***The Official MMA Thread***

[KcMizzou]

Excited about an upcoming fight? Want to make predictions, or just give people a heads-up that there are some fights on? We can do it here.

(Also a good place to complain, dicuss, and agrue about the outcomes)

[Chief_in_Commander]

Originally Posted by CoMoChief

Why lol at me calling any one of those people scrubs? Are you sticking your chest out of your Affliction shirt as we speak because I'm bashing MMA fighters? That's what they are, the guys White is talking about are scrubs. They may be company men, but they are what they are, and most if not all are fighters who Dana is talking about have no business being in the picture for a title shot like your Frank Mirs, Wanderlei Silvas, Forrest Griffins, etc.

No Sonnen is not a scrub, but thanks for making another point .......He's no scrub but Sonnen also doesn't deserve a title shot at the LHW division after moving up from MW and losing embarrassingly in his last match. Sonnen is a very good fighter and when you're competing at a very high level against top notch competition, you need to be 100% prepared because there is very small room for error once those cage doors shut, anything can happen if you're not well prepare for a fight.

Why would Jones, the biggest name in the sport right now, risk sponsorships, money, and his title just to name a few, on a fight where there is no benefit in winning? And have to prepare for Sonnen just a week before the fight? Not to mention the week leading up to the fight there is little training at all, most of the days are for press conferences, media days, fan expos, meet n greets, and other appearances. There's little time for preparation.

It's a lose lose situation. What Dana should have done is....if he's stock loaded with all of this talent that will fight whoever whenever, then he should have stripped the whole match period and replace it with another one with 2 different fighters....it's been done before, maybe not with this kind of lack of notice but it could be done. They'd probably lose less money by doing that instead of just cancelling the entire event.

Dana IMO chose Sonnen because they're talking trash on Twitter the past couple weeks and it went viral, Chael just lost to Anderson in what was one of the most anticipated fights since Lesnar was in the UFC, even though the end result was somewhat disappointing. He just moved to a higher weight class and is already talking shit on the champion in that division and Dana White is trying to capitalize on that.

Dana is simply looking out for Dana. That's all this comes down to....and when he doesn't get an answer he wants he throws a hissy fit like a child and talks shit on his fighters over the interwebs. Jon Jones has made shit tons of money for White and has kept the machine rolling after PPV's dropped in sales due to the Lesnar retirement. Now UFC isn't hurting by any means other than they're TUF cable network show. But the UFC on FOX cards have been crap except the first one and ratings are dropping on that as well. Jones has been a cash cow for White, and he's lucky to have a dominant champ in that star-loaded division like there is with Silva and GSP and now JDS in the HW division. Jones will fight 4 weeks from now. Dana needs to stop bitching, he could had fixed this with no prob.

I agree with alot of this but disagree with you in a few ways. First, Dana is looking out for the UFC, not Dana. I am not by any means a "Dana Fan" but he is really good at what he does and a very big reason the UFC is what it is today.

Lesnar isn't the reason pay-per views are down. Thats just stupid in general. It's not like Lesnar not being in the UFC causes all the other cards to not be watched/bought. He was a good draw but he didn't make the entire year of pay-per views go up by himself.

The UFC on Fox last card was great. The ratings were going up against the olympics so nobody expected them to blow it out of the water but it was one of the best cards i've seen.

Your "solution" for what Dana should of done is ignorant. You don't just take a title fight off the card that was the main reason everyone was watching and just put two "company men" fighters on there and tell the fans "Well here you go, sorry".

I can see why Jones didn't take the fight but I think he should have. He is where he is because of the UFC and the UFC has benefited from him too but all of the money the UFC lost on it and all the other fighters on the card lose out...I just wish he would of fought Sonnen. He had a scape goat anyway if he lost (which he shouldn't of) by his not being prepared for it and would of gotten an immediate rematch if somehow he did lose. Sonnen is a VERY good fighter but he isn't holding Jones down like he did to Anderson, no way. Jones is the champ and should welcome all challenegers. I seem to remember alot of people saying he didn't deserve the shot at Shogun when it happened.

[ragedogg69]

All I can say is Jones is handling this situation very badly. I would stay away from key phrases such as "cross to bare" and other self pitying comments. Everyone messed up here. He needs to go away for a while and let this all die down. The fans and the UFC are the ones that got screwed on this deal. All the fighters were required to get paid. Atleast those people stuck flying in for the event still can have fun in Vegas. Imagine flying into columbus for an UFC event only to have it cancelled.

Sorry for the rant, but I was a really big supporter for Jones. Now with his 2 DUI's and this, I cant help but root against him.

[barry_smilez20]

White is a POS.

[ragedogg69]

Originally Posted by barry_smilez20

White is a POS.

Agreed. With the crappiness of UFC 149, you cannot convince me that the UFC cares about the quality of its cards. So that cannot be a reason to cancel this event. UFC needs to go back to the 1 PPV event a month model with a free events sprinkled in every once in a while. It has been a year atleast since I watched an even without fast forwarding through a fight that I did not care about.

[CoMoChief]

Dana is the one that handled this incorrectly.

You don't bash you're #1 ranking P4P fighter and UFC cashcow because he doesn't want to take a fight on virtually ZERO notice, then blame an entire card's dismissal on the guy. Fight week is not a training week, because there are so many appearances etc, and a bunch of shit going on leading up to the fight, there's no time to train, let alone train for a top fighter in his respected class.

Dana White could have easily switched the main event, he's done it in the past.

[raybec 4]

Originally Posted by ragedogg69

All I can say is Jones is handling this situation very badly. I would stay away from key phrases such as "cross to bare" and other self pitying comments. Everyone messed up here. He needs to go away for a while and let this all die down. The fans and the UFC are the ones that got screwed on this deal. All the fighters were required to get paid. Atleast those people stuck flying in for the event still can have fun in Vegas. Imagine flying into columbus for an UFC event only to have it cancelled.

Sorry for the rant, but I was a really big supporter for Jones. Now with his 2 DUI's and this, I cant help but root against him.

This is not accurate, fighters are independent contractors and don't get paid unless they fight. Some have sponsorship deals that pay them a monthly check but that's only the top tier guys.

[ArrowheadHawk]

The UFC cancelled the fight not Jones. White is being a baby. If you want to guarantee that a fighter has to accept a different fight put it in the contract. Jones had the right to refuse a different opponent. If the UFC doesn't like it they can rewrite the contract.

[beach tribe]

Holy Crap. I finally found this clip from the very first UFC TOURNAMENT.
Watch the teeth fly out of the ring.
Edit: Can't see his teeth in that vid.
Embedding disabled
Dude's a straight up Nazi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc9zsHyDgps

[Chief_in_Commander]

Originally Posted by CoMoChief

Dana is the one that handled this incorrectly.

You don't bash you're #1 ranking P4P fighter and UFC cashcow because he doesn't want to take a fight on virtually ZERO notice, then blame an entire card's dismissal on the guy. Fight week is not a training week, because there are so many appearances etc, and a bunch of shit going on leading up to the fight, there's no time to train, let alone train for a top fighter in his respected class.

Dana White could have easily switched the main event, he's done it in the past.

What are you talking about? He was already training for a fight so how do you get 0 time to train? Chael is the one who would have 0 time to train. Yeah, Chael is a top fighter....at 185! Jones is a HUGE 205'er fighting a guy with 0 time to train, he should of taken the fight.

You are completely wrong about the main event. You don't just "Switch the main event". People bought tickets to see Jones, you don't just put anybody in there and act like it will make it all better. If I had tickets to that event and Jones got pulled and just some random fight was main event I would be MORE pissed, just give me a refund.

[Sorter]

Originally Posted by raybec 4

Some have sponsorship deals that pay them a monthly check but that's only the top tier guys.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

[CoMoChief]

Originally Posted by Chief_in_Commander

What are you talking about? He was already training for a fight so how do you get 0 time to train? Chael is the one who would have 0 time to train. Yeah, Chael is a top fighter....at 185! Jones is a HUGE 205'er fighting a guy with 0 time to train, he should of taken the fight.

You are completely wrong about the main event. You don't just "Switch the main event". People bought tickets to see Jones, you don't just put anybody in there and act like it will make it all better. If I had tickets to that event and Jones got pulled and just some random fight was main event I would be MORE pissed, just give me a refund.

I'm not completely wrong about the main event. White has changed the main event before. It CAN be done. It was White's fault for not putting another match on that card that was half way worth a crap. Would they lose money? Most likely they would. But you're talking about door sales to a show that houses 15,000 people. Most of the money comes from the millions of PPV buys.

You don't go in with a gameplan against one fighter, scrap everything and fight a top fighter in the world on virtually no notice when a title belt and endorsement deals are on the line.

At this level, if you're not prepared, not only do you lose, you get knocked the **** out. Bones' camp is 100000% right in this case. There's nothing wrong w/ Bones looking out for himself.

[raybec 4]

Originally Posted by Sorter

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Not every UFC fighter gets a monthly sponsor check

[Sorter]

Originally Posted by raybec 4

Not every UFC fighter gets a monthly sponsor check

Yes, they do. Sponsors make up the bulk of a fighter's salary in most cases. Every fighter in the UFC has sponsors, and they all make money from them. This is a fact.

[Sorter]

Additionally, most professional fighters in a large org such as the UFC get paid for media appearances (interviews, podcast interviews, seminars, etc) and are also extremely well compensated in terms of "locker room bonuses", which are not disclosed to the public sans a fighter or mgmt (Dana, Lorenzo) talking about it.

[Sorter]

The first part also applies to fighters in Bellator, Strikeforce, M1, etc. on a regular basis. However, the majority of a fighter's income is not from base salary, but via sponsors. For example: fight shorts, hats, walkout gear (t-shrits, sweats, etc). As an example, if you look at Thiago Alves e Koscheck's trunks, they are covered with sponsors, from which they get paid.