UFC Freak Show like Brock Lesnar and James Toney

Dana White has gone on an on about how he would never allow freak show contests in the UFC. Pride FC the popular mixed martial arts promotion that fell apart a while back put such shows on as they were extremely popular and created a lot of media attention. Fedor Emelianenko, the former Pride Heavyweight Champion, fought guys like Hong Man Choi at Dream and Zuluzhinho at Pride, defeating both in the first round. Antonio Rodrigo Minotauro fought Bob Sapp who was a wrestler and at the time was in good form despite lacking the skills and athleticism that Brock Lesnar brought to the table when he joined the UFC.

At the same time guys like Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley today are freak shows on par with James Toney. The first two guys are one-dimensional with their main goal to take down their opponent and ground and pound them. The last one is simply a knock out artist with no wrestling or ground game. Their huge athleticism helps counter their lack of skill in many areas of MMA of course.

The reason why Dana White at UFC and Strikeforce are so keen on taking on wrestlers is of course due to the obvious statistics. Wrestlers have done better than one-dimensional strikers for years, ever since the first UFC shows when Mark Coleman, Matt Hughes and Tito Ortiz won in an impressive fashion.

Today wrestler do well in all divisions and the heavyweight division is the most packed it seems with Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez and Shane Carwin giving the audiences a taste of what the "NCAA Wrestler" can do in the UFC cage.

On the other hand boxers have not done well. They tend to get taken down and submitted, or simply dominated on the ground the entire time. James Toney of course has a name and UFC will try to make money on the name that he brings but the dilemma remains "who would he fight"? He may or may not KO some top fighters but he may also lose to very weak opponents who will look to take him down and submit him. There is some risk involved as of course every fighter has a puncher's chance in MMA.

Freak shows I believe have their appeal and the UFC just gives us a different taste. While they make jokes about Hong Man Choi, they bring guys like Renzo Gracie to fight Matt Hughes, both of whom are past their prime and have not competed in years. Notice this fight will be on the main card at UFC112. Both probably would not stand a chance against Hong Man Choi.