The UFC and Revisionist MMA History

Once upon a time, it was not so difficult to rewrite history. We may never know the historical details of the building of the pyramids or the siege of Troy, and as I'm sure you've been told, "history is written by the victors." I'll avoid making more controversial claims.

Anyway, at the present time, the UFC is clearly the victor in the war over mixed martial arts promotion, but in this age of technology, it's almost impossible to rewrite history absolutely, but that hasn't stopped the UFC ownership from at least trying to portray history in a way that makes the UFC look good, and it's competitors look not so good.

Zuffa, the UFC parent company isn't going out and changing fighter records, but they sure have a way of changing the way people view the history of MMA.

The most notable ways Zuffa is able to mold public perception of MMA's past come through things like The UFC's Ultimate 100 Greatest Fights, the UFC's Hall of Fame, UFC highlights and TV shows, and the "Best of PRIDE" series..

The UFC's Ultimate 100 Greatest Fights

The UFC's list of its 100 greatest fights received a lot of time on television in the lead-up to UFC 100, and is also available on DVD.

It's also a list that does a great job of highlighting current UFC talent while also highlighting the defeats of fighters signed elsewhere.

That the 100 Greatest fights list centers around the recent history of the UFC isn't entirely unforgivable, because the fights are simply better now than they were when the UFC began.

However, centering the list of the 100 greatest fights around recent history also serves to highlight the current cast of fighters.

Current stars like Georges St. Pierre and BJ Penn are featured heavily on this list, while fighters who were not signed by the UFC at the time the list was created were either shown losing, or were ignored completely.

Tito Ortiz, who was a free agent at the time, is featured losing four fights on this list, without being shown as the winner of a single fight.

Other fighters who weren't signed by the UFC at the time who received similar treatment on the list include: Vitor Belfort, Nick Diaz, Pat Miletich, Renato Sobral, Josh Barnett, Kevin Randleman, and Tim Sylvia who go a combined 0-11 on the list.

Other prominent fighters like Andrei Arlovski, Matt Lindland, and Frank Shamrock aren't featured on the list at all.

At the very least, one of the first two fights between Arlovski and Sylvia could have made the list to make at least one of those two fighters happy.

Maybe now that Tito Ortiz is back in Dana White's good books, he'll be able to make it into the "Ultimate 200" list in about seven years.

The UFC Hall of Fame

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the UFC creating a hall of fame to honor its greatest employees and contributors. As such, the UFC hall of fame serves quite well.

What the hall of fame does not do very well is act as a representation of the best fighters from the UFC's past, and it certainly doesn't serve very well as a hall of fame for the larger body of MMA.

There's really no reason that the UFC's hall should be worried about honoring those fighters who never fought outside of the UFC, so the UFC can't be blamed for that, but I'd certainly like to see the UFC ownership do a better job of honoring those fighters who really earned their spots in the hall on the basis of their in-Octagon performances.

The current hall of fame list isn't actually that bad, but I must admit that I was a little bit surprised that the UFC brass chose to induct Chuck Liddell last year even though he wasn't even really retired, rather than choosing to go back into antiquity to induct someone like Don Frye, Oleg Taktarov, or the first UFC light-heavyweight champion, Frank Shamrock.

It's not like Liddell isn't arguably more deserving, but it's also not like the UFC needed to be in any rush to induct him. The UFC brass inducted Liddell simply because it was a good political thing for them to do, and so they did it.

It will be interesting to see what kind of approach the UFC takes to the hall in the future, and if current UFC enemies like Pat Miletich ever receive such honors.

UFC Highlights and TV Shows

When Tito Ortiz re-signed with the UFC, he said that he was tired of seeing himself getting beaten up on television, and was looking forward to seeing himself winning a few fights.

He was, of course, not talking about actually winning any new fights. He was talking about all of the highlights that were shown in UFC promotional videos.

Videos featuring Ortiz getting knocked out by Liddell or getting spanked by Randy Couture were still readily available, but it seemed like the best highlight Ortiz could get would be one of him taking down Patrick Cote.

The "Best of PRIDE" Series

It's called "The Best of PRIDE" but it should really be called "Some of the Best of Pride" because this new television series that shows fights from Pride FC has some serious omissions, and notable early highlights.

Most notably missing from the current list of episodes is Fedor Emelianenko, current Strikeforce star and arguably the greatest star from PRIDE.

Should Emelianenko ever decide to sign with the UFC, the UFC could devote whole episodes to showing nothing but Emelianenko victories.

While Zuffa seems content to ignore Fedor's PRIDE tenure for obvious reasons, they have found the time to highlight Strikeforce stars Alistair Overeem and Gegard Mousasi—losing to Chuck Liddell and Akihiro Gono respectively.

What to Expect in the Near Future?

The UFC's use of the Hall of Fame affects those people who would wind up in a UFC Hall of Fame that honors fighters for their in-ring accomplishments instead of just those who are also in Dana White's good books.

I'll be interested in seeing if guys like Tim Sylvia, Pat Miletich, and others eventually find their way into the hall.  It's also interesting to wonder if the UFC's hall will ever eventually expand into a more inclusive hall for MMA.

The videos, lists, highlights and "Best of Pride" series will instead affect public perception of fighters who are more active currently than those eligible for the Hall of Fame. Those fighters include Dan Henderson, Fedor Emelianenko, Gegard Mousasi, and Alistair Overeem.

Expect to see a lot more highlights of Dan Henderson being bashed around by Anderson Silva, submitted by Nogueira, or perhaps getting "rape-choked" by Wanderlei Silva.

Expect to see no Emelianenko highlights from his days in PRIDE.

Mousasi's loss to Gono got some air-time, but don't expect to see either of his two PRIDE victories see the light of day unless burying Hector Lombard becomes a more pressing concern for the UFC.

Alistair Overeem's losses to Rogerio Nogueira and Maurico Rua may get some play, but I doubt we'll see his win over Vitor Belfort any time soon.