MMA is a sport first but UFC is a business and they will always do what makes financial sense.
The MMA thread
- Thread starter Fortitude
- Start date
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Jamie (@Vault Dweller) are here to celebrate rare back-to-back victories for Manchester United! They analyse the late win in the Europa League vs. Rangers and then try and find things to analyse in a pretty dour game vs. Fulham. They also chat about the latest Marcus Rashford news, and look at the latest transfer news.
UFC has always been a circus of sorts. It began as a way of finding out which martial art was the best, rapidly progressing to giants fighting midgets, with fat bar brawlers like Tank Abbott swinging haymakers for a few minutes before either gassing or connecting with someone's chin. I certainly appreciate that the professionalism of the fighters, the media coverage, and the promotion as a whole has come a long way, but it's still about putting on a show. And if the show people want is a circus, a circus is what the UFC will give them.
Crazy that arguably the greatest ever is returning this weekend after an insane year and he's still in the shadow of this story.
Probably because everyone expects him to mow down OSP
I don't think that's the reason, it could be Jones Cormier on Saturday and McGregor would still be the story. I honestly didn't realise how massive he was until this past couple of days, crazy.
Conor McGregor is to the UFC what Stone Cold Steve Austin was to the WWF and Wrestling.
This is great tbh.
On his way to sell a caravan
is that a spaceship in the background ?
That's an ideal world scenario. I'd be surprised f the people making the decisions think the same thing. Sport in general has changed there's so much money involved now compared to even 15 years ago. It'd be hugely naive of the UFC or any business involved in sport to neglect a huge amount of money to accommodate a few people who aren't happy (but still watching the promotion!)
I think it would be a fair comment from the UFC to suggest that people have to adapt to their new way of thinking. People may not like McGregor antics and that's fair enough but the solution is easy. Just watch the fight? Don't watch the build up.
True. In fairness though if Jones said he was retiring the week before a McGregor fight then I'd imagine the reaction would be the same.
Yeah within the mma world itself a Jon Jones tweet saying he's retiring would be just as impactful I'd say. McGregor has more reach into the outside world and obviously in Ireland it's even bigger news.
This is great tbh.
He's just lost at least $10m, UFC loses their promotion machine for 200, and the fans lose the main event. What's so great about it ?
I'm sure he'll be booked soon enough to main event another card so it's not all bad considering the Diaz rematch was a bit of a joke anyway. In fact part of the reason the UFC held firm on pulling him rather than give in, might be due to the hostile reaction to the announcement in the first place.
Last edited:
Would they just reschedule the Diaz fight though? I mean if Frankie beats Aldo (big if) then McGregor v Edgar at MSG would make so much more sense.
I'll still watch and enjoy the event so, it doesn't bother me personally
What's the point in a press conference tour in this day in age, its old school, you can send out a tweet that will create more hype, make a personal video that will create more hype for a fight than any press conference will ever do.
I think this week's drama highlights how poorly treated the fighters generally are. Even McGregor is earning a fraction of what he really should be relative to other sports, let alone the no-mark fighters. The UFC also has far too much control and some of the conditions they impose on the fighters simply wouldn't hold in other sports. In that sense it's a positive thing for the sport to have someone stand up to the organisation, even if it is for purely selfish reasons.
It's really the sporting side of things where McGregor has been shown too much leeway. If it wasn't for that then I think people would be alright with him being given more freedom from the commercial/media side of things this time.
There certainly seemed to be a shift in his fellow fighter's opinions after his facebook statement. Before that it was McGregor wanting special treatment as per usual but afterwards they seemed to appreciate his desire to focus on the fighting rather than the media obligations they don't actually get paid for.
It's really the sporting side of things where McGregor has been shown too much leeway. If it wasn't for that then I think people would be alright with him being given more freedom from the commercial/media side of things this time.
There certainly seemed to be a shift in his fellow fighter's opinions after his facebook statement. Before that it was McGregor wanting special treatment as per usual but afterwards they seemed to appreciate his desire to focus on the fighting rather than the media obligations they don't actually get paid for.
I think McGregor is making out pretty well and certainly proportionately to the amount of hype he generates. Also, for me its better that we have an organized body that are promoting the sport (the UFC) as opposed to something like what Mayweather has been doing for years in boxing.
Watching the mma beat and they were discussing the impact the last few days has had on ufc 200 how much bigger itll be if they reinstate mcgregor.
They'd be mad not to. The ppv numbers would be insane.
They'd be mad not to. The ppv numbers would be insane.
I like the way the sporting side of the UFC is structured. In fact I think McGregor has been given too much leeway in that regard as is. Part of the appeal of the UFC is that the best fighters usually can't avoid the best fights that are available, yet McGregor has been allowed to do that with Aldo and Frankie left behind. That irks.
On the commercial side of things though? I think the fighters get a very raw deal. Fighters apparently get less than 15% of the money generated from a fight? Whereas in other sports (NBA, NFL, etc.) it would probably be something between 40-60%. In boxing the top fights can even go beyond that, up to around 80%.
That's without taking into account the extra freedom people participating in those sports have, or the better contracts (no championship clauses, no dodgy image rights deals, etc.) or unions backing the participants up.
Eh? The media obligations are to generate viewers, the more viewers the more he gets paid.
I can understand if Mcgregor says no more doing Conan and the morning breakfast shows in the days leading up to the fight, I'm sure he can negotiate that out of his contract, probably at a slight pay cut which is only fair.
But as far as I can tell, he's missing a press conference 3 months out that every fighter on the card is also being forced to attend? If he's doing more media than Nate is being forced to, he has a genuine complaint.
Aye, in effect he does benefit from following through on his media obligations. Usually though you would expect to get specific pay for those obligations, I think. That's why he made a point of saying he is not yet paid to promote. If that's the standard in other sports than it's hardly surprising he'd push for it too.
It's even more relevant for other fighters though as they don't get the ppv share that McGregor does. From their point of view the media stuff really is unpaid, which means his complaints probably struck a chord with them.
I'd like to see Nate vs. Tony Ferguson more than I would like to see him fight Connor again.
I wonder which fights are actually realistic options for UFC200 now?
I agree, which is why I think he only really has a right to complain about the stuff that only he has to do.
Apparently GSP is in negotiations to fight at 200 but isn't happy with the reebok deal.
To think how big this card could've been in a dream world scenario. Mcgregor hadn't lost and now going for a 2nd title, a Holm vs Ronda title rematch, and a GSP return...
Not only have results conspired against the biggest fights, right now none of the biggest names are even on the card at all.
Not only have results conspired against the biggest fights, right now none of the biggest names are even on the card at all.
Lawler vs Condit 2 would be nice, or even Matt Brown.
Mcdonald vs Thompson should had happen before or this weekend, so one of them could have gotten the title shot (hopefully Thompson) for ufc200.
Massive brainfart from Joe Silva.
they could have let Conor attend this shit via Hologram and everything would be Ok.
Nice Gyno Cain. Sure sign of PED use....
Diaz says he'll only fight Mcgregor, he's going on vacation otherwise.
This whole thing with Connor not wanting to travel to Vegas to promote the fight and then Dana getting pissed about it is quite ironic because the drama of it all has turned out to be a better promotion than filming some advert.
Which is why Dana will eventually relent imo.
I'm starting to think this whole set up has been concucted by McGregor and Dana now.
Multiply interest in UFC 200 twelve fold and quiten down all the McGregor is Dana's pet malarky.
Result.
Multiply interest in UFC 200 twelve fold and quiten down all the McGregor is Dana's pet malarky.
Result.
Why cant the fight go ahead if everybody wants it?
Cue Dana stomped with no answer to give.. Ridiculous.
Cue Dana stomped with no answer to give.. Ridiculous.
Dana White handled all the questions there quite well I thought, fair play to him it must be really frustrating getting asked the same question 100s of times
Helwani: "May not seem obvious to some, but very clear what Diaz is doing here. Not sure if that was part of the plan."
But it'd increase that talk hugely if he's reinstated for the fight which would surely be the plan if it was concocted by McGregor and White.
It was funny when Joanna told Claudia she would purt her fist in her mouth, and Claudia replied: "you should put that fist somewhere else" to what Joanna replied: "I'm engaged so...", to what Claudia replied: "well, then he is clearly not doing his job properly, or you wouldn't be acting like a bitch.."
game set match.
game set match.