Amadi's Take
AMADI: UFC 153 shows there's room for more "fun fights" in the UFC
Oct 14, 2012 - 2:15:54 PM AMADI: UFC 153 shows there's room for more "fun fights" in the UFC

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By: Jason Amadi, MMATorch Columnist

In the weeks leading up to UFC 153, the hastily put together main event between Anderson Silva and Stephan Bonnar was billed as a "fun fight" by UFC President Dana White. Obviously, because of his role as the organization's promoter, when White says things like that about an upcoming fight, it's usually taken with a grain of salt.

However, lo and behold, Anderson Silva vs. Stephan Bonnar was actually a fun fight. We got to see the greatest fighter of all time put on yet another virtuoso performance in a fight we would have never seen had the UFC decided against taking a step (or two) outside of the box.

In fact, the UFC 153 co-main event between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Dave Herman was a lot of fun too. It didn't make any sense in terms of rankings or anything, with Herman dropping two fights prior and "Minotauro" being so highly regarded that Frank Mir was awarded a title shot after beating him, but every second of their bout was thoroughly entertaining.

Obviously, it wasn't so much fun for Fabio Maldonado, but Glover Teixiera's perverse, animalistic assault on him was tons of fun as well.

The top three fights on the card were thrown together last minute due to injury and had little to no divisional significance; however, they were also three of the most entertaining fights the UFC has put on in months. Obviously, they couldn't get away with doing it too often, but with as many events as the UFC puts on, is there not room for more "fun fights?"

For years the UFC has prided itself on its ability to promote contests where "the best fight the best," and that's definitely not anything the UFC should totally shy away from. But there's definitely something to be said for how enjoyable the reprieve from that format actually was.

We've all gotten so used to the selling point of fights being divisional relevance, that perhaps we've forgotten that at the end of the day, that's all it is; a selling point. The selling point of UFC 153 was that the greatest fighter of all time was probably going to put on another classic performance, or something crazy was going to happen and we were going to see Anderson Silva suffer his first defeat in Octagon. The event delivered on the former, and it was just as enthralling as anything else we've seen in the cage all year.

As far as entertainment value goes, UFC 153 gives any other fight card this year a run for its money. Anyone who put their money down to see this card walked away satisfied and the UFC didn't even have to sacrifice many contenders to achieve that satisfaction.

Maybe Pride had the right idea. Maybe MMA is at its best with the right blend of high level, relevant fights and wacky showcase fights. Though usually not to the same degree as Pride FC, professional boxing and professional kickboxing both hold "fun fights" from time to time to great success.

No one in their right mind thought that "Sugar" Shane Mosley was going to defeat Manny Pacquiao for the WBO Welterweight Title last year, but millions of people tuned in just to watch an athlete the caliber of Manny Pacquiao perform.

There is so much UFC product out there right now that I think that there's definitely room for something similar in mixed martial arts from time to time, as long as those fight cards are as fun as UFC 153 was.

Feel free to follow me on Twitter @JasonAmadi and direct your "Ask the Torch" questions to askmmatorch@gmail.com