UFC 143 takes place this Saturday night in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay. I was looking over the main card and was surprised by the lack of star power on this Super Bowl weekend show.
Fans might tune in to watch Nick Diaz vs. Carlos Condit but the other four fights on the main card leave a lot to be desired.
The weak co-main event is between Roy Nelson and Fabricio Werdum. I like Werdum but I have no interest in this fight. It is Werdum's first fight back in the UFC since he lost to Junior Dos Santos a few years ago but this match-up with Nelson didn't pique my interest.
The other three fights are Josh Koscheck vs. Mike Pierce, Renan Barao vs. Scott Jorgensen, and Ed Herman vs. Clifford Starks.
The mainstream MMA fan will not know any of these fighters except for Koscheck. Who are the rest of these guys that are supposed to entertain us at UFC 143?
Barao could be a star as the guy is on a huge winning streak and is a legitimiate contender in the bantamweight division.
Pierce is a wrestler who might be in over his head against the veteran Koscheck.
I don't think the Herman vs. Starks fight will be talked about or tweeted about on Twitter and it certainly won't be Fight of the Night.
The UFC has had too many shows lately and there seems to be an event every single week of the month. This is all fine and dandy if there were enough star fighters on the roster.
Unfortunately for the UFC, Tito Ortiz is on his last legs, and Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture have retired.
Even the prelim cards seem diluted now and filled with fighters you will never see or hear from again after a few fights in the UFC.
UFC President Dana White always says that the media and fans are "idiots" if they judge a card before the card happens but he is wrong about that.
It doesn't matter if Starks and Herman put on a good back-and-forth battle because most fans want to see their favorite fighters in the cage and not fighters that people don't care about or never heard of.
Fans won't pay for the pay-per-views or watch the shows if they don't know the fighters or care about them.
Why do people like to watch Chael Sonnen fight? Sonnen makes people care about him and they watch his fights not because he is the greatest fighter in the world, or the most entertaining,but because fans want to see him win or lose due to his crazy persona.
I still remember when Sonnen was just a regular fighter on the UFC roster who had no personality and didn't create controversy. He was boring and his fights were boring and hard to watch as well.
Once Sonnen opened his mouth and became controversial, fans started to notice him and now he is a full-fledged star.
The UFC needs more star power and UFC 143 is severely lacking in it.
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