Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: Waiting For Title Shots, and the UFC Bigger Than The NFL?
May 9, 2012 - 8:55:10 AM HYDEN BLOG: Waiting For Title Shots, and the UFC Bigger Than The NFL?

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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

The subject of waiting for title shots has come up again because Nate Diaz submitted Jim Miller Saturday and is now in line for a shot at the UFC Lightweight Title. However, Frankie Edgar was promised a title shot and a rematch against Lightweight Champ Benson Henderson in August. Add another 2-3 months (at least) to that and the earliest Diaz could get a title shot would be over 6 months from now.

I don't think guys should ever wait an extended period for a title shot. I understand why they would want to, but too much can happen. If Diaz were to wait a minimum of 6-7 months for a title shot, then get injured in the lead-up to that fight, it could be over a year before his next fight. That's way too long.

This week is the 10 year anniversary of the infamous Allen Iverson "practice" tirade. I disagree with Iverson's assumption that practice is useless, as I think it helps to separate the good from the great. Training in MMA is just like practice, you need it to sharpen your skills. However, there's no way to replicate the environment of a fight in training, just as you can't replicate a game environment in practice. You need practice, but you need the games more. You need training, but you need the fights more.

I think there should be no more than four months in between fights for a fighter, given good health. The pressure of a fight is needed to ensure that there's sufficient motivation to improve your skills consistently.

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Dana White said the other day that the UFC is bigger than the NFL globally and close to soccer. That's an absurd statement to make on both accounts, but I don't begrudge Dana his right to try to talk up the UFC's place in the world. Even globally, where the NFL isn't the top sport, it still is much bigger than the UFC is. You could easily find numbers to back this up just by using any search engine you can name. I would advise Dana to engage in a war he can win. If Dana were to target the NHL or MLB and say the UFC is bigger than those sports he would be able to get away with that because neither of those sports do particularly well in regards to fans, ratings, etc. I won't even touch the soccer part because, even though soccer isn't really big here in the U.S., it's huge worldwide and UFC isn't even close to it.


Comments and suggestions can be e-mailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com