[rivethead]

The premise of the poll is fighter bashing, be respectful to fighters in your reply.

It's really easy to judge a fighter's methods from the safety and comfort of your living room, and behind the anonymity of the internet.

What haters don't realize is that both Gray and Fitch are under tremendous pressure to win, at any and all costs. The UFC has already shown a cutthroat mentality towards most fighters, and a willingness to cut them after a single loss. Factor in that both fighters are in contention for a title, and dana has been capricious about awarding titleshots, even after he's promised them.

So they can't afford to deviate from their bread and butter. If they lose, they face getting cut, regardless of how many win's they've had. If they don't get cut, minimally, they'll drop entirely out of the title picture.

Honestly, I don't find their styles any more boring than Bisping or Frankie Edgar's. You've got fighters who are naturally conservative, and don't take any degree of risk when they fight...the only difference is that you have wrestlers who do it on the ground instead of dancing in and out of range. Machida was criticized for the same thing before he started planting more and looking for knock outs...and look where that got him.

I also think it's funny that Sonnen isn't on the list...he's as much of a "blanket" on the ground as either of the guys in the poll, but there are two major differences: one, he talks a tremendous amount of shit, and some people find that entertaining, even if his fight style isn't; and two, he had the Silva fight to redefine him for many fans--but again, he didn't need to be cautious in the title match as Fitch and Gray do. Sonnen could afford to throw caution to the wind because he literally had nothing to lose: if he lost the fight conservatively, he wasn't going to get back into title contention, so he might as well go for broke.

rh