UFC Quick Quote: Big fights are for people who sell tickets, not losers

John, as long as the UFC is a privately owned company, they are ALWAYS going to be looking to make money first, and put on the fights people want to see 2nd, 3rd, 4th…, certainly not first.

Until a 3rd party steps in, or some kind of TRUE UFC ranking system can come about, the matchups that are being made are being made for one main reason – to make the UFC money. They have their stars that they use to sell in main events, and they have their young little poster boys that they match up with inferior competition and use smoke and mirrors to build up the fighters that the UFC thinks can make them money and even tap into new markets (Bisping, Huerta…)

I’ve never really been a fan of Frank Mir the fighter outside of him snapping Timmy’s forearm. Although, I love his announcing on the WEC. That always made me think that he was a pretty cool dude. But since seeing TUF and the barrage of interviews Mir has done since TUF (I mean seriously, Mir was probably interviewed 20 times in his whole life before TUF, and since then he has 30 interviews a day) I have come to find out just how cocky and conceited Mir is – and for no good reason! I would love to see Brock just smash Mir to a bloody pulp!

Also, I’m with you John, Mir is NOT a Top 5 HW. But a win over Nog, a finsish at that, is still a win over Nog. But if that Nog was the same NOg that fought for his whole career, his record would be more like 16-19 rather than 33-4 or whatever.

John you make a lot of good points but remember Nog wasn’t that dominant of a fighter either. You know what I mean when I say that but just for anyone else who doesn’t, Nog could take a beating and pull a sub from nowhere, he was well known to be able to end a fight on a seconds notice. Mir has that same ability with his submissions, I watch Mir do a submission attempt and I’m amazed at how nicely he pulls it off. He was literally hanging on Sylvia’s arm and if they had let that fight go on much longer Mir probably would have taken it home with him. I agree that Mir isn’t the top HW competition and probably isn’t top 5 but I would say he is top 10 caliber and should be ranked so with a victory over Lesnar. I don’t see him beating the likes of Barnett, Arlovski, or Fedor but I do believe he has what it takes to beat Randy, Gabe, and probably Werdum. I think its true that having him as a HW proves how weak the division is but he has beaten Nog, Sylvia, and Lesnar which are three of the UFCs many past HW champions. I also give him a break for his loss to Cruz and Vera as he didn’t look the greatest coming out of that accident. I’d say if his cardio is good enough to go 4 or 5 full rounds that he still stands a chance at beating Lesnar.

About him not liking getting hit in the face… who does? haha but from the past fights I’ve watched Mir in (correct me if I’m wrong) he only steps back when getting hit in the face, he doesn’t back down really or shoot immediatly like most ground guys. A good example would be the Sylvia fight where he took a step back and then walked back into Sylvia’s striking range. I think he deserves a little more credit than your giving him John but I’d say wait for him to prove it by beating Lesnar. As long as he continues to fight to win and puts on exciting fights I don’t mind having Mir as a champion, he’s a good ambassador to the sport so long as he is not being featured in TUF.

Letting a Green and inexperienced Brock fight for the title would have been like giving Sokoudjou a title shot after he beat Arona, nog and then lost to machida

Brock got the title shot for the money the UFC makes on him.. and you’re right about Mir it’s easy for him to look good against someone that doesn’t throw anything back, Nog was that horrible it was not Mir that was that good, Justin McCully would probably have a good chance against Mir.. but the one thing that has changed for Mir is his confidence and that is very important!

Rob you made the point I forgot to make. With this win Mir has a lot more confidence so I think we may see the best Mir ever. If he beats Lesnar again imagine how cocky he will really be.

Good question John, I’m kind of middle of the road when it comes to Frank but… I have to say I’m coming around when it comes to Mir. He’s got a good mentality toward fighting and his attitude about MMA, what its about, and the type of person that should be representative of the sport is on point imo. Maybe a little cocky at times, but he does tell it like it is and I gotta respect that he’s not up there like GSP repeating the same crap over and over and trying to put his best foot forward; he’s just being Frank. I think publicity wise, and the way he carries himself, he’s a good representative and I don’t mind seeing him with the belt.

  Now as far as skills go; he’s finishing fights, and they’re going quickly! I think we need to hold out on delivering a verdict on Mir just yet, lets see what he does if he gets the strap and how long he can hold on to it for. You are right about the fact that we have yet to see Mir in a real war, a real test of heart and grit. Lesnar could potentially take him there, but I don’t see that happening, I’m gonna predict another quick sub on that one. Give this guy some time, I think his confidence is now at an all time high, I think the skills are starting to come together. We already knew the jits was good, lets put him up against a superior striker and see how he approaches the situation.

i agree john, i never hated mir i just thought he sucked, i shouldn’t say that i would say more mediocore he was great at bjj but thats about all he had, his stand up was weak he could not take a punch and seemed to give up when taking a beating.i have to give him some credit even though nog looked like shit fat and out of shape he still stopped him but i still am not sure i would put mir in the top 10 i just think there are alot of people who will beat him,yes if people don’t respect his bjj they will get submitted but i don’t think we will see him kncoking out any of the top guys again and i don’t think he will beat any top fighter again, i may be wrong but will see.i think lesnar will hurt him this time if he did pull out a sub it would not be a huge upset but i would say that he won’t hold the belt in the next fight.

Man, I sparked a great debate today. Some wonderful responses across the board. I have to say, you guys didnt help me at all! lol, so many different wonderful opinion going in so many different ways. I might be more baffled then before I asked the question….NOW tHats a good debate.

My problem is that I dont think Mir is good enough yet at anything besides jits. We all know being a one trick pony isnt going to work at the top level of the UFC. if Mir cant strike with Brock, then its over! Mir isnt getting Brock to the ground. And I think Mir’s jits is great, but I dont see him out-jitsing guys like Nog, Werdum, GOnzaga. THat stuff will work on goofy Tim Sylvia or Brock in his first fight.

Because he is young, i will look at this as a too be continued situation. But im not ready to get on my knees and blow the guy for beating Nog. I dont know who the F showed up to fight that night, but it sure wasnt Nog. I had never seen that fighter before. Props for cracking the long mystery that was Nogueira’s chin….But it was basically target practice. nog didnt do a THING! I will reserve my judgement until after the Brock rematch….because In my humble oppinion, I think Brock is just going to beat the crap at of Mir standing up. Yes Mir has a basic little 3 punch combo that he threw over and over again, so by the Brock fight he may have turned the combo ito a lil 4 punch combo and added another 2 hit combo to his arsenal….but nothing major. Brocks going to use that Monkey Reach and wrestling to keep the fight standing and just beat the crap out of Mir. Even if Mir where to try and pull guard….I just think that would allow Brock to slam him on his head!

its a fight, and anything can happen! But i still cant say that I would feel comfortable betting money on Mir in a rematch with Brock

Just another one pump chump in the making.

Trivia: How many times has Couture successfully defended his UFC title?

Phil: U complete Me! LMAO lol hahahahahahah! I cant agree more about the Im a better athlete" I jump higher…crap! Like you said, if you gonna act like Hughes, u at least better have defended that strap instead of making a living out of submitting defenseless white belts! lol

Everyone in your top 10 would probably beat Mir…I think Dos has a great chance as well…but I also think he would get his ass kicked by guys like Werdum or even Bigfoot! Werdum isnt getting submitted by anyone honestly…Best you can do against Werdum is nuetralize him or maybe sweep him (liuke nOg did)…Mir sure as hell aint submitting fabricio or probably not even big foot.

I also think Sergei would whoop his ass!

Could Mir take Carwin down to have a chance at submitting him? Doubt it…Carwin might punch a whole through his face!

Like you guys said, I love him as a commentator, and I love ju jitsu…so I have to like Mir, but If I got to keep it real…I just dont see a top 10 fighter when I watch him, and I for sure do not see what I would imagine a UFC champion would be…. THats just real talk! Flame me if it makes you guys feel good, I simply just dont see it!

He is young, and he could become a top fighter, but right now….I find it hard to call him “the favorite” against most top fighters. In my mind when I think of a champion, I think thats the Favorite….Mir to be blunt, just reminds me of a 1 pump jump who has beaten some Genetic Freaks with his Jits!

Not all champions are supposed to be the favorites tho you know. Hughes almost lost a ton of his title defenses but pulled off the win. And its hard not to go into a fight without thinking your shit don’t stink because if you think it stinks at all your doubting yourself and will probably lose. I really think we should let all the TUF bs go for Mir because honestly he was facing insurmountable odds against Nog what did you want him to say? I stand no chance I don’t even know why I accepted this fight? lol anyway maybe Mir will suprise us all and beat Lesnar. I hope so at least.

the thing with mir is he does have great bjj so he will pull of a win here or there even against some good hw’s but he won’t be consistant vs the top guys, i could think of a few guys that are not top 10 that would kick his ass.

I know and that’s why dana needs to go..

I think it is safe to say that Dana is more important to the UFC than Tito, so Dana isn’t going anywhere. Tito was a draw when he won fights, if he can start doing that again, then maybe he will be asked back.

They could of have had a Tito / Wand 2 but I think that for them it was probably 80% certainty hat Machida would have aeten him where as Wandy may have only been about 50% an we know that they definately wanted Tito to lose. They could have sold a lo of tickets with that one, but maybe the risk of Wandy losing to early the UFC was to high for them.

I think you are wrong, I think the UFC would have Tito back, if the is money to be made they will have him back, it is a business and they are in it to make as much money as they can

Tito could go on a 10 fight win streak and they wouldn’t bring him back even then.. If Dana wanted to he would have given Tito fights that he wins in the UFC, he wants him to lose and you can’t fight under someone like that..

Mir never said his drawing power was large. He just said he wanted to work on it. Why make a stupid comment about something the fighter never said at all? The dude who wrote that comment probably only looked at the title of this article and thought he should make a comment.

in here?

here?

er?

I don’t disagree that entertainement and business is part of it. I’m just saying you can’t avoid giving a guy a shot if he keeps beating top contenders. I didn’t say it’s all about winning.

The UFC sure avoided giving Jon Fitch a title shot the guy won eight fights in a row before getting a shot.
Now the UFC is doing the same thing with Machida, and Yushin Okami.
But if Chuck Liddell wins two fights in a row he’ll get an immediate title shot.
It’s all business and politics.

yea and it’s the fighter himself that needs to do something about that, these guys needs some media training and learn how to get their name out there..

We’re all in agreement. Sucks, but eventually thoses guys will get a shot. So be marketable, and if you can’t, keep winning.