Issue 104

August 2013

Jorge Masvidal

UFC lightweight, former Strikeforce 155lb title challenger

YES

That’d be amazing, but at the same time all the best fighters in the world are in the UFC. I’m happy as heaven the UFC brought Strikeforce over, but if the other organizations didn’t come (into a World Cup) it doesn’t really matter. It’d be cool anyway just to find out where everybody stands, but I think right now it’s pretty close to that. Would I like to represent my country? That’s what I’d really get excited about, like the Olympics. We could do an open trials of the USA to find who’s the number-one 155lb’er, then England does the same and so on. Doing it from the amateur level would be awesome just to give those amateurs coming into the pro division a big (platform). Just like how boxing does it. That way we’d be able to build up future pros and really get to see the talent out there. It would be awesome for pros just to find out who’s the best at what weight, but either-or would be awesome.

Roger Gracie

UFC middleweight prospect, second-degree BJJ black belt

NO

That will never happen. In mixed martial arts, no one fights for medals. It’s the kind of sport where either you are a professional or you’re doing something else. If you look at MMA fighters they come from other backgrounds where they have already been doing one discipline their whole life, then they move into the professional side to improve their standard of living, especially if they come from an amateur sport. Once they are a professional they can then, in most cases, afford to make a living. That’s what attracted most of the mixed martial arts fighters you have competing today. If you take that away, I think very few would do it just for the pleasure of it, or for a medal.

What you had to say on the matter ...

NO

“Won’t happen that would mean the big companies would open up the argument that their champ isn’t the best. Imagine if Silva lost.”

@M_BRUNOPHOTOS

NO

“No – at one time it would have made sense for a champ v champ style ‘world cup,’ but no competition for UFC champs exists atm.”

@ANVIL_90

YES

“Yes. MMA is still a privately-owned sport. It would help people embrace it as martial arts and not ‘ufc’ or ‘strikeforce.’”

@THEBRENMAC

YES

“An amateur MMA world cup would be worth watching and investing in, but who will organize?”

@FREEMIKELIVE