FACEBOOK TWITTER RSS APP PODCAST Opinion & Analysis : Roundtables ROUNDTABLE (pt. 3 of 3): Did the UFC hype the "grudge match" aspect of Rampage vs. Evans too much considering how the fight played out? Shelby, Lee, Matthew and Penick

Jun 22, 2010 - 10:39:31 AM

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?

TOBEN SHELBY, MMATORCH AUDIO CO-HOST

I can’t really fault the UFC for hyping the Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans fight “too much” – it’s the company’s job to sell fights. It’s the viewers' job to read through the hype. If you want to blame anyone, blame the fans who believed that two professional athletes would devolve into poor technique and potentially sacrifice a win for the sake of a “grudge match.” I was actually impressed that the match didn’t turn out to be a sloppy slugfest and while it wasn’t as exciting as people had hoped, I came away impressed by Evans, who has able to neutralize a better standup fighter and weather a late flurry.

ERIC LEE, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

I think the hype for this fight was very appropriate. This is one of the most anticipated non-title fights ever. Not only because of the trash talking, but also because the winner gets a title shot. The UFC has no control over how the fight plays out. But this is a fight everyone definitely wanted to see so it would not be smart for the UFC to under-promote it.

SAM MATTHEW, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

Nobody can reasonably say the UFC did a bad job of hyping up their first African-American main event in Evans v. Jackson. The estimated PPV numbers exceeded even my most optimistic expectations for a card that did not include a title fight, or any other rankings-relevant matchups. Props to their marketing team on successfully playing to the reality TV, drama-obsessed American masses. Regardless of the fact the fight didn’t live up to the hype it was a huge success for Zuffa and it’s not as if the fans who forked over their money for the PPV can get a refund.

JAMIE PENICK, MMATORCH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The hype for this fight was justified. The two fighters had a big feud with during the Ultimate Fighter 10, and the UFC needed to rekindle the interest in the bout after it was delayed for an extra five months. They got the result they wanted, enough people were interested in seeing what would happen in this fight to make it by far the most successful non-title fight ever in the UFC's history. The fight itself may not have lived up to some expectations, but Rashad Evans did exactly what he needed to do to get the win to get back to another shot at the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

RELATED STORY: Part two of this roundtable with responses from Carter, Williams, Bacior, Hyden and Pelkey: [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]


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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