Standgate

dunkamania

What are people’s thoughts on Standgate? Seth being paid not to go to the ground versus Kimbo. It looked like the whole thing might blowover, but then Dana and many bloggers got very vocal about it, and events escalated.

This seems to be the case of where people draw the line.
Is it ok to pay a fighter not to go to the ground?
Is it ok to pay a fighter to win by KO?
Is it ok to offer a KO/submission/fight of the night bonus?

Where do people draw the line? Take Bisping, who fought a conservative fight against Leben. If he needed a KO bonus, he would probably have fought a more reckless fight, and may well have lost. Also, rumours now going round that Seth was paid not to throw leg kicks, because Kimbo hadn’t trained for them. Also consider Chris Lytle who made no effort in hiding that he was going for a standup war and hopefully, fight of the night. This is despite having a massive advantage over his opponent on the ground.

Raze_them_all

dunkamania wrote: »

What are people’s thoughts on Standgate? Seth being paid not to go to the ground versus Kimbo. It looked like the whole thing might blowover, but then Dana and many bloggers got very vocal about it, and events escalated.

This seems to be the case of where people draw the line.
Is it ok to pay a fighter not to go to the ground?
Is it ok to pay a fighter to win by KO?
Is it ok to offer a KO/submission/fight of the night bonus?

Where do people draw the line? Take Bisping, who fought a conservative fight against Leben. If he needed a KO bonus, he would probably have fought a more reckless fight, and may well have lost. Also, rumours now going round that Seth was paid not to throw leg kicks, because Kimbo hadn’t trained for them. Also consider Chris Lytle who made no effort in hiding that he was going for a standup war and hopefully, fight of the night. This is despite having a massive advantage over his opponent on the ground.

there's a difference in offering a fight of the night, ko of the night sub of the night and going to a fighter and saying we'll give you x amount to stand toe to toe with this guy.

cowzerp

Well most fights in birmingham where stand up fights last week and i bet its the same in dublin, why? there giving the fans what they want, irish and brits are used to boxing so they put on a boxing friendly show!

i think this stuff goes on at the top level all the time, sometimes its done indirectly like it was last week, pairing strikers together etc..and i would not be suprised if they where all told the fans would not appreciate too much grappling.

cage rage is the same, massive amount of striking compared to american or japanese shows, the question is , is this just because the fighters prefer to stand or there encouraged? :cool:

KO of the Night and Sub of the Night bonuses encourage guys to push and try to finsh rather than stall to the UD. I think it's a bit different to explicitly paying guys to fight a certain way.

Fozzy

The investigation hasn't finished yet, has it? If they offered him a KO bonus but no submission bonus then there's nothing legally wrong with that. But if they offered him a bonus to keep it standing then there it's illegal

In both cases though, I don't agree with it. It's influencing the course of the fight. Not fixing it, but still possibly changing the outcome

I don't mind a guy like Frank Shamrock, who's good on the ground, wanting to keep a fight standing. I've heard of undercard fighters agreeing to do it too, in the hopes of having an exciting fight. I don't mind that because it's the fighters who are influencing the course of the fight, which is how it should be. It's when someone from the outside tries to influence it that I have a problem

Dragan

For me it's a pretty simple. UFC offers bonuses for KO, Sub and Fight of the Night. It's a good business practice. It's an offer that is open and available to all fighters on the card. It's not like they are going to a particular fighter and saying "we will reward you for one area of the fight." Any fighter can get the KO, the Sub or the Fight of the night.

The argument could be made that fighters have varying skill levels, so may not be in with a great chance of winning a particular one. But, i would just say that skill and ability and dedication in training to get to the point where you can do these things and a pro level with success.

THAT is, to me, why the EliteXC situation is a mockery, regardless of the thoughts behind the offer.