[Dan]

Originally Posted by kickass32

Just curious as to peoples thoughts on the sport....there are a few things, I think we can all agree on, that aren't doing the sport any favours. The sport is "over the hump" I think in being repected as a "real" sport, but still has many detractors and people who still see it as a barbarian sport...what do you guys think is the single most detrimental thing to the sport...what is hurting our sport the most right now???

1/ Poor judging...making a mockery out of many decisions...seemingly almost every show.

2/Steroids and other illegal drugs

3/ Shady fly by night organizations failing to pay their fighters...australia and D.R.......

4/Dana White....too much swearing, too many broken promises to fighters...promised title shots etc...cutting fighters maybe too early...

5/Strikeforce...their inability to make any reasonable fights that actually mean anything, turning their titles into meaningless scraps of metal.

6/Lack of significant pay structure...yes many fighters are making a decent living...even a very good living, but many others are only making 5-10 K per fight...some even less.

7/Other.......feel free to add anything else you may feel is a huge negative on the sport

I was hoping to add a poll to this, but it didn't allow me to...mods????

Great post man. All of these things are significantly damaging to the sport. Sure MMA has made huge advances in recent years, but there are still a number of things that hinder it in being truely mainstream.

For me it's the judging that is the biggest problem, I really can't understand how judges are STILL not being given monitors. I understand (maybe in Cali? Correct me if I'm wrong) that there have been recent trials with monitors, but it seems ridiculous that it's taken this long to even consider it.

Steroids.. Well regular and random testing would surely sort this, or at least go some way to sorting it, and yet again I just can't understand how random testing isn't common practice.

Dana White - Y'see, part of me likes White's plain-talking behaviour and attitude, and the other half thinks that it does the sport (or rather, the UFC in particular) no favours as being recognised as a legitimate and professional. I mean, if you were a CEO or another form of business man, would you swear every other sentence when you were liaising with the press, or other affiliates? No. White should maybe behave more professionally at times, but on the whole, I like him.

Pay - MMA fighter pay really does irritate me, again, it defies common sense. It's disproportionate for the amount of money in the industry. I've posted a number of long-winded, rant-heavy postsin the past about this, so I don't plan on posting another, but for a fighter to get paid 5-8k to give up three months of his life to train, to go into an octagon/cage/ring to (essentially) put his life on the line, is just not enough. If a fighter has proven to be good enough to be given an opportunity to fight in the biggest MMA organisation in the world, to go in the ring to entertain hundreds of thousands, or millions of people, they should be paid well for it.