January 16, 2016

Should the UFC mandate more extreme fighter nicknames?

It's no secret that the recent lull in the UFC's popularity is due in part to it's current lack of larger-than-life stars. As I peeped at the Ferreira/Craig thread I was struck by the somewhat bland nature of UFC fighter nicknames. "Mutant" and "Highlight" are ok but they lack any sort of epic feel. They are like a halfhearted attempt at sounding badass. 

If you're going to go in the direction of sounding tough why not go all out with something like "Destroying Demon of the Apocalypse" or "Son of Hades" or "Slayer of Light." Instead it's all really dreary attempts like "Pitbull," "The Count,""Cowboy","The Spider","Lil Heathen," etc etc. 

There are also a lot of mundane attempts at being lighthearted by using plays on words with things like Ryan "Darth" Bader and Jason "Dooms" Day. Wouldn't you agree fighters would be more popular if they just went with completely lighthearted things like Urijah "The Sunshine Smile Kid" Faber or Stipe "Quiet Nesting Bird" Miocic or Roy "The Germane Gourmand" Nelson?

It's pretty clear the next face of the UFC is going to be a fighter who can capitalize on this trend. Who do you think is going to be the first fighter to go with a more extreme nickname, and if no fighters are bold enough to make the change, should the UFC brass try to make fighters update their nickname to something with more pizazz?

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