UFC talent roster

[Paxlie]

Hi guys,

I was just wondering and thinking (doesn't happen so often). The UFC had a rough time lately where a lot of there star fighters were losing or basically leaving the organisation. Everyone was talking about how the UFC would be the laughing stock of MMA since they would have no more high caliber athletes.

I think it is safe to say that they got the best talent pool in the business right now. However that is not the most important issue I wish to discuss. What makes the UFC the top company is the ability to market there stars. Roger Huerta, Brock Lesnar, Anderson Silva, Michael Bisping & Thiago Alves are just a few names that look damn good on camera and know how to act around.

I have a feeling Affliction will become huge as well. They got the best heavyweight roster of all promotions. EliteXC has some good stars as well but nowhere near the power to be really huge. For some reason I don't like the way they air there events.

Any thoughts?

[Gomi Shoji]

I think it's the recognization of the UFC brand that makes them so powerful. I believe many non-hardcore fans still think of UFC when MMA is mentioned. The UFC brand is like Kleenik, Xerox and Band-Aid.

IMHO, EliteXC with its CBS network deal had the best chance of competing with UFC. But I'm not so sure after that first CBS show. But who knows, they still had great ratings and they may be able to clean their act up.

I think even the success of Zuffa owned WEC is helping to diminish a little bit of UFCs brand power and allowing Affiliction, Elite and Strikeforce a better chance of succeeding if they choose to really compete against UFC. I think to turn casual fans to hardcore ones you have to show them exciting fights first, not necessarily famous fighters, then hopefully they will become more interested and begin to choose favorite fighters.