ROUNDTABLE (pt. 2 of 2): What change do you hope Mick Maynard brings to UFC’s match-making now that he’s been hired to replace Joe Silva?

What change do you hope Mick Maynard brings to UFC’s match-making now that he’s been hired to replace Joe Silva? Or what main piece of advice would give you to him?

JARED DODDS, MMATorch contributor

This is the job that every MMA fan thinks that they can do better than everyone. We have all sat there, staring at some boring wrestler vs. wrestler fight, and said, “I could make exciting fights every time, Joe Silva needs to get better at his job. I mean it’s not like it’s HARD.” Guess what folks, it is hard. Really hard, in fact. Trying to negotiate dozens of fights at a time, with a hoard of different management groups and Athletic Commissions is next to impossible. So my advice to Mick Maynard is to shut out all of the negative voices and criticisms and just do his job the way that he knows how to do. He has been doing this for years, knows how the business works, and I’m sure he, alongside Sean Shelby, will book plenty of exciting fights for us here at MMATorch to criticize and critique. As for a change I would like to see, I personally think that the mini tournament that the UFC did for the Flyweight Championship was awesome, and I would love to see that sort of structure put into place in more divisions to determine number one contenders. Not as large as Bellator’s system simply due to time, but a four-man tournament to determine number one contenders would be a very cool system if you could work out the kinks.

CHRIS KING, MMATorch contributor

I don’t know a lot about Mick Maynard to be honest, but I would advise him to spend a lot of time with Joe Silva, and learning from him in the beginning. Personally I hope we get better ranked matches and they make more sense and come away from this showcase fight scenario. Yes Conor and Nate, I am talking about you! The UFC is a business first and foremost and the main aim of every business is to make money. I know and understand that. But there should be a clearer path to the title or at least some clarity on if and when what a number 1 contender match is.

The only advice I would give him is something I’m sure he already knows. Give the fans the fights they want to see. You have to make the fights that make the most sense in the division, but you also have to make the most entertaining fights. So, whether it’s two exciting grapplers or two exciting strikers, you want the most exciting fight possible. If you have fighters who aren’t currently relevant to the title picture, match them against someone who they will have the most exciting fight with. Try to limit the lay-and-pray, wall-and-stall, and sloppy barroom brawls as much as possible.

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