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The UFC is the biggest show in mixed martial arts. While other smaller shows keep popping up the UFC remains the most popular by far. Is this good for the sport though? The UFC has the most top tier fighters of all the promotion companies. While there are other big names in some of the smaller shows, the UFC is holding most of the cards.
This has already caused some problems. After Randy Couture defeated Gabriel Gonzaga he felt the only logical next step in his career was to fight Fedor Emilianinko. That fight still has not happened due to the legal teams of the UFC. Fedor's next fight will be against Tim Sylvia how lost to Nogeira in his last UFC appearance and Fedor has beaten Nogeira. The only two heavy weights that anyone wants to see fight eachother is Couture and Fedor, but by the time this fight actually happens will it even be worth seeing? This would not be a problem if the UFC would play ball, but Dana White wants a monopoly on the mixed martial arts world.

The fact that top guys like Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz, guys who have been around the UFC for so long, are complaining about unfair treatment says something. While Dana White claims what the fighters make is none of anyone's business almost every mma news website posts the fighter payouts within a couple of days after an event. For those of you who have never seen the fighter payouts I can guarantee they are probably much less than you would think. The most disgusting example of this was what Frank Mir got paid in relation to what Brock Lesnar got paid for their fight. Mir received $40,000 for the fight and another $40,000 for winning and Lesnar got paid $250,000 for fighting and would have received another $200,000 for winning. This is interesting because Mir is a former heavy weight champion and Lesnar had only had one other pro MMA fight previous to that fight. While I agree that Lesnar will draw large numbers of buys on pay-per-view, he is being paid more for being a celebrity than a fighter. I guarantee if you got Steven Segal in the octagon it would draw huge numbers but does that make him a legitimate mixed martial artist? Think back to when Michael Jordan tried to play baseball, people wanted to see how he would do because he was Michael Jordan not because he was a good baseball player. If I remember correctly that didn't last very long either.
It seems that the UFC would rather put WWE wrestlers in a main event and pay them very well than spend the money to have the biggest fight in MMA to date in Randy Couture vs Fedor.
Dana White claims that Fedor wanted way too much money and that his agent is a complete moron but since the UFC purchased Pride has fought twice for other promotions against what many people consider lesser opponents.
So is the UFC ruining martial arts as we know it? Absolutely not. The UFC is the reason the sport is at the level of popularity that it is today, however if they do not make some changes fighters will keep signing with other companies and dream fights will become less and less. Promotion companies need to start working together because while mixed martial arts is on the up right now fans are fickle. Fans have favorite fighters and they want see them fight eachother to see who is truly the best in the world. If the top fighters in the world are all signed to different promotion companies these fights will never happen and people will quickly lose interest.

Learn more about this author, Sean Winkle.
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