The always very vocal fans of MMA are letting it be known that they are unhappy, very unhappy. Why are the fans unhappy you ask? Because in the minds of many a fan, the UFC is doing a disservice to their loyal fans by leaving the superstars at home, and trying to grow the sport with new faces and lesser known fighters. Does any MMA organization owe it to the fans to put on a superstar laden extravaganza every time out? Maybe, the more important question is whether an MMA organization CAN push out a super show every time out. Noone can please every fan out there, that much is obvious to any sensible fan, fickle or otherwise, there will always be someone out there that thinks the sky is too blue or the Octagon too round. Where does the common ground lie?

Any and all sports organizations have to grow a measure of talent from within, as great as it is sounds, snatching a high priced mega star from the grasp of an opposing team is not always the best answer. For example, It would be great for the UFC to pick up a great fighter like Rodrigo Nogueira or someone else with a hefty price tag, but would that actually help the UFC in terms of fan base and fan support? The UFC’s primary competition, the Pride Fighting Championships groomed Nogueira from the beginning. he started his Pride career against Gary Goodridge, then on to Mark Coleman, Heath Herring, Enson Inoue, and eventually Bob Sapp. He did not just appear on the horizon and command respect, he earned it through his growth as a fighter. Sakuraba and others are the same. At the UFC 37 show a last May, an unknown fighter named "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler fought in a Preliminary bout and captivated the audience with his exciting style and boundless energy. One year and a handful of fights later he is now the semi-main event on the UFC 42 card and one of the best young fighters in America. At UFC 17, an unknown pasty white kickboxer with a Mohawk named Chuck Liddell fought his very first fight in the UFC. That same card, UFC 17 "Redemtion" featured the very first UFC fights of fellow unknown entities named Carlos Newton, Dan Henderson and Jeremy Horn. In fact, Chuck Liddell was the very first preliminary bout on the card. Those four names alone are among the biggest in the sport today, yet they too started out as preliminaries and unknowns. Last but not least, a fighter that is taking a bit of a brow beating from the same Internet forums, is a guy named Tito Ortiz. He started out in the UFC as an alternate in the very first alternate bout of the evening. He wouldn’t of even been on the main card had Enson Inoue not dropped out of his bout with Guy Mezger due to an injury. That bit of misfortune for Inoue was exactly what Ortiz needed to get his foot in the door. Tito Ortiz is now the Light heavyweight champion of the UFC. Remember he started out his career as an alternate without a guarantee of even fighting on the main card.

Pride Held a show on June 4, 2000 appropriately called "New Blood", that show did not feature any popular names on the card, not popular at that time anyways. There was no Sakuraba or Takada or any Gracies to sell the show to the Japanese fans, but when one looked closely at the card, we see that the smaller show served a higher purpose. The very first fight of that evening was a no name fighter named Willie Peeters facing off against an unknown Texan named Heath Herring. Heath Herring fought his very first Pride bout that night annihilating, and eventually choking out the overmatched Peeters. Today, he is one of the best Heavyweights in the world. On the same card that same night, another unknown American fighter named Ricco Rodriguez got his first shot at the big show and grounded and pounded his way to victory in the Pride ring. Before he was the Heavyweight champion of the UFC, Rodriguez was an unassuming, unknown, fighter on what was considered the "B" show of a big organization. Look where he is now. Having said all that, showcasing predominantly new faces on a single card in a brand new area without a big name attached to card as a foundation isn’t necessarily what I would consider the best strategy. A card with established stars mixed in with some newer talent would seem ideal, but remember the two biggest names mentioned in this article, Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell were originally meant to meet on the UFC 42 card. The cards obviously did not fall the way everyone would have liked, but I don’t imagine anyone would be complaining about the card if the headliner was Chuck Liddell Vs Tito Ortiz with a co main events of Matt Hughes vs Sean Sherk, Robbie Lawler vs Pete Spratt, and the exact same undercard. The difference is only one fight on the card. One fight out of eight or nine fights on a card. A little bad luck and everyone is riding UFC 42 as the worst ever. Remember UFC 33? That card had a handful of legitimate headliners such as Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, Jens Pulver, and Murilo Bustamante fighting, and was supposed to be the second coming, remember how that UFC turned out? Hmmm….wasn’t that one of the worst UFC’s ever too?

Every Pride or every UFC can’t be a huge "Name" event. There has to be smaller cards every so often to introduce new talent and gear up for bigger events. Look out for the young unknown fighters, and many other lesser known but very exciting fighters at any of the smaller shows that dont look to have the big "Name recognition". Look up and down the card, remember a couple of names and see where those names are a year or two from now, that is the only way to truly gauge how successful or unsuccessful a smaller show will have been. Those fighters will all come to fight at that small event, and much more importantly at many many, more bigger events in the future. Support the Sport.