Home-Grown Talent within the UFC

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: NicoSuave
Date: December 17, 2013 at 02:45 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/home-grown-talent-within-the-ufc.60353/

So let's address the elephant in the room... The UFC chose not to sign Ben Askren, but instead has been signing Middle Eastern and Asian fighters who barely have more than one fight on their records to help branch out into new global territories. This past season of TUF was also used to help get more women on the roster.
The controversy lies within the fact that the UFC is home to the absolute best fighters on the planet, yet instead of signing an undefeated prospect from supposedly the #2 promotion in the United States, the company is signing rookies for the sake of breaking into new markets.
Here's the thing though: Signing these rookies doesn't mean the UFC is downgrading its talent pool... It means the UFC is going back to its roots.
When the UFC first started out, a notable portion of its roster made their MMA debuts within the UFC. Guess what happened!... A lot of those fighters became the very legends that we praise today for the UFC's success. Names like Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, Dan Severn, Mark Coleman, and Royce Gracie.
Now why is it so hard to imagine that one of those new rookie signees with 1-0, 2-0 records could become the next big thing in MMA? Why do we have to write them off before they even debut? Why can't we just sit back, watch, and allow ourselves to possibly be surprised by a potential rising star? Because you know what? Regardless of what the records of these fighters are now, that doesn't mean their records are gonna look that way forever. Their gonna improve with every fight, and eventually we end up seeing their names in the title picture.

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: renjr84
Date: December 17, 2013 at 03:18 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/home-grown-talent-within-the-ufc.60353/

NicoSuave said:
So let's address the elephant in the room... The UFC chose not to sign Ben Askren, but instead has been signing Middle Eastern and Asian fighters who barely have more than one fight on their records to help branch out into new global territories. This past season of TUF was also used to help get more women on the roster.
The controversy lies within the fact that the UFC is home to the absolute best fighters on the planet, yet instead of signing an undefeated prospect from supposedly the #2 promotion in the United States, the company is signing rookies for the sake of breaking into new markets.
Here's the thing though: Signing these rookies doesn't mean the UFC is downgrading its talent pool... It means the UFC is going back to its roots.
When the UFC first started out, a notable portion of its roster made their MMA debuts within the UFC. Guess what happened!... A lot of those fighters became the very legends that we praise today for the UFC's success. Names like Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, Dan Severn, Mark Coleman, and Royce Gracie.
Now why is it so hard to imagine that one of those new rookie signees with 1-0, 2-0 records could become the next big thing in MMA? Why do we have to write them off before they even debut? Why can't we just sit back, watch, and allow ourselves to possibly be surprised by a potential rising star? Because you know what? Regardless of what the records of these fighters are now, that doesn't mean their records are gonna look that way forever. Their gonna improve with every fight, and eventually we end up seeing their names in the title picture.
Click to expand...
First home grown talent that comes to mind is Penn if you are talking about their 1st professional fight was with the UFC, could probably add Belfort he only had 1 fight before he fought in the UFC

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: smartigan
Date: December 17, 2013 at 03:22 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/home-grown-talent-within-the-ufc.60353/

it's hard to have home grown talent when you're the best org.
you would have to prove your worth first

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: mmablaster
Date: December 17, 2013 at 03:22 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/home-grown-talent-within-the-ufc.60353/

I don't think they are going back to their roots. I think they are signing guys cheap 8/8K, hoping one or two pan out, and cutting the rest after 2 losses or the 3 fight deal runs out. Could one or two of them be the next superstar? Sure. I'd bet on a guy like Kevin Lee or Tony Martin over the random Chinese fighter on TUF. I would agree that the UFC should be jumping the gun earlier on certain guys, especially the Russians after losing out on some to Bellator.
Not sure you can really compare Liddell, Ortiz, Couture, Severn, Coleman, Gracie, Mir, Frye ect, ect to the current guys. A guy filling out an ad in a magazine is a little different than someone being scouted.
Nobody knows how much money Askren was asking for except a few high level guys in the UFC and Askren. It was obviously more than the UFC wanted to shell out, and I don't think Byorn Rebney's statements regarding Askren helped his cause.

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: NicoSuave
Date: December 17, 2013 at 03:25 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/home-grown-talent-within-the-ufc.60353/

renjr84 said:
First home grown talent that comes to mind is Penn if you are talking about their 1st professional fight was with the UFC, could probably add Belfort he only had 1 fight before he fought in the UFC
Click to expand...
.................................................................................................................................................................. Is that really all you have to say?

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: Reckin007
Date: December 17, 2013 at 03:37 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/home-grown-talent-within-the-ufc.60353/

The UFC are way beyond home-grown talent at this point. They are too big and don't need to rely on it. Now they just scout other orgs and bring in the best guys that they think can (a) Be one of the best/most exciting fighters out there to draw in fans, or (b) Start filling up talent in the new markets (to which I guess the "home-grown" ideals might apply in some cases).

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: BadassCoffee
Date: December 17, 2013 at 03:44 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/home-grown-talent-within-the-ufc.60353/

The only recent home grown talent I can think of is Amir Sadollah and Matt Riddle and we saw how that turned out. Let's stick to grabbing all promising prospects.

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: renjr84
Date: December 17, 2013 at 03:49 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/home-grown-talent-within-the-ufc.60353/

NicoSuave said:
.................................................................................................................................................................. Is that really all you have to say?
Click to expand...
yup

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: Spud
Date: December 17, 2013 at 03:55 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/home-grown-talent-within-the-ufc.60353/

You can't really compare MMA back when Liddell, Couture, et al. were starting out compared to MMA today. It's completely different.
The UFC isn't the place for guys to start their career, it's the place where the best MMA fighters in the world are & the company that people pay to watch the best fighters in the world. If you start signing guys with very few fights then you need to sign fighters of roughly equal ability for them to fight. Keep going like that & the UFC becomes just another MMA promotion.

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: KZUFCchamp2013
Date: December 17, 2013 at 03:55 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/home-grown-talent-within-the-ufc.60353/

All the fighters you mentioned debuted back at a time when the talent pool was extremely weak and you could get away with it. Fight now there are 2 fighters in the UFC who have had all their fights there, Mitrione and Sadollah. Guess what? They suck. There's a a few guys who have come in with very few fights and done very well but they are few and far between
Let's forget about Askren for a moment, since a lot of the talk seems to be about him. There's still so many promising prospects out there, Thomas Almeida is 15-0 with 15 finishes but Allen Chong gets signed but not him? Leandro Higo can't even get a fight because everyone ducks him, almost every time he gets a fight they always pull out, there was one case where they guy didn't even show up to the weigh ins, that's how scared everyone is of him in brazil. But nope! They need Royston Wee instead. Sign all the fighters who are good enough to be there first, and then sign the other card fillers that are only there because of where they live

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: Reckin007
Date: December 17, 2013 at 04:02 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/home-grown-talent-within-the-ufc.60353/

Spud said:
You can't really compare MMA back when Liddell, Couture, et al. were starting out compared to MMA today. It's completely different.
The UFC isn't the place for guys to start their career, it's the place where the best MMA fighters in the world are & the company that people pay to watch the best fighters in the world. If you start signing guys with very few fights then you need to sign fighters of roughly equal ability for them to fight. Keep going like that & the UFC becomes just another MMA promotion.
Click to expand...
Maybe from a PPV or Fox perspective you are correct but for the other countries they are trying to build up, we have no idea what that looks like. For all we know, we may never even see those events unless its a part of this digital channel. Those events are for those countries (just like TUF Brazil was for Brazil) so building up some guys from that country only makes sense, whether they are 1-0 or 10-0. They have to start somewhere if there isn't enough talent in the area. I think it's a mistake to assume we're going to see these 1-0 guys on major events.