Tablet Chino
For boxing purposes, Aram is right. Big, young, athletic kids arent in the gyms anymore. Theyre trying to become the next Terrell Owens, or worse yet the next AND 1 mix-tape tour star.
Apply this to mixed martial arts in the U.S. and I dont see the same problem. There is a huge pool of heavyweight wrestlers from which to choose, and theyll dominate the upper division of the sport until theres enough money to attract athletes from different genres.
While PRIDE can draw upon international Olympic athletes and a growing number of K-1 fighters turned mixed martial artists, the UFC hasnt developed a blueprint to find heavyweight talent outside the fighters competing in the sports lower rungs.
Most of those guys, Id wager, have some sort of wrestling background. And unlike the best amateur boxers, there really isnt any chance of future earnings once wrestlers NCAA or Olympic aspirations are done.
It used to be pro-wrestling or a dead-end. Now MMA provides that opportunity for so many of them.
Time to Give Up the Belt!
Josh, Im so sick of Frank Mir. When will he be ready to fight? God, its been almost two years. Its too bad, I love watching him fight. Hes unlike almost every other UFC heavyweight and thats great. But if he doesnt fight, so what? Now he says he wont be ready to fight in October fight against Andrei Arlovski (pictures). If he wont give up the belt the UFC should strip him!! Seriously, theyve done it to everyone else. Why not Mir? What are you thoughts?
I was on the Give Up The Belt bandwagon before Mir announced he wouldnt be ready to fight Arlovski in October. Now, Im driving the damn thing. And really, it makes too much sense not to do it which is why I know it wont happen.
There are two ways for this thing to play out:
Without a tune-up, Mir fights Arlovski (or Buentello) later this year, gets trounced and thats the end of him.
Or, he gives up his belt in favor of getting a tune-up match, shakes the rust off, sees what happens between Arlovski and Buentello, and works from there.
Im for option two. Mostly because its asinine to expect a fighter thats been on the shelf for so long to fight a guy whos hurt everyone hes fought since Pedro Rizzo (pictures) in March 2002, or the best pure knockout artist in the UFC heavyweight division.
And youre 100 percent correct when you say the UFC should strip him. Hes failed to perform as champion and theyve taken the belt away for a lot less. Ive never gotten a definitive answer as to what the hold up is, but I wouldnt be shocked if it had something to do with UFC matchmaker Joe Silvas close ties to Mir.
Anyhow, the longer this plays out, the importance of the UFC heavyweight belt, which has already lost two champions after they tested positive for steroids, will continue to be diminished.