Fighters the ufc should sign

DingDongCharlie

Registered User
Sep 12, 2010
11,316
9,258
Wouldn’t mind seeing MVP in the fold. Entertaining fights. Don’t think he’d be a true contender in the ufc though
 

CDJ

Registered User
Nov 20, 2006
54,060
42,680
Hell baby
I think Ray Cooper III would be my first pick. Fun fighter. Wouldn’t be a champ or anything but could get some bonuses

bumped after watching him fight a couple times more- he absolutely belongs in the UFC. Like I said he’s not gonna be a champ but he’s gonna be a lot of fun
 

Egg

Registered User
Sep 3, 2007
2,321
466
Angela Lee and Clarissa Shields. I think both would be huge in their own right.
 

BGDDYKWL

Registered User
Jul 16, 2007
4,473
418
In general I wish the UFC threw money at the top talent in other promotions more often
Especially with how stagnant things are. I was talking with a buddy about this the other day. How many fights or fighters these days would you say are "can't miss"? It's VERY few. We've lost so many top draws the past few years and haven't really replaced them with anyone. I know the UFC is still making money so they're not concerned, but the sport has a very different feel these days.

We've lost Jones, DC, Brock, Cain, Anderson, GSP, Khabib, Conor (essentially), Rhonda, etc., and who's replaced them? Jan-Glover is this weekend, solid fight, but is anyone dying to see it? Nunes has no comp, Shevchenko has no comp, 135 is stalled with the Aljamain injury, as cringe as he is 125 is boring without Cejudo, 155 you still feel like you're not seeing the best with Khabib gone, I mean there's not much.

The only like can't miss fights I can think of on the horizon are Cane/Ngannou, Rose/Zhang, Usman/Covington, and Adesanya/Whittaker. And if Rose, Usman, and Adesanya win you now have no challengers for any of them.

Harrison/Nunes would be a huge fight.
 

pistolpete11

Registered User
Apr 27, 2013
11,592
10,401
Especially with how stagnant things are. I was talking with a buddy about this the other day. How many fights or fighters these days would you say are "can't miss"? It's VERY few. We've lost so many top draws the past few years and haven't really replaced them with anyone. I know the UFC is still making money so they're not concerned, but the sport has a very different feel these days.

We've lost Jones, DC, Brock, Cain, Anderson, GSP, Khabib, Conor (essentially), Rhonda, etc., and who's replaced them? Jan-Glover is this weekend, solid fight, but is anyone dying to see it? Nunes has no comp, Shevchenko has no comp, 135 is stalled with the Aljamain injury, as cringe as he is 125 is boring without Cejudo, 155 you still feel like you're not seeing the best with Khabib gone, I mean there's not much.

The only like can't miss fights I can think of on the horizon are Cane/Ngannou, Rose/Zhang, Usman/Covington, and Adesanya/Whittaker. And if Rose, Usman, and Adesanya win you now have no challengers for any of them.

Harrison/Nunes would be a huge fight.
Really? Wow. I couldn't disagree more. I think the UFC is fantastic right now. What about Gaethje-Chandler? Oliveira-Poirier? Masvidal-Edwards? Max-Yair? Rumors of Nate-Tony or Luque? The only divisions I don't have any interest in are WBW and WFLW.

Some of your complaints are valid, but there's always been a division or 2 with dominant champs with (seemingly) no competition. There's always been a less than spectacular champ. There's always been injuries or suspensions or arrests that make the top of a division a mess.

More to the point though, there's not a fighter out there that's going to change any of this other than signing Harrison to fight Nunes, but that's for 1 fight. After that fight happened, there's nothing else at 145 for Harrison.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CDJ

SuperScript29

Registered User
Nov 17, 2017
2,069
1,673
The UFC seriously need to make a big push to get Kayla Harrison in there, Judo Olympic gold medalist and so far undefeated by completely dominating her opponents in a Khabib sort of fashion. There are only two fighters I'm interested in seeing Nunes against, Shevchenko is one, Harrison is the other.
 

pistolpete11

Registered User
Apr 27, 2013
11,592
10,401
The UFC seriously need to make a big push to get Kayla Harrison in there, Judo Olympic gold medalist and so far undefeated by completely dominating her opponents in a Khabib sort of fashion. There are only two fighters I'm interested in seeing Nunes against, Shevchenko is one, Harrison is the other.
I think there are 2 hurdles with signing Harrison.

1) Harrison and Nunes aren't huge draws. Among the MMA community, sure, there is interest, but they are probably not going to generate big PPV buys. I don't know what the PFL pulls, but I imagine it's not great. The last 3 PPV's Nunes has headlined were Spencer, Pennington, and Valentina which did 85k, 85k, and 100k. That's dog shit and that's why even when she has a big name opponent like Cyborg or Holm, they put it as a co-main. So the amount that fight generates is probably not going to be worth the squeeze to get Harrison to leave PFL. You might have to give Nunes a bump to take that fight, too. She's hinted at retirement. If she's got one foot out the door, does she really want to put her reputation as the WGOAT on the line against a hungry, naturally bigger, physical freak like Harrison?

2) What do you do with Harrison after that fight? There's nothing at 145 for her to fight that would generate any interest, but the UFC would be paying her hundreds of thousands of dollars.
 

pistolpete11

Registered User
Apr 27, 2013
11,592
10,401
Kayla should keep collecting the free milly each year
This is a case where they should not necessarily co-promote, but just sign Harrison for 1 fight to fight Nunes and then let her go back to PFL. The UFC would never do it in case she won, but it's a win for everybody involved. Harrison seems ultra competitive so she can get to fight the WGOAT and then still go collect her $1M from PFL. Since she wouldn't be giving up the $1M, the UFC wouldn't have to give her as much money. Nunes gets to (potentially) add another name to her resume and it's probably the fight that would generate the most interest. And us fans get to see an interesting fight.

It's not great for the UFC if Harrison comes in and beats the WGOAT and then leaves, but I mean, what's the PFL going to do? Build a serious competitor to the UFC with a 145/155lb female division? Good f***ing luck.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CDJ

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->