Issue 113

April 2014

Junior Dos Santos

Former UFC heavyweight champion

16-3

YES

Could fighters from different companies competing against each other be a good idea? I’m not sure. I think it definitely could be. The Ultimate Fighting Championship has the best fighters in the world, you know, but there’s a great deal of talented fighters around the rest of the world too. If they were allowed to fight in a cross-promotional pay-per-view event it could give them a good chance for more exposure and to test themselves against fighters from higher-profile promotions. So, yeah, it could be good. Would I like to fight for the UFC and beat a champion in another organization? Yeah, that could be very good. It’s like in boxing, you know. There are a lot of associations and organizations so you can have more than just one belt. Yeah that sounds good. 

Nick Peet

Fighters Only magazine 

Editor-in-Chief 

NO

The possibility of having one top-tier promotion match up against another in a pay-per-view may sound great to fans, but in reality it’s very unlikely to ever happen. The main issue being that MMA, unlike practically every other sport, grew from the top down and as such the premier organizations in the sport are the dominating force. Plus, there is no overruling governing body. If there was, if the IMMAF, for instance, was all powerful, say like FIFA in soccer, then they could well host a cross-promotional fight card. But why would any promotion risk their fighters’ records against those from a ‘weaker’ organization? 

What you had to say on the matter...

YES

“Of course they are, remember the Capcom vs SNK game, Marvel vs Capcom, WWF vs WCW/ECW Alliance. Nothing but win for everybody.” 

@ETERNALDRAGON

NO

“Good for the fans, potentially bad for promoters, whom are all trying to position as having the best talents.”

@BLUNARDI80 

YES

“Maybe if each division has two fighters from all promotions the champ and no 1 contender, like a champs league sort of thing?”

@CARLGALLOWAY17

YES

“@FightersOnly yes because then you would know who the best in that weight class really was.”

@JOHNOTYLER