4. They Promote Gimmick Fights More Often Than You Think
The UFC have made so many excellent efforts to present themselves as a serious sport, constantly pushing the fact that they're an elite level athletic competition. Dana White in particular is the biggest voice on this subject, stating categorically on multiple occasions that he wasn't interested in hot-shot gimmick draws. However, White and UFC have been quite contradictory on this. When a viral video sensation of a backyard fighter caught the world's attention in the latter half of the last decade, White dismissed it as unrefined violence which had nothing to do with MMA. The backyard brawler was Kimbo Slice, a cult internet success story, but a man who had little rounded MMA experience. White was correct that fighters like that had no place in the UFC, but lo and behold, who fought as one of the key matches on UFC 113? Kimbo Slice vs Matt Mitrione (Slice lost). White wants to be a purist sport guy but his promotional instinct can't resist a good gimmick. He also signed boxer James Toney to fight against Randy Couture at UFC 118. Toney had never fought in MMA before and was going straight against one of UFC's best ever fighters. Unsurprisingly Couture won in the very first round by submission. White had simply wanted to promote the fight not based on ability but based on gimmick selling of boxing vs UFC. Beyond this you could also look at White's original reasons for signing Lesnar and Rousey as nothing more than gimmick baiting (they surprised him with how much success they generated), and White has also just recently fanned the flames of interest in seeing WWE star CM Punk in the UFC.
