UFC Hall of Fame
 

So, this Friday at the fan expo Chuck Liddel and Charles "Mask" Lewis are getting inducted to the hall of fame. Two solid picks imo :y:

So that puts the UFC Hall of Fame at

Chuck Liddel
Charles "Mask" Lewis
Royce Gracie
Ken Shamrock
Dan Severn
Mark Coleman
Randy Couture

Pretty good, exclusive list. Some will say Mask shouldn't be on there, but honestly I think he does. The gorilla marketing campaign between Zuffa/Tapout was huge for the sport, Tapout was huge for the sport rather you want to admit it or not and Mask was a driving force behind that. But yeah, awesome list so far.

I think Tapout, not just Charles Lewis should be in.

Evan Tanner should be in too.

Mask has no business in there. Thats stupid.

Its a UFC hall of fame not an mma hall of fame and he was never a fighter.... tell me this, would he be in there or ever considered had he not died? Also where the fuck is evan tanner's induction?

See that's my disagreement. I think like Rob Tapout as a whole should be in. They were a HuGE part of UFC growing based on their guerrilla marketing campaigns together. Mask is a good representation of that.

And yeah, Evan should be in. Though are people who should be in before both Tapout/Mask and Tanner.

UFC would be dead without Tapout. I don't think there is much of an arguement for them not being in.

UFC would not be dead without tapout

UFC without them as their biggest sponsor at the start of the Zuffa era would not have survived.

That is not true... People like ufc for the fights not because they liked tap out Tshirts. People buy tap out shit because they like ufc.

Which is exactly why he is in. Was he integral to any MMA fights or in the carving of the sports rules? No. Was he integral to UFC advancing as a company? Yes. Creating a niche clothing style and aggressive branding played massive roles in reaching their TA demographic, and making the sport a trend to watch and be involved in. That is why they get consistant PPV buys almost regardless of the fighters on the card.

It may sound like the downside to MMA, those kind of fans, but they are what generate the growth to the mainstream audience, which generates higher revenue, which means fighters get paid more, exposure is much wider and more instant and being an MMA fighter is more likely to put bread on the table at any level.

Why doesn't it shock me that you DON'T get this?

Then why didnt they put the entire tapout crew in smart ass? Would we even be having this pointless week old discussion if he were alive?

Because it was done as a tribute to someone who was tragically killed. There is no denying that. But his inclusion is totally just. Back when it started there wasn't and entire Tapout crew was there?

Can you not work some of this stuff out for yourself?

:roll:

So then I assume you think hes more deserving of being in there than someone like evan tanner?

Also had he not been such a good friend with chuck liddel, he would have not been put in considering that when chuck was told he was being put in, his stipulation was that he wanted to be put in with mask. On top of that the only reason chuck was put in was to pressure him to retire.

Blah blah... He is more than deserving. End of.

No hes not... the people putting him in there didnt even think so... they just did it to get chuck in.

source?

Well lets see... Dana is hell bent on having chuck retire from fighting. He is putting the pressure on by putting chuck in the hof. Now it is still completely possible to still fight while in the hof, but theres not much more they can do beyond that. Chuck and dana even said in the at the expo which you can find videos on ufc.com or mmaweekly that he told dana to put mask in with him... it was not dana's/zuffa's idea.

Can you not work some of this stuff out for yourself?

Actually, I can't find these videos. Can you?

I didn't need you to repeat yourself, just give me the source of this fact that it was a condition. And against the will of UFC. I would still argue that it was a long way from being against the will of the UFC to include him, they maybe even responded with 'that would be an excellent tribute' or 'Well, he sure deserves it' But I don't know, because I wasn't involved in the decision making process and I am not going to try and prove a persons feelings on a decision they made without calling me first with some muppet on a message board.

Reavant, I get your point, but I do disagree with you. I don't know how many other sports you watch, but I know the HOF's of the 4 major sports in the US all include guys that were not players. But a lot of these guys did make thier mark on the sport somehow and deserve a place. What is your position on that?

Mask (Tapout) certainly made thier mark in UFC, albeit not by fighting, but they contributed a lot to get UFC to where it is today.

Those other guys in HOF in other sports had direct impact on the games such as coaches, refs, or even announcers. But you dont see sponsors of a separate company.

I am all for refs like mccarthy, or coaches like jackson or delegrotte to be in, and even guys like stitch (the cut guy), and dana himself, but they can be seen in every show and they each have a direct role and serve a purpose where the show coulnt go on without them.

Tapout helped advertise for the sport, and that brought popularity to the ufc, but nike and gatorade help advertise for the 4 major sports and you dont see their creators in any HOFs.

HOFs are always political in any sport so people are going to get in who shouldnt and people who should wont, but theres the problem with mask and tap out. Where will this end? Does the warrior international founder belong there?

Rev, the different is that Warrior Int. didn't have a hand in the initial grassroots guerrilla marketing that helped launch the sport and grow it and cultivate it. They're merely cashing in on it. Tapout helped grow it initial (albeit while cashing in but the initial point stands)

Did you read my entire post or just the last line?

I read the whole post, but i don't think the points are completely valid (in your examples of Nike, etc). I don't think any other company was a part of a sport initial guerrilla marketing in the way that tapout was. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Tell me you honestly think that MMA would be dead if tap out didnt exist

I never said that, but I do not think that it would be as popular as it is right now had it not been for their efforts, and I'm saying that as someone who's trained it (obviously, not to the degree you have), and watched it from the beginning.

Way to keep missing the point.

You know, before Tapout, you had to be a very elite level fighter to even get invited to fight for the UFC, but because of their marketing and expansion, majorly aided by Tapout, even people as dumb as you can train it and hope to turn pro.

Why are you convinced you know better than Zuffa?

Before Tapout UFC was still no holds barred you dumb cunt... and elite level fighter? Your a moron. There were so few people involved in the sport back then that if you were able to rattle off a good win streak in smaller shows, you would get called up.

What, like 18 month prior to tapout becoming associated with UFC? that was late 97. UFC 15 was the first UFC to feature Tapout as a sponsor, and the UFC 14 card is full of people with great records. It was less popular than when it began at this point also.

Not just that, the criteria when it was NHB was to be exemplar in a fighting discapline. Randy Couture was innitially rejected for not having the credentials. There were more accomplished wrestlers in UFC at the time. All At about the time of the Innaugeration of tapout. Before there was a publication specifically based on MMA, MMA was just the bringing together of different experts in different styles of fighting, and pitting them together, and now it is a recognised sport.

Everyone who was in UFC before it really became what we know as MMA had a renound background in combat sports. You talk absolute nonsence.

Really? Considering they had guys like tank abbot running around from like ufc 6... What was his backround bar fights?