UFC Exec: We own fighters bodies
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There's going to be some kind of interruption no doubt, and the guys who don't obey the blackout that Zuffa will demand will be punished (Mitrione, Jury, possibles etc).
Zuffa is incapable of seamless graceful solutions and transitions, they are akin to statist governmnents handing down the corn production mandate to a town regardless of whether it can both fulfil the quota and feed their own town population. They just decide in Ivory Towers (so to speak) and hand down the policies, this will disrupt things in the UFC for 6 months I bet unless they actually are capable of learning from something they don't handle right.
How do you think the next 6 months will play out? Zuffa will threaten and muzzle fighters & managers, using strong arm tactics? Or they will work with the fighters to negotiate better terms for the Reebok deal? And will the MMA media have the balls to continue spotlighting it?
some strange cuts and severed ties of a bunch of midcarders I bet. Hopefully it doesn't come to that but I don't see this just stopping on a dime and fighters just taking this one when considering certain guys. Then an ultimatum from that for the rest.
Perhaps some even touting the association and that may just start a McCarthyist line through the sport.
I do not see the next 6 months to a year being stable in MMA.
Personally, I hope it's (the UFC, not MMA) unstable as hell. I hope this is the last straw for fighters, causes them to band together, and the end result is a Fighters Association.
SO do I just see the UFC being unhappy as a situation where they will cause legal scorched earth and ripples throughout the sport if they lose grip on control. I can see them wanting to make people sit in limbo while they piss through money the Fritatas have just to grind the sport to halt to prevent others from taking the ball and roll with it.
IF they aren't leaning to sell at the first sight of major backfire, but this Reekbok stupidity seems to suggest otherwise.
I can definitely see fighters being shelved, asked to fight in horrible match-ups that make no sense, publicly lambasted if they decline, devalued, etc. That seems to be the price of doing business with the UFC, unfortunately.
Sam signed a contract agreeing to the terms he broke. He also knew that what he was doing was against the rules. The only question and gamble on Sam's part was how much of a fine would he receive and did the sponsor either 1: agree to pay the fine as well as sponsor money or 2: did Sam ask for an amount that he felt would cover the fine and leave a nice little chunk for his wallet. My problem with this is that I really dig Sam and I think a lot of people do and this has to hinder his relationship with his employer. Sam is winning fights and is at a place in his career that it would be beneficial to stay on Joe Silva's good side and I think he messed that up for a few grand. Hey he's the one with bill to pay, but in the long run this move hurts him.
First, welcome to the boards! Second, maybe he will fined...maybe he won't. Maybe his sponsor covers it...maybe they don't. Only Sam knows the details. What I appreciate is him having the balls to at least try to make some type of statement (regardless of whether we think it was smart or makes sense). I hope more fighters do the same, or band together to voice their disappointment and frustration with how they are being exploited by Zuffa.
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I'm not sure that they would use something like this to match him badly to hurt his career on purpose. At this point, they should be realising there is plenty to work with when it comes to Sam. He has 3 KO finishes in his last 3 fights, all in the first round, that sells itself, but more than that he is personable and friendly on the mic. Just that ability to chat on the mic freely, not clam up, and personably interact with fans and the crowd is a great asset that the UFC aren't dumb enough to miss. On top of all that he is genuinely nice guy that people can root for.
While I doubt he is championship material, just yet anyway, they can definitely use him to headline a fox pre-lim or in a curtain opener slot on a main card. He just called out Elias Theodoro, a nice middling name, who also has a bit of hype behind him, and has accepted, I'd be seriously surprised if you don't find that fight announced soon. I guess we will see what they think in the next few weeks to a month, on what fight he gets and where it is placed on a card.
You're technically right, but every issue that the product/labour sees as detrimental to them needs a stunt to bring some light. The Reebok deal eliminating all outside sponsors is technically legal and fine, yet, it's still a total crock of shit and hypocritical from people that have told their fighters to get managers who work hard for their fighters extra money through their own branding.
If Pranking and outside the box thinking even against their rules is what the fighters need, I support it.
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If the UFC had said: "OK here's the Reebok deal, we know it eliminates you own branding and extra money so, we're also bumping up the salaries along with the sponsorship"
That would be one thing. They didn't they let Reebok lockdown branding to two/three brands and expect the fighters to eat the losses when they had rightfully earned extra opportunities.
And no, them being sponsored outside of the UFC is not going to amount to shit, sponsors want their brands on fighters WHILE THEY DO WHAT THEY ARE KNOWN FOR. Only two of them right now has any crossover value to do commercials or do talk shows and make it worth a sponsors while to pay them for "Outside the cage" sponsorship.
Mitrione and Schaub are getting a massive shaft in this.
That would be one thing. They didn't they let Reebok lockdown branding to two/three brands and expect the fighters to eat the losses when they had rightfully earned extra opportunities.
And no, them being sponsored outside of the UFC is not going to amount to shit, sponsors want their brands on fighters WHILE THEY DO WHAT THEY ARE KNOWN FOR. Only two of them right now has any crossover value to do commercials or do talk shows and make it worth a sponsors while to pay them for "Outside the cage" sponsorship.
Mitrione and Schaub are getting a massive shaft in this.
Are they going to replace the Face the Pain intro with "Reebok the Zuffa, Time to face the Zuffering, I need a Reebok to my Zuffa"?
I can only assume.
I can only assume.
They All ready tried that with big country, wanted to make him cut the mullet and beard.
I honestly see both sides of this BUTTTTT..... They broke a "promise" to the fighters. They were originally allowed to get whatever sponsors they wanted. Now they have two organizations: UFC and reebok, telling them how they can and can't make money. I don't really care how much the fighters make because at the end of the day they did sign a contract. If the fighters don't want to fight under the new rules then the UFC should honor that and cut them. This would leave both sides with an amicable split. The UFC can hire fighters that want to work under those stringent rules and the previous fighter can fight for another organization. I think that if the UFC puts these guys on the sidelines for 6 months they (fighter) should be allowed to get out of their contract read: Wanderlei Silva. Its a contract not slavery.
When you own a casino there are certain things you can do in terms of advertising etc. You cannot sponsor a fighter as it looks like the fix might be in, much less have a competitor's logo sponsoring a fighter.
Due to the Fertittas owning Station Park Casinos there was a conflict of interest for sure for Ricco to be sporting a Golden Palace.com tattoo because it could have put SP casino licenses in jeopardy but more than that was that the event was at the Mohegan Sun which is a casino itself and they were overseeing the event. They almost stopped the fight because 1) he was sporting a competitor's logo and 2) they were worried about their own license. This would have killed the whole event.
At the time the UFC was doing small PPV numbers and was barely surviving. One tanked show would have put it under and destroyed the promotion.
Gambling is a huge part of the fight game and one that is an unspoken thing. Why do you think that they give the odds on fighters when they are showing the match ups? Why do you think that Vegas was the one place where MMA really took off and was legalized? Because there is money from gambling involved. This is why they talk about the odds in the PPV. So people betting can know where to lay their money.
When Hominick fought Edwards none of Tompkins' camp was allowed to place bets but at the last minute a mysterious LARGE bet was placed on Mark and the odds shifted so heavily that the odds makers went into panic mode and then when Mark won they went into sh*t-your-pants mode and certain fighters and their associates had investigations done on them in case there had been something going on.
It turned out there was nothing shady afoot but as far as MMA goes, don't kid yourself into thinking TUF saved the UFC any more than gambling and odds makers in Vegas.
One of these days I should sit down and write out how 1%er outlaw bike gangs pretty much started MMA in Canada and also supported it through the lean years. The tie between criminals and MMA is pretty strong.
Only after you finish the post mortem on sex guy.
I love Sam and am cool with his craftiness. I think it may have hurt in the sense of getting a bonus. Fighters deserve a lot more money. After listening and absorbing all the info I think over the near future we will see other sponsors come in and bring more money. Change is never easy and it will take time.
lol