Is Mainstream MMA Ruining the Sport We All Fell in Love With?

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Watching fights nearly every weekend is a hardcore mixed martial arts fan's dream. But sometimes dreams are interpretations of a reality that easily drift too far away.

The recent cancellation of UFC 151 not only sent shockwaves through the sport and ultimately may define fighter legacy in Jon Jones, but it may have also brought UFC executives back down to earth.

The perennial king of MMA, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, has been promoting one to two or sometimes even three events per month. Who could complain about that, right?

Wrong. The sport is evolving so much, and so quickly that the list of well-rounded fighters on the roster is continually growing.

More fighters equals more fights, and then when a major fight such as UFC 151's original headlining title fight Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson suffers a last minute setback, nobody is available to step up.

Sure there were a few guys who offered to throw their name into the hat, but the sport has become more about "making money" than ever before.

When MMA first arrived on the scene fighters were often competing in not just one, but two or three fights in one night. Often times they had less than one hours notice to find out whom they would be competing against.

What we had last week in a world champion Jones not accepting a challenge from Chael Sonnen -- who stepped up to take the fight on eight days notice -- was nothing short of an insult to the fighters who paved the way.

Jones has earned himself several million dollars through competing in MMA and promotional endorsements and advertising, whereas fighters such as Dan Severn, Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie were barely making enough money to cover the expense of training camp.

The problem the sport is facing today is that a good majority of fighters are fighting to keep their job rather than to be the world's best. Many would rather safely secure a win and do enough to get by with a decision than to risk being cut from the organization they worked so hard to get to.

Fighting in the big leagues brings on a lot of added pressure and while nobody wants to lose or being handed their pink slip, maybe fighters do not to step up their game. But if you compare the amount of money today's UFC fighters make compared to fighters of year's past, why would they?

Granted, fighters today still are not being paid nearly enough unless they are a big draw, so where or when does a professional fighter lose his drive to compete? When does it stop being about being the best in the world and start being about how much money you can make?

Want proof that money is what drives today's champions?

"I don't want to fight Lyoto Machida," Jones recently told ESPN during an interview. "He was my lowest pay-per-view draw of last year. No one wants to see me fight Lyoto Machida. I don't want to fight Lyoto again. Lyoto is high-risk and low-reward."

Some fighters are fighting one to two fights a year and have no trouble getting by financially whereas some were fighting two or more fights a night (which has since gone away). These fighters would do this several times a month in some cases, fighting up to five or more fights in just a few weeks.

All the fighters on the undercard and main card not named Jon Jones or Dan Henderson were counting on UFC 151 to go on. They were banking on Jon Jones accepting or taking a replacement fight when Henderson went down with an injury.

Instead, whether Jones knew the card would be cancelled or not, he chose not to fight. Regardless of whether Sonnen earned a shot into the title picture is irrelevant. How does a champion turn down a challenger and still earn the right to be called a champion?

During a press conference acknowledging the cancellation of UFC 151, Machida was named to fight Jones in at UFC 152, two weeks later. Not even a day later, Machida pulls out from the fight he earned with Jones. Wait, what?

A challenger had one month's notice to get redemption on the man who put him to sleep; the fighter holding the light heavyweight title he once owned, yet he refused the fight?

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, the man who relinquished his title to Jones at UFC 128, also had the opportunity to fill in for Machida and Henderson. He too turned the title opportunity down.

Who are these fighters? How much time do you need? The more time you take, the more likely you are to injure yourself during training.

Lorenzo Fertitta, Zuffa LLC chairman and CEO, told ESPN after the cancellation of UFC 151, "Yes, Machida and 'Shogun' passed. Thank God for old-school real fighters", a pretty bold statement from the man who writes their paychecks. He too, along with UFC President Dana White were extremely disappointed in his top fighters.

So, it brings the question. With the UFC continually moving more and more mainstream and more events happening all the time is it becoming too watered down? Is there too much of it or not enough? Are you finding yourself able to watch all the events?

There are a lot of lessons to be learned from the fallout of the organization's first-ever cancelled event.

It will certainly be interesting to see how fans will treat Jones after this fallout. Will his endorsements be affected at all? He was recently the first fighter to sign a major deal with Nike. How do they feel about the champion's decisions?

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I think I like this guy.... well he agrees with my points of view mostly. The points he talks about are indeed valid except one ugly possibility rearing its ugly head ... unionization or association.

What would the effect of unionization of fighters on the sport? Or is this even possible?

Big paydays at one time ensured loyalty amongst the big name draws... now like Jones perhaps it gives the bigger draws a degree of independence where they feel they don't owe the company anything.....

I'd like to know if (don't laugh) Cirque du Solie performers are unionized. ... nope just checked. They pay their performers quite well and have all sorts of insurance i believe recognizing the performers make the show the business takes care of the performers.

How well does Zuffa take care of the athletes. Maybe part of the problem is performer security and support.... improving this end may solidify the show itself.

Guys like Jones get enough outside of the show so they don't feel they are part of the whole rather outside of the whole....

Owwww.... I'm thinking too hard....

I don't think its an issue of mainstreaming so much as it is an issue of the ego of certain fighters.
90% of all fighters would take a fight tonight if they were asked, especially a title fight. But there's that 10% in this sport- really in all sports- who think their shit don't stink and they should be given exception whenever and however they see fit.
The thing is, you never hear about fighters in that 10% unless its something high-profile like in the Jon Jones case. I'm sure an undercard fight has needed a replacement on short notice before, and when the matchmaker called one of the 10%'ers, he said no, because he thinks he deserves better. On the other hand, when one of the 90%'ers are called to fill in on short notice, they take the fight without hesitation. The problem is that you never hear about those guys, or do hear about them, but don't give it a second thought.

The Jon Joneses of the world are always going to be there, its just that now there's more of them in the spotlight than there used to be.