Dana White, Spike TV, and the UFC : Why Ricco Rodriguez Never Came Back

How come a man who has beaten greats like Couture, Monson, and Arlovski isn't even recognized by most fans in a photo lineup? How can an Abu Dhabi gold medalist at eighteen years old not be invited back to fight after two losses in the UFC. Not to mention that Abu Dhabi is where greats like Bas Rutten and Frank Shamrock got their start. In this piece we look at some potential causes for Ricco's demise.

Ricco Rodriguez was a heavyweight champ in the UFC and he held his title for a half of a year before losing it to Tim Sylvia. Now in today's MMA you would almost always expect a rematch if not immediately following the first fight, then within the year, at most four PPVs away. Ricco was not so lucky.

One cause for this may have been that the sport was amassing massive popularity and the UFC was eyeing a cable TV deal with Spike TV. Now the TV deal did not come until a little over a year later with the Ultimate Fighter, but in fight terms that was maybe two cards away.

In my estimations Dana White thought that Ricco was too technical to appeal to new fans. He wasn't a knockout artist even though he had TKO'd Arlovski and Couture in somewhat stylish fashion.

No, Ricco was known for submissions, solid wrestling, and decent punch power. Also, he wasn't a muscle man like say, Pedro Rizzo. He was a bit pudgy much like Josh Barnett who was also blackballed for his looks. No Dana saw a behemoth. Near seven feet tall and 265 pounds, Tim Sylvia was the perfect size and had the perfect skill set to send the UFC to the big time.

Tim was a knockout guy. If you wanted somebody to stand there and throw it was Tim. Tim would keep his opponents at bay with his reach and then land punishing shots with his oversized hands. In his first three fights he won them all by KO or TKO. He was just the man Dana needed.

Then came Frank Mir. Frank was a submission specialist and it took his only fifty seconds to dispatch the Maine-iac with an armbar. This must have ate at Ricco.

If Ricco were given a shot at the title in a rematch with Tim that he wanted, he would have most definitely displayed his ground skills, as his wrestling and submissions were arguably superior to those of Mir. Nothing taken away from Mir as he is one of the best submission artists in the business, Ricco was the best at that time and maybe ever with seventeen submissions to his name.

Ricco was also a star in PRIDE for some time which may have made Dana think that Ricco was betraying him. Either way when Ricco put together an 11 fight win streak between the UFC, KOTC, and PRIDE beating big names like Monson, Goodridge, Pete Williams, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, Arlovski, and Couture, he couldn't be ignored any longer.

He was the champ once he beat Couture and he was revered by many as the best pound for pound fighter in the world at that time. He was certainly the most well rounded of any of the UFC's talent.

Yes Ricco did have some weight issues and a drug problem after the UFC, but I still believe he was not given a chance by Dana. Now it seems like no one knows who he is, thats just wrong.

So why then after only two losses in the UFC was he blackballed by Joe Silva? Only Joe, Dana, and God know, but if Ricco had gotten a rematch we would be looking at a much different UFC today. Maybe even PRIDE would have beaten them out, nah that's probably just wishful thinking.