If you follow pro wrestling, than you know all about "pushing" fighters - building up their name, getting them air time, booking them in favourable matches, basically, turning them into stars. Believe it or not, the world of MMA requires something of the same: the fight business is the promotion business, and name fighters sell fights. No one cares if two guys nobody has ever heard of are fighting next Saturday, even if they're the most skilled mixed martial artists around - because if you don't know who they are, what does it matter? To garner interest, you need to build names, and to do that, you need to push fighters. The UFC has often made the mistake of putting the brand first, and it is paying for that policy now. There are champions the general public has barely heard of, and as more and more of the older generation fighters retire - the Pride era guys, for example - the UFC is quickly running out of fighters who can legitimately headline cards. When you add on the toll injuries take on potential headliners, you can see that without changing course and pushing some new names, the promotion is on a course for absolute disaster over the next little while. It's why PPV sales are down, despite fight quality being consistent. So, lets take a look at 10 fighters the promotion needs to push to build them up into superstars that can headline cards and put butts in seats.
Primarily covering the sport of MMA from Ontario, Canada, Jay Anderson has been writing for various publications covering sports, technology, and pop culture since 2001. Jay holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Guelph, and a Certificate in Leadership Skills from Humber College.
