Well, I don’t know what you’ve learned or what you’ve watched, but I sure as hell never saw Bob Cousy, Walt Frazier, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, or Willis Reed play, and yet I know they’re all-time greats, and have even seen highlights. They had that whole “NBA 50” retrospective where they named he best players of all time, and there many of them were, being honored.

Baseball has its Old-Timer’s Day, and they honor the all-stars from years past. They honor the anniversaries of historic events. And, of course, when records are challenged or broken, they trot out the prior record-holders to congratulate the new guy. (Full disclosure: I never watched Hank Aaron or Roger Maris play either.)

Now obviously the UFC doesn’t have the decades of history that the Big 4 sports have, but like it or not, those are the yardsticks against which other sports are judged. Hell, even boxing wouldn’t be boxing if people didn’t put fights and fighters into historical significance, whatever the questionable ethics of the particular fighter. Some get overlooked by history, but not because of some conspiratorial imperative.

But anyway, I’ve digressed. If UFC makes Frank Shamrock’s accomplishments and records available, that’s at least part of their responsibility, and I understand why shills Goldberg and Rogan can’t be pimping Frankie MMA like they do Randy and Chuck. All that I’m trying to stand for is that, in the interest of the sport, the UFC stand a little bit above the fray, and try to present the historical record in a more objective and straightforward light, and if they can’t do it, they shouldn’t impede the efforts of the people and the entities which can.

I agree with you; I think he UFC shouldn’t be charged with keeping the history of the sport. Problem is, with their proprietary model, it’s difficult for third-parties to get access to UFC and PRIDE footage in order to compile an accurate record of the sport’s progression.

Furthermore, since the UFC does put out retrospectives, in order to tell its own version of the facts, it is already taking up the role of tracking the history, except in a biased manner. This gives rise to revisionism, and makes the narrative too dependent on the whims of one man in the moment. That’s no way to compile a historical record.

I’m not nearly as up in arms about baseball players’ PED snafus as some are, because the more information comes out, the more obvious it becomes that the sport was laden with chemical enhancement before Baseball put in a drug-testing policy with real teeth. It was so widespread that pretty much all the stars of this era will either be collectively included or excluded, but amongst each other, they’re on similar ground.

And “competition” is all how you look at it, I guess. If another League plays football, and can draw from the same pool of athletes as the NFL, it could be viewed as competition, even though its success makes minimal impact on it. Kind of how DREAM and Strikeforce don’t really affect the UFC’s business at the moment, except by giving fighters a place to compete in if they are unable or unwilling to compete in the UFC, but still want to fight MMA professionally.