“Fraud verify” is THE phrase of the 2020s in MMA.
What number of instances have we seen this cycle play out? A younger prospect with a flashy type joins the Octagon ranks. He kinds on a couple of opponents who often don’t have spectacular UFC information. The hype builds and the betting odds swell. A battle or two later, that thrilling youth is getting blanketed by an unheralded (however truly fairly good) UFC veteran, busting parlays and inciting offended calls of “FRAUD CHECK” from the nosebleeds.
This isn’t a brand new phenomena even when the time period is latest. Younger prospects have been getting wrestled because the daybreak of MMA. Prior to now, nevertheless, it appeared like battle followers had been a little bit extra hip to the idea. Any time a slick striker began to rise, any individual can be within the feedback questioning “however has he confronted a wrestler but?” No person is asking these questions anymore, so we’re simply left with offended accusations of fraud when the inevitable occurs.
Payton Talbott is the newest instance. He’s a extremely slick striker with nice combating instincts and appreciable bodily items. The 26-year-old was additionally simply 9-0 previous to final night time, which is a little bit early to be a 12-1 favourite. Talbott doesn’t have management of the betting odds, after all, however his opponent Raoni Barcelos injected some actuality into the state of affairs.
Right here’s the kicker: Barcelos is sort of good. We’re speaking a few lifelong martial artist. He’s a nationwide wrestling champion in Brazil with a bunch of jiu-jitsu accolades and a father who has a freaking coral belt. Barcelos began his UFC profession off with a 5-0 run, solely slowing down as a result of he bumped into a number of actually good fighters as he entered his late 30s.
Merely put, shedding to Barcelos doesn’t imply Talbott sucks. Barcelos has greater than twice the expertise and much more years on the mats than Talbott. It actually shouldn’t be such a shock {that a} fighter coming into his tenth professional battle nonetheless wants extra seasoning.
What’s the trigger within the shift, the transfer from “good prospects generally lose whereas studying” to “he’s now not undefeated due to this fact fraud?” It’s a consequence of the UFC’s determined seek for new stars. The entire UFC system proper now’s constructed upon bringing in a heap of younger fighters from Contenders Collection and advertising any of them who win a pair fights in a row as The Subsequent Massive Factor™.
Spoiler: most aren’t.
It’s fairly easy arithmetic that for each Sean O’Malley or Alex Pereira who rises by means of the ranks in explosive vogue, a bunch extra athletes are going to hit obstacles. Payton Talbott is just not the one in 1,000,000 fighter who’s world-class at the whole lot only a handful of fights into his profession. No person would have thought in any other case had been it not for the advertising push behind him.
The underside line right here is that Talbott can nonetheless be a proficient younger fighter even after shedding a battle. He nonetheless may accomplish nice issues within the cage. MMA followers used to satisfaction themselves on loving fighters with a number of losses in distinction with boxing’s unholy concentrate on padded information. By fashionable requirements, Charles Oliveira was fraud checked eight instances earlier than successful and defending UFC gold.
Fueled by sports activities betting and the advertising machine, expectations are actually outlandish. Talbott is nowhere close to the primary to get burned nor will he be the final.
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