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Phil "CM Punk" Brooks Signs with the UFC; Will Debut in 2015 at 170 or 185


Elsalvajeloco

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Kimbo got dusted by Seth Petruzelli and still drew big ratings on TUF several months later.

Guess what? He got massacred by Roy Nelson on the show and his fight with Houston Alexander still drew 5.2 million viewers.

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I would like to see Punk vs. Del Rio. Anyway, if Punk is blown out of the water in his first fight I think they will lose interest. You'll have a large number of people going "oh come on, what a joke" and move on with their lives.

If he somehow does win though? It'd be big.

 

It would be kind of sad funny sad (I can't make up my mind) if it became a tradition to have former WWE guys jerk the curtain at every UFC.

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I think the biggest thing I've gotten from all of this is UFC needs a minor leauge. If WEC was still around and Punk started off there, would that be better for him then him going straight to a UFC main card? That's the only fault I see with him signing with UFC. He has no place to build a record (against scrubs or not) before debuting with the company.

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Well, I get that part of it from a financial standpoint.

 

I know he said it's not about the money or it "being the UFC", and I believe him. But at the same time, being 36, jumping straight to the UFC is going to maximize his personal earning potential in the limited window he has.

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I think the biggest thing I've gotten from all of this is UFC needs a minor leauge. If WEC was still around and Punk started off there, would that be better for him then him going straight to a UFC main card? That's the only fault I see with him signing with UFC. He has no place to build a record (against scrubs or not) before debuting with the company.

 

Did I wake up in 2009? Between this and the seniors division idea (which I assume came to a merciful end with Tito/Bonnar), people just need to let certain stuff go.

 

First off, absolutely not to the actual question. You're not going to develop a man of that age on an extremely lower platform (with no visibility) especially when he's a bigger superstar than at least 80% of your roster. But I will elaborate more on that point a little later.

 

Second, look at how UFC utilizes RFA and Legacy

 

a. Those are the two defacto minor/feeder leagues anyway.

 

b. Working with those two organizations shows me they are not interested in developing any talent long term. The rate at which they are bringing guys up is insane when you realize 1/2 of these fighters will circulate the prelims for a majority of their UFC tenure. A quarter of them will unceremoniously get bounced after 1 or 2 fights to never to be seen again because they started as injury replacements. The rest are prospects (undeveloped or not) who can actually make a name for themselves whether they challenge for a belt or not.

 

c. The reason why UFC is so overextended now vs. when they had WEC is they are essentially trying to do the jobs regional/minor league/international orgs have failed to do. Not that you don't have organizations that don't sell tickets or have a clear fanbase. It's that minor MMA organizations usually don't have a platform big enough to reach a certain audience to captivate fans. Because the UFC has more than enough programming with roughly 90% or more of the top fighters in the world, it makes watching anyone below that level (excluding Bellator) optional viewing. You have more Rumble on the Rock, Cage Rage, pre early 2007 WEC, and ICON/SuperBrawl type promotions than ever. However, people do not really give a damn enough to watch them. Although a purpose of the minor league is to build talent, the main purpose should be legitimizing them on a platform where they can be more than faceless guy #3506 and ready for the top orgs to grab them for immediate use. It helped that Alistair Overeem fought in Pride, but Strikeforce only grabbed him based on the whole Ubereem internet campaign. If he was just some big, roided up washed up Pride vet, he would still be fighting on Martjin de Jong's mob money funded shows in western Europe. That or KSW. He would have never been brought back to defend a belt very few people knew he won. Plus, he would have never got the Lesnar payday after that.

 

So if CM Punk already has that hardcore faction behind him (which is way bigger than Overeem's), why the hell would you demote him down to whatever bummy regional league? I mean that on a star building level and skillset development level. So they can fill whatever 500 or 1,000 seat venue they run? Ed Soares has connections with exotic venues that most other promotions would lose their ass running, but he has no real interest in being the scapegoat when things fail. This guy didn't know one of his fighters fainted during a bout and continued on because he was doing some other shit for the UFC. The problem is no one wants that responsibilty unless they know they have the pieces to either compete with UFC or at least Bellator. So trust is definitely involved here. Who the hell would run this minor league if they were owned by the UFC? "The MMA Org Angel of Death" Jeremy Lappen? If you don't like how Dana and Lorenzo run the UFC, you're definitely not going to like the guys they handpick to run a minor league organization. It has disaster written all over it.

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He's a name, and it's a chance for every single one of the fighters to make a name for themselves by kicking his ass. They all SHOULD be talking shit trying to get a fight with him.

So you're saying they don't mean it, but are trying to tell a story in order to increase business? Sounds familiar....

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Kimbo got dusted by Seth Petruzelli and still drew big ratings on TUF several months later.

Guess what? He got massacred by Roy Nelson on the show and his fight with Houston Alexander still drew 5.2 million viewers.

I should have clarified. I meant if he gets blown out in his first fight I can't imagine people buying a second one. People will watch if it's on free TV.

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