The Lamb of Dana: Some of the UFC’s Most Efficient Sacrificial Lambs......

By: Jeffrey Lee

Throughout any organization or business, there will always be special interests invested for the long term future of the company. In sport, and with the UFC, this also rings true. With highly marketable and promising fighters on hand, the UFC wants nothing but see their product succeed. And when it comes to promoting such fighters, they do every bit to make sure they see their product grow and succeed.

Now the UFC can’t determine the outcome of the fights, but they sure as hell can choose the match up best suited for the more marketable fighter to win. With that said, I offer you the sacrificial lambs that had no chance of surviving the challenge ahead, but were placed there for the common good for the company and sport:

• Elvis Sinosic
Not once, but twice was the “King of Rock N’ Rumble” called upon to take one bad ass beating. Having recently won the first season of TUF, Forrest Griffin was hungry. He needed a new opponent. Four months after making his Octagon debut against Bill Mahood, Elvis Sinosic was tabbed as his replacement. Needless to say, three minutes later, Sinosic had succeeded in giving the UFC what they wanted. And how did they reward him? Well despite his 1-5 record inside the Octagon, he was called back again a year and a half later to fight another new TUF winner Michael Bisping. Once again, he did what was truly asked of him. He lost quite convincingly. Poor lad, I heard he was a nice guy though.
• Eddie Sanchez
“Eddie who?” “Who cares man, its Cro Cop’s debut!” Having never really been heard of or talked about, Eddie Sanchez stepped into the Octagon at UFC 67 to take on the infamous, Mirko Cro Cop. He was tabbed for a very specific reason. He was a standup fighter and would definitely not mess around by attempting to take the fight to the ground. And four and half minutes later, despite a valiant effort, Sanchez laid on the ground after a Cro Cop TKO. Don’t worry though; the UFC had more etiquette this time and rewarded him by letting him beat up on some guy named Soa Palelei a couple months later.

• Sam Hoger
Who could ever forget the “Alaskan Assassin”? From his stint on the first TUF, Hoger was portrayed as the lazy, selfish type and when it came to fighting, he wasn’t exactly the most skilled of the bunch. He soon found himself chosen to fight Forrest Griffin in the semifinals setting up a Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar finale. And after the show concluded, he was tabbed to be the victim of Bonnar’s comeback fight, TUF 2 champion Rashad Evan’s Octagon debut, and of course the infamous debut of Lyoto Machida, all of which resulting in successful losses.

• Joe Veres
Though you may have never seen any of his fights, since they were all on prelims’, Joe Veres should be hailed as the man that has gotten two TUF 5 alums Octagon careers’ on the right track. Since the conclusion of their finale, Gray Maynard and Corey Hill have had the privilege to be able to slug on the 5’6 stocky lightweight. Gray needed only 9 seconds and Corey Hill only 37 seconds of round two, in order to be able to post their first victories since the conclusion of the show. As far as Veres, well, no one has really seen much of him since.

Honorable Mention: Chris Price, Assuerio Silva, Hector Ramirez, John Halverson, Sean Salmon and Rex Holman.

What do you guys think? Who are some of the other "sacrificial lambs" so to speak?

i voted Jeffrey.Lee.
out of respect to the fighters i won`t say who! Assuerio Silva i wouldn`t say lamb! but tim is 6`8. Salmon like ivan i respect but at the cost of 45 ppv and cageside ticket prices and little nog tapping hendo back in pride i was thinking dana is reaching and maybe needs to be talked to in a respectful way! gonzaga really got screwed by the ufc ref when it was about 40 seconds left in the rd and he got standed up against mirko! major f... up for the world to see by dana and co! even if dana`s not like that!