definitely, you'll see in pretty much every jiu-jitsu/sambo/judo gym cocky men with no experience, who think they can take on smaller girls and they end up whooped every single time. let alone a black belt with a ton of experience like DJ.

never liked DJ, I always hated this friendly, good guy attitude in fighters, **** that, people want drama, this is not tennis. I even preferred Ronda/Edmund's delusions and arrogance, at least that was funny.

would be hilarious if Dana sees red and takes his belt. he probably thinks TJ beats DJ and then he can make the fight vs Cody even bigger, champ v champ and everything. homie's scared of TJ tho ;D

I think TJ does beat him as long as he's not too gaunt at 125.

A DJ/TJ rivalry would be by far the best thing for DJ. He's just such a nice guy that won't be happening though.

Everyone is looking out for #1, I don't buy into the poor guy just doesn't get support. It's the fight game and people don't care about him. He's lucky he's not in the equivalent situation of Cyborg fighting in Invicta.

Dana white told dj to fight tj dillashaw or we'll scrap your division, dj says then scrap my mothafuarking division then, wow.

Tj Dillashaw calling him scared on twitter in all of this as well haha. Dj needs to take the fight, nobody wants to see him fight borg or pettis or benavidis.

Let's not avoid the race thing also. Nobody draws casuals like a good looking fair haired fighter who speaks English.

If the UFC really scrapped that division, would it even matter? Seriously, would it be -ev for the UFC.

If they scaled back cards they could cut 125 and WMMA.

As it is, they need that content. Those 125 and WMMA fights at the bottom and middle of the card help out. And then they use the WMMA divisions for co-mains pretty frequently.

I'm talking about WMMA along with 125 bc they're the same thing minus sex appeal. If Lineker could've made weight, that would've helped things. They only need 2 or 3 good guys at a division to solidify it.

This is obviously true. But it's not like TJ was some beast of a draw after he won the belt or anything.

It's a combo of everything, there's never been a bigger combat star than Tyson or Ali. A more well rounded Rumble could've nearly been the draw of MMA, now imagine him on the mic like Conor.

Race is a key part, but it's still just a part. I think a black male is inhibited from becoming a star in MMA to much less a degree than a female. Black males can still play to (racist) stereotypes that sell to casuals.

Dodger what's your issue with WMMA? i think the skill level has risen quite alot over the years, Amanda nunes vs schevenko is going to be a high level fight & Joanna champion is fun to watch for me & looks to be a star going forward. I think there's alot of talent in the womens division imo.

As for race being a factor i don't see it, Jon Jones clearly a star & a good draw & he's black, Anderson Silva was a draw as well.

Speaking for myself, WMMA is just not good, you get a couple good fighters but most just suck. Most throw punches like girls so it become a little absurd. The level has risen a lot from years past but it doesn't mean it has risen to being enjoyable to watch. You got 2 maybe 3 good fighters at 135, maybe 2 good fighters at 115?

It's basically like this (apologies Johnny, you're my boy) once you get below 5'8 or 5'9 it's not what most people consider normal men fighting. There's obvious appeal to larger men, but there's a pretty steep drop-off from what most people consider standard height for a man.

I used "people" for a reason. There's a large subset of fans that are women, they care about smaller dudes less than men do in my experience. A good percentage of men still appreciate the technique and unique speed of the lighter classes. Woman want to watch dudes they want to bang, bang it out.

2 of my last 4 lady friends have really gotten into fighting while being with me. One of which (my current) will even organize and go to BWW for ladies night to watch fight cards. She's down for Bellator and WSOF and everything ... Conor and above plz.

Amanda Nunes vs Cat Zingano is one of my favorite fights. Jessica Andrade vs Angela Hill I love even more.

I'm able to separate my preferences from the masses I'm speaking of.

It's the real world. I was the one who posted how no one has been bigger than Ali or Tyson. The issue is multi-faceted.

Black athletes can definitely be #1. Look at Michael Jordan. Doesn't mean that Larry Bird might not be a little more well known and popular than he would've been otherwise though. Everything isn't black and white, pardon the pun.

When you're a racial anomaly in whatever facet of life more eyeballs will be on you, whether sport, politics etc. Obama got alot more attention on him due to being the first black american president, jeremly lin being asian and playing well got him tonnes of attention in new york, freaking tiger woods was at one point the highest paid athlete in a sport barely anybody pays attention to. Racial anomalies whether white, black etc will always get more attention. Maybe in Larry bird days he got more attention just cause he was white, it was pretty racist back then, times have changed though.

Yeah lots of facets and exceptions. It's not a binary thing and it's not insidious necessarily either. My 5yo daughter asked me who I wanted to win in the Medeiros vs Silva fight and when I didn't care she picked Medeiros because "he speaks English like us". But even when you remove the outliers as exceptions like Conor and Ronda or the true goat contenders like Anderson and JJ, you distill it down to some good examples without the need to leave mma. Don't none of the rousey bandwagon casuals know who has the belt now. None of them are interested in cyborg who really is what rousey was supposed to be.

As for small guys and women in general, there are several aspects to this sport and one of them is brutality and danger. It's the same thing that adds to race car driving...the ****ing wreck. There is simply less chance of someone getting brutally ****ed up at the smaller weight classes and with women. Now if you like technical fighting, there is plenty to enjoy besides that, and maybe more so with the smaller dudes, and it is starting to catch up with the women also. Personally I find the heavyweight fights the least enjoyable at this point. It's the same damn dudes time after time taking turns to see who lands the bombs first/who can avoid the bomb the longest. It's like watching elephants seals fight. It's a spectacle. But nobody watching can imagine surviving getting smashed by one of Hunt's cinderblocks and they also can't imagine being scared of the karate ****ing hottie--it's the danger aspect.

I am not into a lot of other sports but I once asked my buddy why the **** people are so impressed with basket ball players when you have to be a literal freak of nature to be competitive. If a dude is seven feet tall he is right next to the ****ing net. Maybe I would be way better if it were to scale. He told me there is a six foot and under league but nobody wants to watch that.

the girl fight thing is still odd only because girl fights in the streets draw a crowd just as much as men do, though clothes being lost is part of the draw.

To answer this, it's because that's only one of the chess pieces.

It's like asking why everyone isn't a tank in esports. Well, there's limitations.

Imagine like the antithesis of your example of the guy right next to the net, why on the battlefield would archers be useful when they stink up close?

aldo needs to move up now

these cuts are killing him

And Johnny, you prbly would be better than the average if you were to scale.

The thing is, there's very few that size, and once they're there ... they're usually gawky af.

That's too fine a point on it. What I mean is the sport by its nature favors abnormally tall people. Even if there are shorter players who are comptetitve, how much more more dominant would a mugsy be if the hoop were as close to him as it is to Jordan?

Nobody would give me any props for being able to hide n seek better than Shaq. It's cool tho. We cool. Just understand, no matter how uninteresting you find it to watch me, DJ and the gals do athletics, we are getting the last laugh on commercial flights.

ETA: I would be super awful at hoops regardless of how much they lowered it for me. The last time I shot around I missed my first 10 shots in a row and I was actually trying. And I threw my back out.

That's why, if you loved basketball, you'd understand why Chris Paul is so great.

or the above's near namesake, Isaiah Thomas, who averaged 28.9 points per game last year at 5'8.

Make em 5'4" and I'd still beat them at hide and seek tho.

I lost faith in DJ a couple fights ago when the prize for a season of TUF was a title shot vs DJ. Imagine any other weight class where someone wins TUF and their 1st fight is a title shot.

Thats part of why I feel he isnt a big draw. He has decided to stay at Flyweight and chase the title defense record rather than move up for better competition and bigger paydays. I mean now he is even balking at fighting better competition at Flyweight.

Except that's how Matt Serra got to fight, and beat GSP.

The Michael Jordan of BJJ (Travis Lutter) got a shot against Anderson too.

Keeping WMMA around and promoting it is obviously smart. Yeah it is gonna be down when Nunes types are dominating, but eventually another attractive champ will come along and you can make some good $ off of that. Even if it isn't for very long.

DJ complaining, Stipe has complained, UFC got a lot of unhappy campers these days.

They probably do need to do a better job of "getting behind guys" in terms of promotion. Especially someone like Stipe, you can't wait until someone has 4-5 successful title defenses until promoting them.

Thats a good shout. Totally forgot bout that.

Guy cleans out his division to the point they have to have a worldwide talent search just to find someone he hasn't beat decisively: what a boring loser.