What do you want from a fight? Getting a win or being exciting?

What’s more important, winning or attempting to finish?

I recently read an interview with Matt Riddle, who is set to fight Nick Osipczak at UFC 105, which revealed his game plan for their bout: "Riddle says the gap in the country’s wrestling pedigrees will be widened in their fight. A wrestler from an early age, he wrestled to a state championship and spent two years in the Division I program at East Stroudsburg University.

Simply put, he says they’re not on the same level.

“He has one loss to a subpar wrestler and I’m a pretty good wrestler,” he said. “I’m pretty sure I’m going to smash his face in and he’s going to quit.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if I punched him four times and took him down even if he didn’t hit me. Just because I know where I’m really strong and I know where I can smash him out.”

Riddle only sees difficulty if he can’t take the English fighter down.”

Also, one should bear in mind that Riddle has a record of 3-0 and has achieved all three victories through unanimous decisions. Basically, his plan is to wrestle Nick and he’ll be very content not to finish him and get the judges’ nod.

Which made me think, “What do I want more from a fight?” Do I want to see my fighter win a boring decision or do I mind seeing him lose as long as he’s trying to finish his opponent and being exciting? My answer was the latter. I’m there to be entertained. I came to see MMA, not lay and pray wrestling. I love seeing ground fighters worming around looking for an arm or leg or neck to grab. I love watching stand up fighters swinging for the rafters trying to knock each other out. It’s why I get bored watching lower level American MMA practitioners as most of them come from some sort of wrestling background. They aim for the take down but once they’re down they don’t know what to do. They don’t post up and start raining down blows, they don’t work towards arm bars or even key locks. They take them down and sit on them, get stood up by the referee and then attempt yet another take down. And I’m talking take down, not a Matt Hughes style slam at least Matt could be considered to be attempting to end the fight.

So what is everyone else’s opinion? Is a win more important than being exciting?

Hummm... good thread firstly Matt Hughes was/is an awesome ground guy, and has finished a hell of a lot of fights by submission of some sort. As for the whole lying around on top of the opponents, it's the most frustrating thing about MMA!!! I think the rules maybe need looking into slightly about this area as too many fights go to decision and its been the most boring 15 mins of your life ha ha! Maybe referees could be told to stand the fight up a little quicker??

If the guy has come out saying things like that then he's a little bit silly. I have to say you have to look at some fighters not getting opportunities, even after winning a lot of fights, purely due to their X factor... Lyoto Machida being one of the guys that springs to mind... in the UFC Dana White wants exciting fighters and he even gives the guys big bonuses for doing this! Get rid of the boring stuff I say!

I prefer fighters to fight to the best of their abilities, even if it means going the distance. I don't hope for a wrestler to start winging punches just to be exciting, I want them to play to their strengths. I prefer MMA with as little interference as possible, I don't think fights should ever be stood up, and I even dislike ref intervention when fighters clinch against the cage.

I also think there's an unfair perception that a fight needs to be finished to be entertaining. I'd actually say that the majority of my favourite fights ever have been decisions. I really enjoy back and forth wrestling matches with high pace scrambling and technical reversals and transitions. Ishida vs Melendez 1 was one of my favourite fights of 2007 for that reason.

GSP takes a lot of flack for "laying" on people lately, but honestly, I can hardly think of a fighter who brings his level of activity and maintains that pace for a 25 minute fight, wherever the fight goes.

Furthermore, I'd like to add that fighters are a lot more defensively sound now. I think on the whole, the level of submission defense and ability to avoid ground and pound is steadily going up, and that is just part of the evolution of the sport. It's pretty rare now to see someone get taken down and suffer significant ground and pound whilst they have their opponent in their guard.

cant believe anyone is gonna give a thumbs up for watchin lay n pray (not unless they delude themselves into thinking it boosts their 'i understand mma more than u' cred - you know who u are out there ), part of the reason, alongside likin my sleep, why i always sky+ any ufc/mma nights is because i cant be arsed sittin thru some fightin dullard usin their weight and wrestlin to dry hump a decision win, life is to short for that!

and as above, no that doesnt mean i just wanna watch a couple of doods swingin for the fences, but just coz summink is effective, doesnt always make it visually exciting

i agree with bulldog.... U stay up till 3 in the morning waiting for the headline event and some wrestling chump lyes on his opponent for 15 minutes, its not exciting and i'd say it's not all that skillful, it's just boring (this is the point where I normally dose off and miss the main event). Sunrise bought up GSP, when GSP take his opponent down he still work fairly hard to stop the fight, Alves face after their last fight proves that.

Also saying that fights shouldn't be stood up is a joke, when a fight has been inactive on the floor for 3 mintues in a round, it needs to be stood up man... I think wrestlers need to be intised into striking on the floor or at least working... maybe being docked points for inactivity??? just a thought.

this guy Matt somebody (i have forgotten his name in the process of scrolling down the page) is just like several dozen other fighters in the UFC, most of which i could not name.
there are probably 50 wrestlers in the US college system right now who could do what he does, he is a boring fighter.
he has to understand that the only way he will ever make it to the big money is if he starts to finish guys, fighters like him are literally ten-a-penny in MMA in the US.

He probably has about 5 fans outside his hometown, its not just that wrestling is boring, Hughes is a very exciting fighter, he has very powerful and effective ground and pound, powerful slams, and a high level of submission skills.

i am not a bloodthirsty guy, i want to see some skills on display, takedowns are great, but simply holding a guy down, though it requires some skills, is not what i bought espn for.

Matt Riddle, and totally agree dude