Quote:
|
Originally Posted by bjornturock
TUF is like a freebie.. it's a tool, it's a commercial, it's bait.. TUF gets you interested in MMA, you watch the ultimate KO's show, you watch unleashed, you watch UFC on FSN, PRIDE on FSN, you go rent a few dvd's, maybe buy one.. you really start getting in to it.. so you decide to order a ppv, you love the feeling of actually seeing an event live as it happened.. not one that happened 9 months or 2 years ago.. you actually saw someone get KO'd in real time.. and that's how it goes.
|
This describes exactly how I got back into UFC and MMA.
I had rented a few of the earlier UFC's with Dan Severn and all in it and decided it was sloppy and chaotic, not really a sport.
TUF exposed me to how MMA had changed and how much better it had become.
Although I am a relative 'noob' to the sport, I have watched and read alot and being a reasonably intelligent person, I do appreciate the ground game, when the fighters are active and not laying and praying.
I think each newcomer to MMA will have to educate themselves to appreciate all aspects of the sport.
I mean if Zuffa turns the UFC into a standing only sport, it's watered down boxing and meh who wants that? The potential of the fight going to the ground is what adds that extra dimension to the fight and makes it better than boxing for me.
As for the extra exposure TUF gives the sport, another positive aspect is that as more people see it, more people will start to train to become MMA and UFC fighters and the quality of atheletes will improve and we'll have more great young fighters like a GSP.
That's what part of my hopes are for TUF, to get more future fighters interested in the sport.
great thread btw.