Leben, Quarry, Sanchez, Kenflo, plus Diego has been fighting good fighters, and we will see how good he is wen he fights Karo tonight.

Crashsti

Nick Diaz at 155lbs. would be scary. not because he would be a force but because at 6ft tall and 155lbs. Diaz would be a skeleton. i suppose he could do it and at this point maybe its an option. at 170lbs. he is just outclassed by the current contenders.