Originally posted by random
BKT, that's a much more reasonable response than I expected, and I honestly appreciate it.
MMA is in a weird place. With regulatory agencies, they want to see evidence that it's a safe, legitimate sport. (Casual) Fans, however, want the
kill-em-all, theatrical bullshit, which is why Kimbo is still the biggest MMA draw in the US when you look at ratings.
GSP is a great example of what you're talking about, and too few fighters take that route. He turned down a lot of quick money (that other guys took)
in order to go for bigger, more "legit" sponsors like Gatorade. Eventually, we might see MMA guys getting nice paydays to be on a Wheaties box, but
it's not coming anytime soon, especially given the recent Hoelzer Reich shit and the fact that it took a while to generate a controversy and lots of
legit fighter were willing to take the cash.
In the short-term, Aoki and every other fighter care about the attention he's getting, since it can generate more money and might help many fighters
put food on the table, since a lot of these guys get paid shit, even UFC undercard fighters.
But I think we agree on a hell of a lot more than we disagree on! |