Cain vs Dos Santos

[KillerWolf]

Originally Posted by Reavant The heavyweight title is the most prestigious title in combat sports. Whether its the best in the UFC is irrelevant. Them going with that fight was to bring in the mainstream, not the hardcore.

i know that that used to be the case. i'm not sure if that is still necessarilly true. who is the heavyweight champ in boxing? i have no idea, and i, nor most people could pick his name or face out of a line up.

however, i do know who Manny Pacquiao is, and i know that he is not a heavyweight. i know who Floyd Maywether is -- not a heavywieght.

more "casual" or "non-fans" of UFC and MMA, i'm guessing, have heard of GSP, Anderson Silva, Tito Ortiz, and Chuck Liddell than have heard of Cain Valasquez or Junior Dos Santos.

my point being that the prestige of the Heavyweight Title has always been a function of fame, and connection between the Heavyweight Title and fame is no longer an absolute. so, IMO, the philosophy that they were subscribing to in order to attract new viewers and hype up the heavyweight title fight (and in fact, the position that you appear to hold regarding the Heavyweight belt) is an outdated one.

having said all that, i realize that they likely employed this gimmick to hype the fight since, as you said, the whole production was aimed at the mainstream. but, had this fight been a part of a UFC PPV, i doubt they would have made the statements about the Heavyweight Title holding more prestige than any other UFC title.