Something has been missing from the UFC in recent events. They still have all the flashy lights, pumping music and professional production (not to mention the great fights) but something from the old school has gone astray.
It wasn’t until the company announced this weekend’s festivities at ‘UFC on Fuel TV: The Korean Zombie v Poirier’ that I could put my finger on it. The fight names just aren’t what they used to be.
Call me fickle but I just can’t be entertained by an event with a name as verbose and poorly conceived as this one.
Everyone with half a brain knows it should be cashing in on Chan Sung Jung’s catchy nickname; calling itself Dead Rising, Grave Robber, or something equally outlandish.
Look at what the UFC has coming up in the next month or so. UFC 146: Dos Santos v Mir; UFC on FX Johnson v McCall; UFC on FX Maynard v Guida; and UFC 147: Belfort v Silva 2.
There will be some great fights, but they are some boring names.
It wasn’t always so. Until UFC 52: Couture v Liddell 2, the UFC meticulously labelled each event with a title they felt perfectly described the night.
While the night Chuck Liddell finally won the UFC light-heavyweight title is one MMA fans cherish, it started the trend that now leaves me yawning as I glance down event lists.
In fact, it hasn’t been since the rather ironically named UFC 125: Resolution (which resulted in a draw and rematch), that the UFC exercised some creativity and diverged from the bare factual formula.
Never again it seems, will we be provoked by the promise of titles such as UFC 7: The Brawl in Buffalo; UFC 38: The Brawl at the Hall; or UFC 50: The War of ’04.
Never again will a writer be able to overuse the word ultimate, such as in UFC 27: The Ultimate Bad Boyz; UFC 92: Ultimate 2008; or UFC 7.5: the Ultimate Ultimate (no, I did not make that up).
Never again will we be given a poignant insight into the fighters’ mindset, as was provided at UFC 40: Vendetta; UFC 55: Fury; and UFC 84: Ill Will.
But it isn’t too late for the UFC to resurrect their traditional naming blueprint, and here is where they can start.
Alistair Overeem’s return from drug suspension will be labelled ‘The Ultimate Test’.
Benson Henderson v Frankie Edgar: ‘The Final Rematch… Again’.
Georges St Pierre v Carol Condit can become ‘The Ring Rust Rustle’.
And when Jon Jones and Rashard Evans fight again next year, they can call the night ‘We Used To Be Friends’, as the fighters walk out to the Dandy Warhols song of the same name.
Wouldn’t that be a little more interesting?
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