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Did the UFC do too much in hyping up the "grudge match" nature of the Rashad Evans vs. Quinton Jackson fight considering the actual fight itself didn't live up to the "grudge match" billing, or do the pay-per-view buy numbers justify their decision?
STEVE SUTCLIFFE, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
The UFC did everything a successful fight promotion would do and hyped the heck out of a fight that a ton of people wanted to see. All the organization owed to its paying customers was to get the fighters into the Octagon and that's it, end of conversation. People shouldn't get mad at Zuffa because Greg Jackson's camp implemented a strategy that won a fight on the judge's scorecards that wasn't the most exciting in the world to watch.
RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Jackson and Evans are trained PROFESSIONAL fighters. As such, they both know how to fight, well, better than almost every other human being. As such, they also know that if they go into the cage raging and frothing at the mouth, charging head first like a bull in a bullfighting ring, they're going to lose the fight in 10 seconds.
The fact that both men wanted to WIN THE FIGHT more than any fight previously guaranteed that this would be the most technical fight each could possibly fight. Anyone who thought they were going to fight like a couple of drunken idiots in a bar fight, swinging broken beer bottles and wild hooks that take 3 seconds to develop, was a moron.
Simply put, if YOU thought that these guys were going to go out guns blazing, and fight with anger instead of their minds, then you are pretty stupid, and have no one but yourself to blame your disappointment upon.
ANWAR PEREZ, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
With the fight between Rashad Evans and Quinton Jackson, the UFC had no choice but to hype the fight the way they did. Due to Jackson deciding to film "The A-Team" instead of taking the fight with Evans at UFC 107, the hype from their coaching stint on "The Ultimate Fighter" had burned out, and to reignite it, the UFC had to do something.
There was no title at stake, but to me, that didn't even matter as I felt that it was just right for them to push the fight the way they did with the "Primetime" shows, because if they didn't, people would have had to go back in their minds on their own and figure out why these two are fighting and why we should care.
I think the numbers show that people wanted to see this fight happen, and whether or not it lived up to expectations (it didn't and couldn't have), it was still able to generate the amount of buzz for this to be a "must-see" fight.
ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH SPECIALIST
If the UFC thought they could sell more fights, they would hype every fight as a “grudge match”. The hyping for this fight as a “grudge match” was irrelevant to the high buy rate. The numbers were high because even the casual MMA fan knew Rashad’s and Rampage’s skills matched well and would likely make a great fight. I think most of the “grudge” in the “grudge match” was real animosity. The names of the fighters in this case were the most important part of the successful pay-per-view numbers.
JASON AMADI, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
People wanted to see the fight, the UFC hyped the fight as they should have, the UFC put them in a cage, had a ref there, and paid the fighters. The UFC did their job, and Rashad Evans and Quinton Jackson did their jobs. There’s not much else that the UFC is responsible for unless they started to fix fights pro wrestling style.
UPCOMING ROUNDTABLE QUESTIONS
• If Frank Mir drops to light-heavyweight, name the three most intriguing even match-ups for him and predict how the fight would go.
• Which of the upcoming summer fight cards are you most excited for and why between UFC 116, 117 and 118?
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STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
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Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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