Will MMA begin to fix fights in the future?
 

Do you think that MMA organizations like the UFC, WEC, XC, etc will end up fixing fights in the future? The reason I ask; a high percentage of people at the UFC events are not true fans of the MMA. There are a lot of people who just go to watch people fight. And when they see a very technical fight, they boo. As for the rest of use watching, we appreciate the level of skill that a fighter has acquired. That being said, with the turn around rate of Champions holding belts being so high, it makes it difficult to market fighters and have the fans really get to know and like each fighter. A few years ago fighters held the belt for a very long time, look at Gracie, Hughes, etc. But now the fight game is so dynamic that a fighter can loose on any given day. How many fighters are going to retire undefeated? Even boxing had champions for years that dominated the sport; they became house hold names because of it. But how will the MMA build house hold names if the belt changes hands twice per year? Only the true fans will recognize each new fighter and the fans that do not follow the sport as close will just see a fight. It would be like watching movies with no big name Hollywood actors. Some of us couldn’t care a less about big name actors. But some people just watch movies because of who is starring in it. Do you feel that it is important to have dominant fighters in the sport like boxing had Ali, Sugar Ray, Mike Tyson, etc?

There is no way to prevent a single fighter/ref being on the take, that is the case in any sport. Any respectable org, like the ones you listed have the integrity to offer a legitimate product. It is up to the marketing people to make sure the audience has heard of the guys fighting. Barring something like the incident in the NBA, I do not believe the UFC, etc would fix fights, if I did I would not watch it.

i would like to think NOT, i also think this thread should be CLOSED

Hey Gmunit, I am not saying that they would do such a thing or being disrespectful to the sport in anyway. Just asking a question in the sense of marketing MMA and keeping fans over time. The conversation came up with one of the instructors after class. And I was saying how MMA is just getting so big. He said that it will be hard to keep this growth curve because of turn over. How will they market the sport and build names at the same time.

It is entirely possible that individuals will conspire to fix fights however there is too much risk at an organizational level for them to get involved.

i would really hope not, that would suck, but its not intirly impossible. if an organization wants to protect a fighter to make him look better or get another fedor like fighter. i hope it would never happen and it'd be horrible for the sport.

Well said, people have no reason to think it's fixed, if they did MMA would like pro-wrestling. Dana White is not Vince McMahon, and I don't see him becoming Vince McMahon anytime soon.

They have worked so hard to get MMA sanctioned that if it began to become fixed, there would be some huge financial and legal repercussions if it were discovered. So much that it would probably hardly be worth it.

However... I could see some of the pre-fight hype become more-so scripted, and I think in some organizations, some behavior is certainly influenced. Like in that interview (I forgot who it was, I read about it here) when the guy said the Pride guys tried to get him to make some bigoted remarks against Japan. I think this is a much more real possibility.

The instructor didn’t give me a word in the conversation. I brought up the point of it being hard to get away with this on a corporate level; perhaps individuals. But by the time I left the disagreement; I was even more confused by his comments. So I am just asking, not stating..

He also brought up some of the Pride incidents.

To answer the question of if the sport needs dominant fighters:

Fans' alliances to fighters is a strange thing. Honestly, I got into AA cause he looks like a Beast, has vampire mouthguards, and I dug his aggressive style.

I think style makes fans, more than wins do.

I have a buddy who like Spencer Fisher because of his flying knee a long time ago, for example. People hop onto fighter's hype trains for very strange reasons. Being particularly dominant isn't necessary.

You know, the multitude of Matt Hughes and Chuck Liddell fans probably comes from the fact that they're pretty easy to relate to, and Hughes had his slams and wrestling strength. And Chuck has quite the striking highlight reel.

Look at Tim Sylvia. He was relatively dominant (by some standards) for a far piece. But I can't think of a single true fan of his, rather than the "pity fans" that pretend to like him, haha.

So, no, I don't think it's so important that single fighters emerge. All fighters have a certain ego about them that made them become a fighter in the first place, so there will be no shortage of appealing personalities.