When MMA Fans Complain that UFC on Fox 2 Was "Boring", Here’s What They REALLY Mean
by hobbie on Feb 1, 2012 2:41 PM EST
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So it’s Wednesday, mid-way through the week and a couple of days removed from the UFC’s sophomore showing on the Fox network. And after a couple days reading, writing, and gathering perspective, I think I can safely say that most fans are crapping on this card like a malaria victim on an Exlax binge.
And yet I noticed something kind of strange. It seems like it a lot of cases, fans are complaining about one thing – but really mean something else entirely.
Yeah, I know that kind of makes MMA fans seem like b*tchy girls on their periods. But think about it – this is a group of fans who complain that Jon Jones is too “fake”, take every fighter missing weight as a personal insult, and judges a person’s entire character by how they come off on a reality show. Sometimes, we ARE like girls on their period
And right now, I have a feeling it’s “that time of the month”.
(Ed note: Judging by the early comments, some folks are a little ticked over the analogy I've just drawn here. I'm sorry guys. No really, I am. It was a stupid joke, and it wasn't even funny. Let me make it up to you - we'll watch Ryan Gosling movies all night while I give you back rubs, mmmkay?...Sorry, couldn't help myself. Be kind :p)
So, as a die-hard fight fan I’m here to help you understand what us fans are REALLY mad about when we complain about this latest Fox offering. Let’s start chronologically, shall we?
Maia vs. Weidman was too boring!
=
I don’t know who either of these guys are!
Yeah, I know I was one of the MMA “media” who complained about the Maia/Weidman fight right after it happened. I own that right here and now. In my defense, my distaste had two very solid reasons behind it:
1) I wanted a Jiu-Jitsu war for the ages to help introduce the Fox audience to the merits of sweaty, man on man hugging contests.
2) I bet $5 on Maia, and felt a right jerk for doing it.
But I’m not here to debate the meaning of “boring fight” since it doesn’t really matter. The reason most fans are PO’ed about this one is because they don’t really know who Demian Maia or Chris Weidman actually are. Put another way, there just isn’t enough fan interest in either of these guys for them to get away with a slow fight on network TV.
I know, I know, I can already hear you hardcores screaming to the high heavens that you know all about these guys, have followed their every move, have watched all Weidman’s wrestling tapes and personally licked the mat where Maia won his first ADCC medal. And good on ya.
But to most fans, this was “American guy I’ve never heard of” vs. “Brazilian opponent”. Or more accurately, “Guy who the TV tells me is a submission wizard” being scared to death of going to the mat, and “Guy who the TV tells me is an elite ‘All-American’ athlete” gassing faster than a Ford Falcon pulling a trailer of bricks up K2.
You replace Weidman with Brock Lesnar (rookie MMA’er with outstanding wrestling creds) and Maia with Big Nog (once-feared BJJ guy who hasn’t tapped anyone out in awhile) in the EXACT SAME FIGHT, and no one would make a peep. Well, except to say that Lesnar’s striking has REALLY improved, that is.
Sonnen vs. Bisping was too boring!
=
The cocky Brit didn’t get dominated by the mouthy American!
Simply put, the ‘Murican didn’t shut the cocky Brit up like we all thought he would! Boo! BOOOOOOO!
This fight wasn’t “boring” – or at least, wasn’t any more boring than Sonnen’s fights against Yushin Okami, Dan Miller, or Nate Marquardt. They all featured lots of clinch fighting, lots of takedowns and takedown attempts, and were mostly battles of position. I also hasten to point out that Bisping is coming off the dreadful fight with “Mayhem” Miller, and has a (mostly unjustified, but whatever) reputation as a decision machine himself.
So on paper, this fight didn’t exactly scream “excitement”.
Yet no one made a peep about this fight when it was announced. On the contrary, it was celebrated to the high heavens. People rejoiced in the UFC’s “good fortune” in having Mark Munoz get injured, and talked about how this fight “made the card even better.” This fight was celebrated and anticipated in every corner of the MMA world.
Why? Because the consensus opinion was that Chael Sonnen, the very embodiment of American braggadocio, was going to run right over Mike Bisping, the very embodiment of British wankerism. That was the gospel according to the MMA fan that Saturday night. They wanted Bisping vs. Hendo 2, only instead of a freak punch, it was going to be a painful, 3-round deconstruction from the man who brutalized Anderson Silva.
Well Sonnen won, but he certainly didn’t shut Bisping’s mouth. And that wasn’t the plan at all.
So again, this fight wasn’t that boring. The American audience just expected another “Bunker Hill moment” against the despised Brit. Instead, President Chael Washington almost didn’t make it across the Delaware.
Evans vs. Davis was too boring!
=
Rashad Evans, you fooled us again!
When it comes to Rashad Evans, here’s how the brain of the average MMA fan works:
1) “Rashad Evans is fighting! I HATE that guy!”
2) “…so I’ll tune in to watch him get his ass kicked!”
3) “That fight stunk! Evans is a lay n’ prayer/staller/point fighter/decision machine! Now I HATE Rashad even more!”
4) “Rashad Evans is fighting! I HATE that guy!”
Wash, rinse, repeat.
When he fought Thiago Silva, he put on one of the most roundly despised main events in UFC history. It was so bad, in fact, that over 1 million fans tuned into his next fight on PPV.
That fight was also one of the most roundly criticized main events in history. It was so bad, in fact, that Evans coasted on that win alone for over a year and a half on the shelf, while still being considered the #1 contender.
Then when he finally returned to the Octagon, fans hated him so much that more of them tuned into that fight (against a “one foot out the door” Tito Ortiz) than Nick Diaz vs. BJ Penn, or either of the Frankie Edgar/Grey Maynard title fights – all of which were more exciting and relevant than Evans vs. Ortiz.
Face it folks: you’re just made because Rashad Evans tricked you all again. No matter how many of his fights get crapped on, he somehow still draws people, lots of people, in. What’s more, these people seemingly forget Rashad had ever been in a fight they hated when they sign up to get more. No one cared about Evans vs. Bisping when Evans vs. Liddell was announced. No one cared about Evans vs. Silva when Evans vs. “Rampage” was announced.
And no one will care about Evans vs. Davis when Evans vs. Jones is announced.
Rashad Evans was facing a bigger, stronger man who’s a better wrestler on paper than he is – and responded by dominating in the wrestling department, even getting a mounted crucifix twice in the fight. As far as striking went, he showed he was fast, mixes it up well, but doesn’t hit with nuclear power and isn’t the most diverse striker in the world. Like he’s always been.
Yet we all watched. We always will watch, no matter how much we claim to hate his living guts, or claim he’s “boring”. Kind of like how fans claim GSP is “killing” his career with his fighting style while his PPV and live gate numbers keep going up.
Rashad Evans is laughing right now – probably the reason you aren’t.
By Elton Hobson
The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.
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the menstruation angle could have used some better puns
but was probably unnecessary and/or dumb.
and I’m pretty sure Rashad got two mounted crucifixes.
A thousand years ago five minutes were
Equal to forty ounces of fine sand -- Nabokov
by mollcutpurse on Feb 1, 2012 2:51 PM EST reply actions 2 recs
Conceded on the Rashad point, obviously
I didn’t think it was important to mention in my article but as I read it now it does sound really vague. I’ll change the wording of it to clarify cause you’re right, 2 mounted crucifixis on Phil Davis is better than 1.
And yeah, that doesn’t seem to be going over well judging by some of these early comments. You guys realize I’m making fun of myself here, right? I’m an MMA fan too. I use the word “we” in the period paragraph. I guess what I’m saying is try not to take it too seriously, it was a throwaway couple of lines where I took the piss out of mma fans and myself before jumping into the meat of the article.
Apparently it was a REALLY throwaway couple of lines…
Invincibility lies in the defence; the possibility of victory in the attack. - Sun Tzu
sure, I get it
I just think it’s better for aspiring writers to avoid reliance on those kinds of comparisons. I didn’t experience any anatomical dissonance since I’m actually female.
A thousand years ago five minutes were
Equal to forty ounces of fine sand -- Nabokov
What they really mean is, those fights were boring. They just were. And it sucks because all of the Fuel fights (except for Russo-Einemo) were really good, but they didn’t show any highlights of that during the main show. Boring fights happen sometimes, no need to apologize for them.
"Joke you are a bad"
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by Jeffrey McCrum on Feb 1, 2012 2:58 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
I'm not apologizing I don't think
I originally had a whole paragraph at the end where I talked about how this was all tongue in cheek, don’t take it too seriously, if you didn’t like the fights you’re entitled to an opinion and there’s nothing I can possibly say to counter that.
But then I thought “fuck it, why am I always posting disclaimers on my articles these days? BE readers are smart enough to know what a dude is being serious and when he’s just being a schmuck.”
Invincibility lies in the defence; the possibility of victory in the attack. - Sun Tzu
-You’ve got the Maia fight down. Where was the BJJ, but it’s not fun to see a mediocre striker box for three rounds. I wouldn’t want to see James Toney wrestle for three rounds.
-Although the action was limited, I enjoyed Bisbing/Sonnen. They had a good back and forth fight.
-I was pulling for Rashad in that fight and I still thought it was boring. Phil never really put Rashad in any trouble so there was no reason to get excited. The only way for someone to like that fight was if Mr. Wonderful stole their girlfriend.
If you can't wow them with brilliance, then baffle them with bullshit.
LSU! LSU! LSU! LSU! LSU! LSU!
The main card was boring
no other way to say it.
Learn JiuJitsu.
Semper Fi'
For those who fight for it, life has a flavor the sheltered will never know.
by RolloTomasi on Feb 1, 2012 3:41 PM EST reply actions 2 recs
Would have been a much shorter blog that way...
Invincibility lies in the defence; the possibility of victory in the attack. - Sun Tzu
You started that out with a tired PMS joke and didn't really improve much from there
Well before this card ever aired, large numbers of knowledgeable fans and media members voiced their fears that the matchmaking in the 3 fights chosen to air on Fox had the potential to turn out “boring”. There was a good chance of getting 3 wrestle heavy, stalemate prone decisions. While things didn’t play out exactly that way, it turned out that those fears were well founded, and the 3 fights on Fox did in actuality turn out “boring.”
Two high level grapplers engaging in a sub-par kickboxing match, then gassing, and engaging in an even worse kickboxing match, is bad by pretty much any standard. The third round was hard to watch. The fact that the UFC has done a bad job pushing Weidman, or that people might not recognize Maia (and if they do it might be for the terrible Silva fight) has little to do with this.
Sonnen has become a spectacular carnival salesman, and his smothering clinch and top control game is a nightmare for the great majority of the 185 lb division, but his fights are generally fairly monotonous. Bisping is known for having good hips, being difficult to takedown, and for finding ways back to his feet when he does get floored. Other than Bisping doing better than expected against the cage, we got exactly what was predicted here, and it was predictably less than stellar in the entertainment department.
Evans vs Davis was certainly not terrible, but it’s not going to make a whole lot of people’s “Best of” lists, unless the list is “Best fights where less experienced prospect wrestler is thrown in with more experienced ex-champion wrestler, and gets overwhelmed.” Evans has had plenty of boring stretches in fights (and even full fights), and we’re dealing with two guys who use wrestling as their primary base, so again, no real surprises here. Once we, and Davis, realized that Rashad’s depth was simply too much for him, and Davis couldn’t even go to the wrestling to get out of trouble, this fight was effectively over, which really killed any potential excitement.
So instead of falling back on menstruation jokes as old as human history, and blaming an extremely fickle MMA fanbase (which you can rightly do in many cases, just not this one), why don’t we just recognize that it was a weak night of fights, and a bad case of matchmaking and planning on the part of Zuffa and Fox, and move on hoping that the public gets to see a better product next time?
by brainuse on Feb 1, 2012 4:02 PM EST reply actions 7 recs
This
And in particular, this:
So instead of falling back on menstruation jokes as old as human history, and blaming an extremely fickle MMA fanbase (which you can rightly do in many cases, just not this one), why don’t we just recognize that it was a weak night of fights, and a bad case of matchmaking and planning on the part of Zuffa and Fox, and move on hoping that the public gets to see a better product next time?
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by wonderfulspam on Feb 1, 2012 4:40 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Brainuse, I think you're holding back on me here bud...
Let’s get into it:
Well before this card ever aired, large numbers of knowledgeable fans and media members voiced their fears that the matchmaking in the 3 fights chosen to air on Fox had the potential to turn out "boring". There was a good chance of getting 3 wrestle heavy, stalemate prone decisions. While things didn’t play out exactly that way, it turned out that those fears were well founded, and the 3 fights on Fox did in actuality turn out "boring."
Something about this read strangely to me. I couldn’t place my finger on it. Then I saw it:
…and the 3 fights on Fox did in actuality turn out "boring."
Like the Dude would say, that’s like, your opinion, man. Not saying it’s wrong, and not saying that it’s not a popular opinion, but still, I don’ think you can prove something is “boring in actuality”.
Two high level grapplers engaging in a sub-par kickboxing match, then gassing, and engaging in an even worse kickboxing match, is bad by pretty much any standard. The third round was hard to watch. The fact that the UFC has done a bad job pushing Weidman, or that people might not recognize Maia (and if they do it might be for the terrible Silva fight) has little to do with this.
I wasn’t trying to blame the UFC or Fox or anyone for not promoting Maia or Weidman properly or anything – hell, I think putting them on a network broadcast is “promotion” enough! Just that these two guys didn’t have enough credit with fans to get their match to “medicore” (which I think it was) from “godawful” (where most fans rank it).
Sonnen has become a spectacular carnival salesman, and his smothering clinch and top control game is a nightmare for the great majority of the 185 lb division, but his fights are generally fairly monotonous. Bisping is known for having good hips, being difficult to takedown, and for finding ways back to his feet when he does get floored. Other than Bisping doing better than expected against the cage, we got exactly what was predicted here, and it was predictably less than stellar in the entertainment department.
I’m sorry dude, I just don’t agree. I’m not calling you a liar or even wrong, just that in everything I saw leading up to last Saturday, the overwhelming consensus TO ME was that Chael was gonna smash Bisping. Sure, you saw the odd outlier who called for Bisping, but by and large people thought this was gonna be a walk for Chael. I think the bettling lines reflected this.
Evans vs Davis was certainly not terrible, but it’s not going to make a whole lot of people’s "Best of" lists, unless the list is "Best fights where less experienced prospect wrestler is thrown in with more experienced ex-champion wrestler, and gets overwhelmed." Evans has had plenty of boring stretches in fights (and even full fights), and we’re dealing with two guys who use wrestling as their primary base, so again, no real surprises here. Once we, and Davis, realized that Rashad’s depth was simply too much for him, and Davis couldn’t even go to the wrestling to get out of trouble, this fight was effectively over, which really killed any potential excitement.
Yeah, I agree with everything you said there. Still, the fact that fans complain about Rashad’s boring fights, then tune in the next time to watch him fight, then complain again is kind of funny. That’s what I was getting at.
So instead of falling back on menstruation jokes as old as human history, and blaming an extremely fickle MMA fanbase (which you can rightly do in many cases, just not this one), why don’t we just recognize that it was a weak night of fights, and a bad case of matchmaking and planning on the part of Zuffa and Fox, and move on hoping that the public gets to see a better product next time?
Wow, again with the period stuff. I’m sorry I offended you guys with that one. Or I’m sorry it wasn’t funny. I’m not sure which, but whatever it is I didn’t mean to tred on anyone’s toes. Also, I didn’t want to get into a case of blaming bad matchmaking, or bad choices by the UFC or Fox or anything like that. Because you’re absolutely right, bad fights happen.
Like I said above, I had a whole paragraph about people being entitled to their own opinions on whether the fights were “boring” and not to take any of what I said seriously, but I took it out. I wrote this in a kind of “tee hee” mindset I thought would show through more clearly. So sorry about that – next time I ruffle your feathers I’ll try to make it on purpose :p.
Invincibility lies in the defence; the possibility of victory in the attack. - Sun Tzu
We can absolutely go deeper into this, but I don’t really think there’s that much to it. I just disagreed with your alternate takes on the fights, and with your assertion that people are just complaining needlessly (and like others, I thought the “time of the month” theme was lazy and unnecessary, but I wasn’t particularly offended). No ruffled feathers, I just don’t see your angle.
Like the Dude would say, that’s like, your opinion, man. Not saying it’s wrong, and not saying that it’s not a popular opinion, but still, I don’ think you can prove something is "boring in actuality".
Absolutely. You’re correct, and you’re welcome to any opinion you want of the fights; that’s how entertainment works. People have been debating about the ability to critique relative “quality” of art and entertainment for all of philosophical history. I guess if you want to, we can kill all discussion of the quality or entertainment level of fights right there with “That’s how I feel about it and no one can tell me I’m wrong,” which is true, but useless in terms of debate.
I wasn’t trying to blame the UFC or Fox or anyone for not promoting Maia or Weidman properly or anything – hell, I think putting them on a network broadcast is "promotion" enough! Just that these two guys didn’t have enough credit with fans to get their match to "medicore" (which I think it was) from "godawful" (where most fans rank it).
Attach any names, storylines, hype, or anything else to this, and it’s still not a particularly entertaining fight.
I’m sorry dude, I just don’t agree. I’m not calling you a liar or even wrong, just that in everything I saw leading up to last Saturday, the overwhelming consensus TO ME was that Chael was gonna smash Bisping. Sure, you saw the odd outlier who called for Bisping, but by and large people thought this was gonna be a walk for Chael. I think the bettling lines reflected this.
What does this have to do with the entertainment level of the fight? Especially when it comes to putting a product that a lot of people have never seen before on network television? Some people may have thought that Chael was going to smash Bisping, and they might be crabby about it now. This has nothing to do with the fact that the fight was your standard, grinding, Chael Sonnen fight, against a guy good at negating that style, which is generally not that exciting even to hardcore MMA fans, let alone the general public.
Still, the fact that fans complain about Rashad’s boring fights, then tune in the next time to watch him fight, then complain again is kind of funny. That’s what I was getting at.
Ok, but that doesn’t change the fact that the end product was still not particularly entertaining.
Also, I didn’t want to get into a case of blaming bad matchmaking, or bad choices by the UFC or Fox or anything like that. Because you’re absolutely right, bad fights happen.
I did want to get into that, because I believe that with the matchmaking, a less than spectacular result like this was very possible, and in the end, that’s exactly what we got. Bad fights happen, but why pick three fights that could very easily turn into bad fights, and use those as a launching pad to try to gain new fans.
Quoted yet misquoted
“Bisping is known for having good hips”
No way; he’s too skinny, no curves at all, couldn’t squirt a baby out that pelvis without breaking it in half.
I didn’t think the fights were boring, I was disappointed that Maia, Sonnen, and Rashad put on such bad performances that made the fights frustrating to watch because of it. I can only say a fight is boring when I start feeling anxious to do something to take my focus off of the fight, and I didn’t feel that with those three fights.
Rashad won every round, and most of them by a serious margin
I’m not sure you could call that a “bad performance.” Call it “frustrating to watch” or “boring” or whatever you want, but I’m fairly certain that fight didn’t electrify casual/new fans. It was however, a very effective dominant win.
problem is most people have no understanding of mma, all they want to see is people slugging each other in the face.
Obviously that's always going to be an issue while I trying to reel in a new fanbase
However, you can tailor some of your matchmaking choices to introduce them to fights that are more likely to be appealing to a casual viewing. I’m not in favor of throwing two mid-level stand-up brawlers out there for every Fox aired fight, I just think they could strategically and tactically make better marketing/matchmaking decisions.
You’re also never going to be able to predict every “boring” fight and avoid showing those to a new audience, but you can certainly make an effort at hedging your bets.
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