No love for the “Lay-and-Pray” Fighters

Are the fighters who get title shots the most deserving? Or are they simply the most marketable choice, fighters who are guaranteed to put on a good fight and sellout the event?

First let’s start with the UFC and take a look at the current champions in the promotion:

Heavyweight: Junior Dos Santos (Brazil)

Light Heavyweight: Jon Jones (USA)

Middleweight: Anderson Silva (Brazil)

Welterweight: Georges St. Pierre (Canada)

Lightweight: Frankie Edgar (USA)

Featherweight: Jose Aldo (Brazil)

Bantamweight: Dominick Cruz (USA)

These are all very exiting fighters and individuals who no one will argue have earned their title as champions.

But there have been a ton of talented fighters who either haven’t gotten a title shot or have had to wait WAY too long for their shot.

And most of these fighters are “lay-and-pray” fighters, guys with strong wrestling backgrounds who are criticized for taking their opponents down and laying on top of them.

That’s exactly what a “lay-and-pray” fighter is. You take your opponent down to the mat, lay on top of them, don’t do much damage and just take the fight to the judges scorecards for the win.

Effective? Yes. Boring to watch? Yes.

Whether you are a “lay-and-pray” fighter or not, if you’re labeled as one you’re screwed. No promoter wants their champion to be a boring “lay-and-pray” fighter…why? They won’t sell fights. You don’t sell fights, you don’t make money. It’s a no good situation.

Let’s take a look at some widely regarded “lay-and-pray” fighters who, in my opinion, have been screwed out of getting a title shot despite deserving it:

Jon Fitch (23-4-1-1, UFC Welterweight): Fitch failed to gain the title in 2008 against GSP in his “Fight of the Night” performance. Since then, Fitch has gone 5-1-1 winning 5 straight fights against notables such as Mike Pierce, Ben Saunders, and Thiago Alves (check out his career record here.) Most would argue that 5 wins in a row, especially against stiff competition, would warrant a title fight. But with those 5 wins ALL coming by way of decision, Fitch has been widely known as a boring “lay-and-pray” fighter who isn’t exciting to watch. Dana White, president of the UFC, has openly admitted in interviews how he doesn’t like to watch Fitch fight. Dan Hardy was given a shot after 4 wins straight against similar competition. However, he is a way more exciting fighter who knocks people out and finishes fights. He can sell PPV fights, Fitch can’t. So was Fitch not given his shot because he’s not marketable or because he really just wasn’t deserving?

Tyron Woodley in his win over Paul Daley at Strikeforce: Fedor vs Henderson (Photo courtesy: Josh Hedges via Getty Images)

Tyron Woodley (10-0, Strikeforce Welterweight): Since Woodley signed with Strikeforce, he has won all 8 fights with promotion including wins over notables Andre Galvao, Tarec Saffiedine, and Paul Daley. After Paul Daley and 7 wins in a row with the promotion, it only makes sense to give him the shot. However, Woodley has been criticized as a rather boring fighter at times who can “lay-and-pray” and try to out-point guys for the win. Not all the time though as we’ve seen his boxing improve exponentially since his first fight in Strikeforce. After Daley, they handed him a young prospect in Jordan Mein who he squeaked by in a split-decision win. Not to say Mein isn’t a tough fighter, but that surely is a downgrade from seasoned vet Paul Daley. Woodley should have gotten his shot after Daley plain and simple and I believe the reason he didn’t is because Coker and the Strikeforce promotion are trying to delay the title shot until Woodley literally beats everyone in the division and they have no choice but to give him a shot.

Davis working the ground-and-pound in his win against Noguiera (Photo Courtesy: Josh Hedges via Getty Images)

Phil Davis (9-1, UFC Light Heavyweight): Phil Davis, a young prospect in the UFC, has won all 5 fights so far in the UFC including wins over notables Brian Stann, Alexander Gustafsson, and most recently Antônio Rogério Nogueira. He faced Rashad Evans at UFC on Fox 2 in Chicago on January 28th. In an interview with MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani, Dana White was asked if Evans will get a title shot and he replied, “yea as long as he doesn’t get injured, Rashad Evans will get the next shot at Jon Jones.” When asked why Phil Davis wasn’t guaranteed the title shot as well, White went on to explain how Evans has been waiting for longer. Is this really the case, or does White not want to risk seeing a fighter who many argue is another boring “lay-and-pray” wrestler as champ?

These are just a few amongst the list of “lay-and-pray” fighters who aren’t getting any love.

It’s a hard issue to argue because from a business perspective, you want to make money. What promotion would possibly want a boring fighter who won’t sell fights as their divisions champion?

At the same time, the guys who earn their title shot should get it. It’s fair and the way it should be done.

That’s why I have a lot of respect for Bellator’s tournament-style fights. There are no matchmakers that can pick the fights they want to see and the champion has earned his shot, whether he is a boring fighter to watch or not.

Later this week co-editor Rob Martin will dig deep into the history of the tournament bracket style fights in various promotions such as Pride and Bellator and explain why that structure produces a TRUE champion.

Full video of interview with Dana White as referenced above in the Phil Davis section is here:

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Until next time,

Luke