UFC Did Not Jump The Shark
In my 2006 predictions, I went off a little on UFC because the last Pay-Per-View event left us teetering on the edge of lame. We (me, my roomy Lee at Benchnews, a Jewelery Blog, and a few others who always watch UFC pay-per-view events here or elsewhere) pretty much decided that UFC 57 was either going to be great or was going to be the last UFC event we bought. By then end of round 1 of the first televised fight, we were pleased.
UFC 57 stepped to the plate and entertained us. The fights did not end as we may have expected (in the case of Diaz v. Riggs) or as we had hoped (in the case of Couture v. Liddell, for me, at leatst) but the fights were good.
Herb once again let a fight go too long, endangering a fighter and making our room-full of spectators yell “what the hell! stop it, man! what are you doing?!!?” He did this in the Franklin v. Quarry fight, but we thought the “worst fight in the world” preceding that match influenced him. Maybe not… Maybe Herb is a little too cautious. Maybe we were wrong. Or maybe he is letting some fights go too long.
One of the undercard fights in UFC 57, Whitehead v. Jardine, wasn’t shown to us paying viewers, for some unknown reason. After reading this explanation of Mike Whitehead’s lame defeat in his only fight during The Ultimate Fighter Season 2, I was looking forward to seeing him put up or shut up. Instead, we saw neither. The fight ended in a decision (against Whitehead) so I’m sure it wasn’t a great fight, but if the card says their fighting, I expect to see it when I pay for it. Damn it. Regardless of how good the rest of the fights were, if you advertise it, and it happens, you show it. Or at least bother to make up an excuse for why you didn’t.
Are you listening, Dana?
Good.
Now keep up the good work. 