A gathering of the greatest athletes in a particular sports league has always garnered the interest of the casual sports fan. I’m not a huge hockey fan, but I always tune into NHL All-Star Weekend, and I assume most casual NBA fans check out the Association’s All-Star Weekend. Despite being a terrible game, the NFL Pro Bowl continues to do well on the televisions ratings, and Wrestlemania is one wrestling pay-per-view that any pro-graps fan goes out of his way to view. Is it too much to ask for a UFC All-Star Weekend?

There are dollar bills just waiting to be collected from Dana White and Co. from an All-Star Weekend. The biggest problem is that you can’t have a UFC All-Star Spar or and All-Star PPV card. It’s just not feasible, but there are plenty of other things to do to make an awesome All-Star Weekend. Still doubtful? Here’s what my UFC All-Star Weekend would look like.

The Date – Memorial Day Weekend

It seems like that Memorial Day Weekend would be the perfect weekend to do it. UFC has run an MMA card for the last six years on Memorial Day Weekend, and the last five have been in Vegas. It seems like a logical time period to have an All-Star Weekend Take Place.

Thursday, May 24th (UFC on Fuel)

Everything here would be on Fuel.

Training with the Champions

This would be my substitute for an all-star game, albeit a weak one. Basically all of the champions that won’t be participating in the weekend’s event will take part in a training session that will be broadcasted live with public having access to it. All of the sport’s top coaches and the rest of the top UFC Fighters would be on hand.

16 Man Openweight No-Gi Grappling Tournament

I would love this. Watching MMA’s finest going at it on the map. In an effort to make it exciting, it would be a one ten minute round match with judges scoring it. To eliminate dullness, fighters can be penalized for stalling. It would be open to anybody in the UFC to compete.

In order to make it appealing to the fighters, if they won the opening round then they’d get $5,000, second round $10,000, third round $25,000, and finals $50,000. The opening and second round would take place on Fuel TV on Thursday. The Final Four would compete the next day.

Friday, May 25th

Coverage of UFC Convention (UFC on Fuel)

Title is self-explanatory.

UFC All-Star Night (FX)

A 2 and a half hour broadcast that is a mirror image of NBA’s or NHL’s All Star Saturday Night.

Semi-Finals of No-Gi Grappling Tournament

The final four fighters would open up the show to determine who would meet in the finals of the grappling tournament later in the night.

Punching Power Competition

Whether it is at a carnival or in a gym, everyone has seen that machine that measures how hard you punch. This would be similar to that; you would get six of the strongest HW, LHW, and MWs. They would get two opportunities in the first round. Then the top two would make the cut, and then punch once again. Whoever has the strongest punch wins.

Punching Speed Competition

I’ve got to show some love to the little guys during All-Star Weekend. Basically a similar machine, but it calculates how many punches are landed in one minute. Same idea with six men narrowed down to two to compete in a final round.

Craziest Kick Competition

My favorite events on NBA and NHL Saturday Night are the Slam Dunk and Trick Shot competition. This would be the substitute. It would take place in a half-cage in order to give the contestants an ability to emulate Pettis’s sick cage kick. To add some gusto to the competition, in order for a kick to count the combatant must break through a board(s).

There would be five contestants with former MMA fighters, current MMA fighters, celebrities, and others associated with combat sports at hand to judge. There would be three kick attempts in the opening round. The judges score the kicks from 1-10. The two fighters with the highest total score advance to the finals with a clean slate. They have two more kicks and whoever has the highest total score wins.

Culmination of Grappling Tournament

Self-explanatory.

Lightweight Bout – Evan Dunham vs Edson Barboza

This fantastic fight was moved down to the under-card after the UFC decided to make it an all heavyweight PPV card. Why not put this card on Friday Night and give these two guys exposure as the main event. It promises to be an excellent fight that could be a fantastic send-off to the fans watching Friday Night.

Saturday, May 26th

Dana White State of the UFC Address (Fuel TV)

An hour before the prelims of UFC 146 start, White gives a state of the UFC address similar to that of the other league’s GMs.

UFC 146 PPV Event

Sunday, May 27th

2011 UFC Awards

For some reason giving someone recognition fancies the interest of people. An awards show is something that you can’t go wrong with. The award period could be that of the whole year prior to the event. Categories could be Fighter of the Year, Fight of the Year, etc.

Hall of Fame Ceremony

The UFC Hall of Fame has some serious deficiencies. One of the reasons being is that there isn’t a proper induction ceremony. The inductees deserve the opportunity to get enshrined similar to their colleagues in other sports. This would be a perfect way to end the week-end’s festivities.

So there is my blueprint of a UFC All-Star Weekend. Still think it won’t work? Well, you’re probably right. We are likely half a decade away from something like this happening, but you never what lies in the future.