What's with all the MMA Promotions?

[Anthony342]

I mean, it reminds casual fans of pro wrestling, because they have all these different promotions in MMA. Wouldn't it be better if they all fought within just the sport of MMA, rather than just UFC or Bellator? This way a fighter can face anyone in their weight class, rather than just guys in their weight class that are in the same promotion as them. Why not find out how UFC and Strikeforce fighters would do against guys from, say, DREAM or Bellator and with each promotion's championship belts, it's almost like boxing, where there's 4 major belts in a weight class. How great would it have been back in the day for UFC fighters to face fighters from Pride on a regular basis? Remember when Randy Couture first became light heavyweight champion and was supposed to face Wanderlei Silva, when Silva was the Pride Middleweight champion? What happened with that? Why not have everyone face each other from everywhere and have one championship belt per weight class? Is there just not enough money to be made that way or is there another reason? And wouldn't hardcore fans of MMA rather see this?

[-2 Scrappy-]

Well not everybody can cut it in the ufc or bellator. That's how prospects get noticed. Promotions work together all the time for big fights besides the ufc.

[-Swizzy-]

nope. its good the way it is. every sport in the world has many different leagues. MMA shouldn't be any different.

ie: soccer which has over 30 pro leagues all over the world and about 4 of those being elite leagues.

MMA has a lot of promotions, but there is only 1 real elite promotion. Bellator has a couple of good fighters but it isn't on that level yet. Only other time there were multiple elite promotions was with PRIDE. But right now every really great fighter is pretty much in UFC. There are guys like Lombard, and Alvarez who are really good, but nobody actually thinks they're good enough to beat a UFC champ.

I've got no problem with this system as long as every fighter out there recognizes that there is only one true promotion with a worthy belt, thats all that matters. Everyone in mma fights to be in the UFC as the ultimate goal.

[Anthony342]

So I guess a UFC belt is like the Ring Magazine title belt in boxing, where the holder of that belt is usually considered the true champion?

[Clegg]

I think the reason we don't see cross-promotions is because the UFC are the dominant company and they prefer to keep everything in-house.

Having a UFC champ fight a Bellator of Dream champ probably not bring in anymore money for them than having a UFC champ face a UFC contender, and could see their champion lose to a guy who usually fights elsewhere, making him less of a draw and de-valuing their belt. Plus of course the people running the UFC seem arrogant and bitter, I'd imagine having a UFC champ lose to a Dream champ would hurt their ego even more than their profits.

Maybe if Liddell had won the Pride GP things would've been different.

Dream and Strikeforce had some crossover fights before the Zuffa takeover.

As for why there are different orgs, there are some fighters who the UFC aren't interested in or aren't willing to offer the best deal to, so they go elsewhere.

[Anthony342]

What if there were no UFC or Bellator or Strikeforce or any organization, but just fighters? Then everyone would get to compete with each other. I mean, boxers don't sign exclusive deals to fight just for the WBC or WBA, do they? I was thinking of there being no promotions, but only a fighter vs. a fighter, from anywhere. Wasn't that the whole purpose of the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the first place? That fighters from all over the world could compete with each other, using any disciplines or styles they wanted?

I guess as more of these tournaments popped up, they had to give them different names to sell the shows to viewers. It's just, at one time, the UFC seemed to be less of a brand and more of a way for every fighter in their respective weight classes to face each other and seemed less restrictive in which opposition guys could face. I would've liked to see more of Sakuraba in the UFC or Fedor fight guys like Overeem, Barnett or maybe even Lesnar, but that couldn't happen, because they were with different promotions.

I guess the closest we'll ever get to that is the UFC being the only promotion and signing every fighter in existence so there ends up being no other game in town, which seems to be inevitable, in the US anyway.

[-Swizzy-]

What if there were no UFC or Bellator or Strikeforce or any organization, but just fighters? Then everyone would get to compete with each other. I mean, boxers don't sign exclusive deals to fight just for the WBC or WBA, do they? I was thinking of there being no promotions, but only a fighter vs. a fighter, from anywhere. Wasn't that the whole purpose of the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the first place? That fighters from all over the world could compete with each other, using any disciplines or styles they wanted?

I guess as more of these tournaments popped up, they had to give them different names to sell the shows to viewers. It's just, at one time, the UFC seemed to be less of a brand and more of a way for every fighter in their respective weight classes to face each other and seemed less restrictive in which opposition guys could face. I would've liked to see more of Sakuraba in the UFC or Fedor fight guys like Overeem, Barnett or maybe even Lesnar, but that couldn't happen, because they were with different promotions.

I guess the closest we'll ever get to that is the UFC being the only promotion and signing every fighter in existence so there ends up being no other game in town, which seems to be inevitable, in the US anyway.

well UFC pretty much has every top fighter already. luckily, UFC has integrity(whether ppl believe it or not) and they want the best fighters no matter if it makes them more money or not. Like when they bought PRIDE and Strikeforce. Something they didn't really need to do but did it to put on the best fights. And they're in a position right now where they have pretty much everyone and the guys they don't have, they'll eventually have on the roster anyway.

Had the UFC not given a **** about putting together the best possible fights, than this would be a big problem. But they do.... so if UFC is a monoply as most say, then its the best kind of monoply. One that actually strives to be the best it can possibly be regardless of its lack of competition.

[TR vs. GB]

well UFC pretty much has every top fighter already. luckily, UFC has integrity(whether ppl believe it or not) and they want the best fighters no matter if it makes them more money or not. Like when they bought PRIDE and Strikeforce. Something they didn't really need to do but did it to put on the best fights. And they're in a position right now where they have pretty much everyone and the guys they don't have, they'll eventually have on the roster anyway.

Had the UFC not given a **** about putting together the best possible fights, than this would be a big problem. But they do.... so if UFC is a monoply as most say, then its the best kind of monoply. One that actually strives to be the best it can possibly be regardless of its lack of competition.

:

[New England]

I mean, it reminds casual fans of pro wrestling, because they have all these different promotions in MMA. Wouldn't it be better if they all fought within just the sport of MMA, rather than just UFC or Bellator? This way a fighter can face anyone in their weight class, rather than just guys in their weight class that are in the same promotion as them. Why not find out how UFC and Strikeforce fighters would do against guys from, say, DREAM or Bellator and with each promotion's championship belts, it's almost like boxing, where there's 4 major belts in a weight class. How great would it have been back in the day for UFC fighters to face fighters from Pride on a regular basis? Remember when Randy Couture first became light heavyweight champion and was supposed to face Wanderlei Silva, when Silva was the Pride Middleweight champion? What happened with that? Why not have everyone face each other from everywhere and have one championship belt per weight class? Is there just not enough money to be made that way or is there another reason? And wouldn't hardcore fans of MMA rather see this?

lol do you get the whole "money thing?"

or is that just over your head?

[PureBoxingCEO]

UFC fighters are getting spanked by Strikeforce guys lately.. And i think Lombar can beat any MW