Guys who have won in UFC, why go to TUF?

[da@LARGE]

But the show does give guys like Jason MacDonald, Anderson Silva, and Yushin Okami the opportunity to beat TUFers and acheive greater exposure than they normally would.

[rivethead]

Originally Posted by cpac77

Take a guy like Joe Lauzon for example, he has a well documented win over Pulver. What is there to gain for a guy like Lauzon who was already on the road to probably earning a nice contract with UFC? Maybe a more lucrative deal? Maybe the exposure on TV will help get him more sponsors, which means more money? Anyone shed some light on this topic?

Take another guy like Matt Wiman, he had a pretty good showing a few months back vs. Spencer Fisher until Spencer knocked him out with a flying knee. For someone like Matt who didn't have nearly as much experience at the time, getting knocked out by Fisher isn't an upset. Fisher was by far the favorite and I'm sure most people had him winning in the first round. Keep in mind that Fisher was one win away from probably fighting Sherk. Franca got his title shot after beating Fisher.
It makes more sense for Wiman to be on the show since he lost his last 155 bout. Anyone have an opinion on this?

The Fisher/Wiman bout wasn't at 155, it was at WW, 170.

I agree with you that Matt's inexperience led to the loss. He was actually doing well against Fisher, with answers to most of the shit Spencer threw at him and some good sub attempts...don't know that I see the first round going to Fisher as cleanly as you did. Matt did get stung with a punch and stupidly put his hand up, as you do in training to show respect...expecting a high-five or something...Spencer then delivered the KO knee.

I think if Matt had more experience, he wouldn't have made the doofus high-five mistake, and I think the fight was 50/50. Spencer's pretty nasty, but I think Wiman is more technical and could have worn him down.

I think he's going to do well at the lighter weight, don't count him out.

rh

[neonatural45]

Originally Posted by AJL416AZ

mo money mo money.


if people know your face, advertisers will come a'runnin
Jamie Varner was offered a spot and tried out for the show, but once he found out he was only an alternate, he just went to fight at 68

They had jamie varner as an alternate? wow, he would kill anyone on that show. He should go be champ in WEC

[Dork8503]

Joe if im not mistaken didnt want to be on the show at first, after he beat pulver at the press conf they asked him to be on it, and he wanted his brother to be on it so that didnt work out and he ended up their.

Plus with Joe on the show it adds more drama because then you have a fighter who knocked out on of the coaches an blah blah blah

[Donny77]

Look at how much noteriety guys like Griffin and Diego got.. Plus if u win the show u got endorsements a new car and a contract.. Sounds logical to me

[emceelokey]

I think in the end it's beneficial for both the UFC and the Fighters. The UFC needs to build stars to have PPVs that don't seem like throw aways. Without the show the UFC would only have PPVs to build up name recgonition and if a fighter only fights once per 3 months it's going to be hard to build someone up. Without TUF the UFC PPVs would look like a boxing PPV undercard where people could have great records but still be virtually unknown. That's not going to sell tickets of get buys on PPV.

For the fighters, they get more tv time than people that are actually fighting on PPVs. I could still pick out Rashad Evans or Forrest Griffin out of a crowd before I would be able to pick out Phil Baroni or Robbie Lawler or a Faber. That exposure will equate to more money in one way or another and if they're going to train anyway then why not do it on tv. With a World class MMA fighter at that. If they don't make it from the show then they'll have more offers from other promotions than they would have if they didn't do the show.

[Gurry]

to summarize what everyone has said, its all the genius marketting work that the UFC does, that not only benefits the fighters a lot but the UFC aswell.