Opinion: Mir vs. Lesnar Should Be The Main Event at UFC 81
On paper, a non-title match between a debatable has-been and an MMA newcomer, should clearly not be the main event on a UFC pay-per-view card, especially if there will be a heavyweight title fight taking place that same night. However in situations like these, there exist certain extenuating circumstances which, for the UFC, means that they should switch out Nogueira-Sylvia for Mir-Lesnar as the main event come Saturday night. Simply put, I just don’t care as much about the outcome of the interim heavyweight bout, as I do about Mir vs. Lesnar. And I don’t think I am in the minority here either.
First, it’s a bogus “interim” bout, despite the fact that Mr. Couture will likely never set foot into the octagon again to defend his “title.” That means that whoever wins the Sylvia-Nogueira fight, will go on to face the underwhelming Fabricio Werdum. Well woo-hoo. It’s not that Werdum is a bad fighter by any means but let’s get real, the guy should not be getting a title shot at this point.
It’s just that the UFC has burned their heavyweight division so much that Werdum is all that emerges from the rubble. So Werdum beat Gabriel Gonzaga, and? He also lost to Andrei Arlovski at UFC 70 but guess what, because Arlovski hasn’t signed a new bout agreement with the UFC, his last fight in the organization is now officially against Jake O’Brien. Obviously, the UFC cannot promote a fighter to a title shot if they might not be with the organization in the future. As much as it pains me, I can understand the science of UFC fighter promotion, you just can’t sell a guy if he isn’t on your client list.
However the fact remains that the UFC should have the stones to admit that their main event is just not as anticipated as their non-title heavyweight fight. The UFC can ignore their own hype all they want, but the Mir-Lesnar match bridges fans from all areas of the fighting landscape. UFC 81 will no doubt have some professional wrestling fans watching MMA for the first time, as well as the more casual MMA enthusiast, so why don’t we give them a good show? Why give them the opportunity to tune out after the Mir-Lesnar bout, when you can make them wait until the end of the night? Who knows, maybe one of those fans will start watching MMA a little bit more, and become less concerned with who John Cena beat at the Royal Rumble last week.
To me, this sounds like Marketing 101, save your biggest attraction for last, make us wait for it. While big fans like myself will gladly watch the entire broadcast, the more casual viewer could easily tune out after Mir and Lesnar do battle. Why end the night with an unexciting bout which will leave the audience flat, when you can go out with a bang? Saving Mir-Lesnar for last leaves the fans wanting more of the UFC, instead of wanting less of Tim Sylvia.
As you can tell from above, I absolutely believe that Mir-Lesnar will be a more exciting fight to witness than Sylvia-Nogueira. Hands down, neither Big Tim or Big Nog are particularly exciting to watch, so I can only hope for a quick submission from Nogueira, or a first round knock out from Sylvia. Unfortunately, I think we all know what we are going to see come Saturday’s final showdown. A five round snore-fest, consisting of attempted takedowns by Nogueira until one finally gets Sylvia to the canvas where he either taps, or loses on points for having to defend on the ground all night. Then Nogueira (or maybe Sylvia) will get to fight Fabricio Werdum, and then we will finally have our tried and tested, UFC interim heavyweight champion…give me a break.
Another big reason Mir-Lesnar is more anticipated than Nogueira-Sylvia, is the fact that both Mir and Lesnar have a lot more to prove when they step into the octagon. We hardcore MMA fans are all too familiar with Tim Sylvia and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, but Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar need to make a statement on Saturday night. Even if he loses, Frank Mir needs to show that he can still compete and potentially wear the UFC strap once more. Unlike Brock Lesnar, who just needs to prove that he is the real deal. Though he brutalized his first MMA opponent, most fans still see Brock as a freak of nature with sub-par technical skills, and he will have to prove us wrong. Sylvia and Nogueira might be fighting for UFC gold tomorrow night, but Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir will be fighting for respect.
I suppose I am also still bitter at the UFC for UFC 78: The Worst Main Event Of All Time, which featured Rashad “over-hyped” Evans and Michael “decision stealer” Bisping. I felt all shades of duped when I paid to see that PPV and though there were smaller names on the card, I would have felt a lot less cheated if the Houston Alexander- Thiago Silva bout came at the end of my night instead of “Sugar” and “The Count.”
To be fair, I think the UFC is just playing the denial game which you have to play sometimes in this business. Once again, they know that their main event isn’t as luring as their should-be main event, but they can’t admit it because that just wouldn’t be professional. So it’s sort of an unspoken understanding we fans have with the UFC. While I’m sure that my suggestion for a main event switch around would fall on deaf ears if pitched to Dana White, deep down, he knows that he’s not selling us UFC 81: Breaking Point, he’s selling UFC 81: Mir vs. Lesnar.
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Nogueira is boring to watch? Boy are you crazy? the best jiu-jitsu fighter ever in the history of MMA and propably the second best fighter in the history of MMA, the first is obviously Fedor!!
Nogueira will destroy the ridiculous Tim Sylvia!!
Diego, I don’t disagree that Nogueira is one of the greats, but I haven’t been impressed with his tenacity lately, and between him and Sylvia, the match just doesn’t look terribly exciting. I feel that both guys are content to ride out decisions, which will not produce an extremely entertaining match….just my opinion.
Eric, your correct. Everyone I’m watching with are most interested in the Mir v. Lesner matchup. Some people think it’s simply going to be a train wreck (whereas I hold out hope that Brock is indeed legit) – but regardless, no one I know is particularly excited about the interim HW fight.
I totally agree with your assessment Eric. Tim Sylvia shouldnt be allowed to fight in the UFC anymore, let alone fight for an “interim title.” His fights have been boring. He says he will come out punching and earn some respect from his fans, yet we only get stalking and hugging.
I would rather have one of the undercards, or a Noguera Herring rematch than Tim Sylvia vs anybody.
Lesner is a joke, and Mir will submit him very fast, i mean, how good can his jiu-jitsu be? he is fighting with a great jiu-jitsu fighter and i don’t think he is rounded enough to fight Mir.
Nogueira likes to take time in a fight, he is a legend in MMA and trade him for Brock Lesner is also a joke, i prefer watch Nogueira with the worst fighther ever than watch Brock Lesner who is the luckiest guy ever! he found a chance and UFC. He is nothing in MMA and people arte treating him like the next great thing, he needs a lot of fights before been something in the world od MMA.
I don’t know if you are just playing devil’s advocate here, but a matchup between a has-been and a never-was should not be the main event. I am not a fan of Heavyweights, but Nog-Sylvia is something real fans have been waiting for quite some time.
Will, I don’t disagree with you either, I too have been looking forward to Sylvia-Nogueira, eager to see how their styles match up against each other. But the mass appeal goes to Mir-Lesnar, its a really good way for non-mma fanatics to get more involved with the sport. For example, if a favorite mma fighter of mine decided to try his hand at boxing, I would definitely catch that fight, though I wouldn’t know much else about the other fighters on the card that night. And if I liked what I saw, I could become a bigger boxing fan. I think us devoted fans are definitely excited to see Silvia-Nog, but its smart to use Mir-Lesnar as an avenue to appease and lure in larger demographics.
I am sure that this lesner fight is definatly the highlight of the evening. lesner might end winning in a dominate fashion leaving him to face on more stepping stone before a title shot im pretty confident that we will see him fight 1 or 2 more times this year. now the problem with the marketing is that you have a lot of tito ortiz out there that cry about not getting promoted or not getting the respect they feel they deserve as a fighter. they need to realize that the mma is not a retirement home and when your done expect the fight promotion to be done with you! tim needs to just stop he cant keep on attempting to win because of his size if he was 5 inches shorter he would be the worst fighter ever he looks rather loppy out there. lesner’s prefight talk is inspiring enough for me it brings back some of the old tito its makes it a little bit more exciting anyways reguardless of the main event I am pretty fired up about the card
Nogueira a has-been???????
Don’t make me laugh..he is the second best fighter ever in MMA History!! still IS!!
Diego, no one said that Nogueira is a has-been, I think you read something wrong.
yeah..i think i read wrong, i think he is talking about the Lesner-Mir fight!!
Quite simply put, your championship fight goes last. Always has, always will. regardless of how boring the fighters may be.
No way you put rookie MMA fighter Brock Lesnar to headline, even though he is selling more PPV buys than anyone else. If you make him the main event and he goes out and is made to look like a fool by being submitted in a matter of near seconds, how does that look on the UFC? Like a joke. And it quite probably will happen! You can’t put Brock last cause he hasn’t proven a damn thing to anyone yet.
Whoever said the Tim Sylvia should not be allowed to fight in the UFC is a f***in idiot. His record is better than Nogueira. Even if his fights are boring, a wins a win. Tim wins fights, period. Mir should be able to submit Lesnar in the first round. If your a black belt in bjj and let some chump with no mma experience beat you, then you should retired. As for the main question, a title fight is always the main event no matter who’s fighting. Who really gives a rats ass what the main event is? You’ll get to see both fights. You just have to wait 30 minutes.
i agree with mojo, sylvia is a monster and i put him as the best heayweight in the world, ive been switching minds between mir an lesnar for some time now but haveing watched countdown to ufc 81 and learning more about lesnar rather then him just being a WWE entertainer im going with him all the way the guy is a monster and he will take mir down at will mir wont be able to submit him becuse hes just to strong for him i def see a lesnar win in the first via ground and pound.
just like to clear up i agree with mojo about sylvia and the main even sargo i would’t mind if eastman was the main event aslong as i get to see the other fights
Tim Sylvia will dominate Nog and being a long time MMA fan…this fight is just as big as Chuck vs Wandy. I got Timmy dropping Nog in the first round. He wont make the same mistake as Herring did…once he lands a quick punch, and nog goes down……Tim will not let him back up. As far as the main event goes…..it should always be title over hype.
Sylvia the best in the world? His record better than Nogueira? you guys don’t know nothing, Nogueira is 10 times better tha Sylvia and the best in the world is Fedor by far!
FEDOR LOL!!! you have to be kidding me he is the most …..overated fighter now i dont believe any of the heavy weights are any good they are all big bumbling idiots. tim is a big strong guy and yes he obviously wins fights the best way that he can. look what happened to him when randy took him to the ground he got beat what do you think nog is gonna do and secondly that will be the longest 5 round snooze fest ever. now i am not knocking the fact that he wins cause he has squeezed many a dec out in his day but that doesnt take away from the fact that he is boring and now i know some guys like the close finishes but hears the problem with your day to day mma fan which is ultimatly important when the excitement is gone so are they. no for us die hards i do enjoy watching guys that are SMART fighters reguardless if its a lack luster fight. but in the future i want to see a banta weight and many other weight classes get added and that only happens when those causual viewers are excited thats where teh money comes from look at what happened to the wwf there was a time when we all watched but they lost their excitement and now none of us watch we have moved on. i cant recommend title fight or not that time and nog be a main event save your best for last now i do agree that lesner hasnt shown the world crap yet i watched his only fight the other day and he just overpowered him and he didnt look that excellent either so overall i am not happy with the division. the one heavy weight i actually like is vera but we know that his fight with tim would of been different without that broken hand but for the fight my hat is off to tim.
I see your point Eric, on the mass appeal of this Lesnar Mir fight. However, Dana Whites business sense is somewhat old fashion and he has great business ethics. Dana understands that the old school MMA fans are what built the UFC into what it is today. I think he would be doing the UFC’s reputation a disservice to allow the Mir-Lesnar fight to be the main-card, and would de-emphasize the importance of the tittle belts. I do agree with you that the Sylvia-Nog fight isn’t very compelling ,but the fighters have paid their dues and deserve that respect of being the main card. I am very excited about the Lesnar-Mir fight and completley agree with you Eric, on the size difference Lesnar has over Mir. I think a lot of people are short changing Lesnar’s overall athletic ability. Lesnar will be very difficult to submit for many reasons. Lesnar has freakish strength, like a supercharged, heavyweight version of Tommy Spears with better wrestling, he will have no problem ripping out of Mir’s early submission attempts. Another huge factor is that Brock sweats profusely as shown in his training that was showcased on Spikes All Access show. The sweating will make Mir’s submission attempts much more difficult as the night goes on. As the fight goes past round 1 the scale will tip in favor of Brock due to his superior muscular endurance. I think the best plan for Brock is to stand and utilize his speed advantage and wait till round 2 for the ground and pound.
I disagree with the article… For a few reasons… Randy Couture left the UFC for a lack of respect. What message do you send the guys that have been building the UFC brand when you put a semi-circus fight as a headliner over a Interim-title fight? That would be a slap to the face of the contestants of the title fight, period. I understand Lesnar will bring an audience and his paycheck should and does reflect that. But you don’t disgrace the fighters of a title fight (heavyweights at that) by putting a guy with one fight outside of the UFC in your main event.
Second thing… I seriously doubt casual viewers who paid $40 for a PPV and watched the event and heard a million times during the event “coming up our main event” are going to turn the PPV off before they get to see that main event thats been promoted throughout the fights. I think in turn what it says is, you were here for Lesnar, because thats the only name you recognized, and look…he isn’t even in the main event. These guys fighting for the title obviously must be better, and you should learn the names of these guys.
So based on these things, I don’t think you should promote Mir v Lesnar as the main event, even if it might be the most intriguing. I think promoting it as a co-main event under the title fight is appropriate and I think the UFC has promoted this event properly.
i do agree with you mike
I have to admit that I want to see the Lesner Mir fight more even though I had no clue who Lesner was 2 years ago, I had heard of him but had never watched him as a “entertainer” but when I found out he was comeing to MMA I was excited to see someone here that could help the sport grow and that is what we need to get better fighters across all the organizations, not just the UFC. I think all Lesner is going to have to do to win the fight is put constant pressure on Mir, Mir seems to focus to much on what he is trying to do and not enough on the fact that he is getting the crap beaten out of him, that’s how he has lost in the past.
As far as the Tim and Nog you never really know … I am betting that it will be boring but either guy is capable of a highlight real KO or sub… it can go either way.
On another note though I am a little turned off by the UFC banning one of the larger sponsers of MMA from sponsering UFC fighters… that is standing in the way of those fighters paychecks not to mention the paychecks of the Afliction poeple and the non UFC fighters that they sponser. Anyone have any coments on that?
“the size difference Lesnar has over Mir”
Actually after weight cutting Lesnar does weigh in at 265 to make the heavyweight cutoff, which is only 5lbs more than Mir. And I doubt he puts back on all 20lbs the day leading up to the fight. So in terms of overall weight, they are closer than what most think. However Lesnar is the much stronger of the two athletes and heavier normally, prior to weight cutting.
Markus J – Check out this post. Lesnar does in fact add 10-15 pounds between the time he weighs in and fights while Mir should be right at 255 come fight time giving Lesnar a 20+ pound advantage.
wow. cool. thanks for the read. That’s quite a bit of weight to put back on so quickly. Never having really fought much in MMA before I wonder how it will effect him.
What really stood out to me from the read it the following. My god, know wonder Randy is so pissed. A guy with one career fight, is getting paid up heaps more than guys who have long paid their dues.
“Lesnar is guaranteed $250,000, the highest of anyone on the show, plus has a $200,000 win bonus. Generally speaking, most UFC headliners earn substantially more than their contracted guarantees. Mir, who has a chance to revitalize his career with a win, has a $40,000 guarantee with a $40,000 win bonus.”
The weight cut or weight gain? Obviously the cutting down to 265 has much more effect on him so he should feel more prepared walking in at his natural weight versus having to maintain 265 up until the time of the fight.
It’s important to mention most of the weigh he cut is water weight, especially in a fighter as big as he is.
Joel doesn’t understend nothing about MMA, and that is a fact