By: David Washington
As both a writer and a fan, I believe that all sporting events should serve at least one of two duties (and ideally both). The first is to crown a champion by any means necessary. This at least allows the fan to acknowledge who and what sets the standard for any given sport. This is a tangible goal that all organizations strive to achieve and it inspires fairness and good sportsmanship in sports.
However, there is another duty that in my opinion is a much more important obligation that all sporting entities must share. This responsibility is the true reason that these entities exist and without being able to draw buzz and excitement to the sport people lose interest extremely quickly. Providing an entertaining product to the public should be priority number one.
Seems like a no brainer, right?
Unfortunately, the UFC has been criticized of late for not truly entertaining the fans with their fights. Sure, all recent events have succeeded to find top contenders and new champions, but many of the fights that have occurred have ended not to the thunderous applause that the fighters deserve for their efforts, but rather to a chorus a boos. But this weekend, the UFC returns to its fan pleasing roots by giving the everyone a card that may lack any sort of title relevance, but in turn will bring the people back to their feet.
From the preliminary card all the way to the main event, UFC 115 is stacked with fighters that have a reputation of pleasing the fans with their exciting styles. With guys like Ultimate Fighter winner Mac Danzig (who will be fighting Matt Wiman) and Tyson Griffin (who will compete against Evan Dunham) on the undercard, UFC booking agent Joe Silva has put the UFC’s best foot forward and has made sure that everyone knows from the beginning of the night that they will surely be entertained.
The main card features Carlos Condit, a welterweight who has ended the fight with a submission or knockout in all but one of his victories. Heavyweight Gilbert Yvel, is a man who is big even for his division and has always delivered exciting fights (including one where he was disqualified for knocking out the referee in a fit of anger). Though Yvel and Condit aren't yet household names to the casual fan, true connoisseurs of MMA know that any time either of them is involved in a fight it will be something exciting to watch.
The night will then progress with two matchups that could, on any other night, compete for fight of the night honors. The first is a fight between Swiss kick boxer Martin Kampmann and one-loss Brazilian Paul Thiago. Both fighters are near the top of the welterweight division and are almost certainly going to stand and bang until one of them ends up taking a nap on the canvas. The next is a heavyweight matchup between American Kick boxer Pat Barry and "The Croatian Sensation," Pride Fighting legend Mirko Cro Cop. Neither of these men have any interest in taking the fight to the ground, and they will surely put on a spectacular show of kickboxing that will please the MMA die hard and casual UFC fan alike.
The main event, a contest between UFC hall of famer Chuck Liddell and one of the true warriors of the sport, Rich Franklin, is a fight that needed to happen, regardless of its irrelevance to the light heavyweight title picture. On any other night, either of the two aforementioned fights may stake claim to the best fight of the night. However, on Saturday these two household names will be sure to put in their two cents. Both Liddell and Franklin are fan favorites that love to put on a show. These two brawlers both have considerable abilities on the ground, but I'll be shocked if either of them go for a takedown in a fight that has the potential to be an instant classic. If you look at their most recent common opponent, Wanderlei Silva, you see that they both were able to defeat "The Axe Murderer" (though Franklins win was at a catch weight of 195) and both were able to produce UFC classics in the process. When Franklin and Liddel step into the octagon against each other on Saturday, they'll be looking for a repeat performance and I guarantee they deliver.
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