What do you think of mma fighters fighting so soon?

Question

weve seen it happen alot lately tim boetsch stepping up to fight hammil and rich clementi fighting at back to back ufc's now thiago alves and bisping and jason day are all stepping up to fight at ufc 85 after just recently fighting. do you think this is good or bad for the sport. and do you think it can affect the outcome of the fights. Because if they lose people will talk about how they didnt have time to train

Answer 1

Your normal training cycle is about 6 weeks.

So fighting 6 weeks apart isn't that big of a deal, keep in mind in early MMA and in Pride, there were guys fighting 2 and 3 fights in one night.

I think that having guys who will step up and fight, and have well known names is good for the sport.

Injuries happen, and most of the time filling cards that have top name guys on them, you would be pretty pissed if you bought 200 dollar tickets to the UFC, and instead of seeing the headliners you wanted to see, you get stuck with 2 no name guys who had to step in in the last minute.

As a fighter, I think it is awesome that some of these guys are given the opportunity. Tim Boetsch probably would have never gotten the chance if he hadn't stepped up.

These kind of things are great for guys to get on the main card, and help establish a reporte with an organization. They generally appreciate guys who are willing to step up like that.

A fighter wants to fight, plain and simple.

6 weeks prep for a fight is perfect, and if you can get on back to back main cards, that is good money and exposure for you.

I don't think it vastly affects that outcome, provided a fighter is injury free. 6 to 8 weeks between fights is awesome, because it allows you to remain in a cycle, and to be at peak.

Most people don't truly start training for a particular fight until that time frame anyways. They may be getting ready, but the true training is about 6 weeks out.

To me it is a win win situation for any fighter.

You win, well then you stepped up for the organization, got your extra money, and are even more respected. Just like any job, if you work at Burger King and on your day off the manager calls and asks if you can come in and work, if you come through for him, then generally you are held in higher regard by management, which means more favorable things for you later on.

If you lose, well then you still have the good vibe with management, and get the respect for stepping up, but your lose isn't weighed against you as hard.

Keep in mind 6 to 8 weeks isn't soon, especially when some guys fight once or twice a month. In fact most Pro fighters who fight in multiple organizations fight a month or less apart from other fights. They have to pay the bills lol.

So I don't think it is bad, it is just good business for the fighters.