MMA on espn.com

The_Dude · Post by **The_Dude** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 2:45 pm

deek wrote:So with that being the case, does that mean the "payday" isn't set until closer to the fight? I mean, it sounded to me like Lidell already had this contract before his loss...

I certainly understand that it will not be a bigger draw, after his loss, but would the prize money increase now as well?

I have no clue.

deek · Post by **deek** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 7:38 pm

Either way, it should be a good fight.

bassjones · Post by **bassjones** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 6:58 am

I don't see him beating Silva either. But I'd watch the fight. Doesn't UFC own Pride now? That probably makes Pride v. UFC fights alot easier to schedule.

deek · Post by **deek** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 8:09 am

Yup, they bought out Pride fighting about a month or so ago...

The_Dude · Post by **The_Dude** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 8:19 am

I've been watching quite a bit of the WEC lately. It's mostly the lighter weightclasses (bantam, feather, light, welter, middle, light heavy) but there are some good f'ing fighters there. Urijah Faber, Carlos Condit, Brock Larson...UFC (Zuffa) owns it so I'm not sure if they're using it as some sort of "minor" or "developmental" league or what. I find that hard to believe after watching some of these guys fight.

deek · Post by **deek** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 8:22 am

WEC came up yesterday at lunch. I haven't seen any of it myself, but it sounded like a lot of the fighters were really raw. Someone was saying that all the fights he saw all ended in under 20 seconds...it did sound like a 'minor' league, based on other's comments...

bassjones · Post by **bassjones** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 8:29 am

Bodog's getting big too. It'd be interesting to see separate sanctioning bodies with some sort of unified championship.

The_Dude · Post by **The_Dude** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 8:30 am

bassjones wrote:Bodog's getting big too. It'd be interesting to see separate sanctioning bodies with some sort of unified championship.

I disagree. I don't want it to get too out of control.

Right now, it's the UFC/Pride...and then everyone else. I'm fine with the way it is. No cross-promoting or unified belts.

inkspot · Post by **inkspot** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 9:12 am

The_Dude wrote:
bassjones wrote:Bodog's getting big too. It'd be interesting to see separate sanctioning bodies with some sort of unified championship.
I disagree. I don't want it to get too out of control.

Right now, it's the UFC/Pride...and then everyone else. I'm fine with the way it is. No cross-promoting or unified belts.

I am of a similar mindset. I like UFC and Pride being basically the "big league" of MMA and the other smaller events like WEC, KotC, Cage Rage, etc. being the showcase for the up-and-comers. There are definitely some great fighters, like Urijah Faber, who just dominate people in WEC, but haven't made the move to UFC yet. I hope that the UFC can continue to pick up great fighters from the smaller organizations and build some more crazy good weight classes, like the current welterweights. That division is just scary.

I am also happy to see some new branches of MMA, like the IFL, which is team based MMA competition with a league and coaches, and also WCL, which is more like K1, but is also team based fighting. An interesting concept that I didn't think would work, but I have been watching it more and more.

Bottom line, MMA is here to stay and I, for one, am extremely happy about this. I started collecting UFC events on VHS tapes almost 10 years ago and I never imagined the sport would be where it is today.