jimufctna24 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 I fucking love the Riggs story. Diaz would have won TUF 4 quite handily. I always thought he never got let go by the UFC after 59, I thought he had a contract that ran through to the Tibau fight. I must be wrong and he signed a 2 fight deal before the Neer fight because it was all over the Internet that the UFC would not resign him after that fight at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 21, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted June 21, 2012 (edited) Yeah the stuff about his release in '06 was hazy in my memory. I'd only got into MMA in 2005 and that time is all a blur to me so I dug around for info and from what I can gather they let him go for the three fight losing streak (Sanchez/Riggs/Sherk) and Dana has been quoted as saying his hospital brawl was a big part of why they let him go aswell. He had that Steinbeiss fight outside the UFC and I don't think they really planned on re-hiring him for the Neer fight but Alves pulled out really close to fight time and they were desperate. Diaz's wikipedia (yeah not the best source) says Diaz was due to fight John Alessio for some other company and the UFC called and offered him Neer on one day's notice. He signed a new contract (not clear how many fights for) but after the Tibau fight he decided to leave and signed with Gracie Fighting Championships. Dunno why he wanted out at that time but he had a fight lined up for Gracie FC with Thomas Denny but it fell apart and that's when he ended up fighting Gomi in Pride. here's a little promo for the ill fated GFC Diaz vs Denny fight (check out Diaz's shadow boxing) I'd love to have seen Diaz on TUF 4. Just imagine Diaz interacting with Shonie Carter I think he'd most likely have won aswell. I think aside from him not wanting to do the TUF thing with the house and stuff, he probably didn't wanna fight Matt Serra either being that they're both Gracie fighters. Would've been fun to see Diaz and Serra grapple though. Edited June 21, 2012 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 (edited) That makes sense, I remember they wanted rid of him after the Sanchez backstage argument. Thanks for plugging holes, I remember GFC now, a load of companys were being formed at this point, some like GFC never saw the light of day, the AFL and The Fighter are 2 I remember. EDIT: Guys go to the previous page to see Wand's latest post on Diaz, its a cracker. Edited June 21, 2012 by jimufctna24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnum Milano Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Some Diaz notes from the Observers of the time. - he took the fight with Neer on 4 days notice after Alves contracted Hepatitis A, and got $20K for the win. - shortly after a new promotion called World Fighter Championships appeared and was getting a bit of coverage. Their plan was to hold 16 and 32 man tournaments over a number of different weight classes with some serious money involved. Diaz was said to have been a part of this (no idea how this would've worked with him being under a UFC contract), with Cesar Gracie being the booker for them. Frank Shamrock was the biggest name to sign with them, though the company ended up failing as they didn't have the money, and had banked on the names of the fighters, advertising etc to raise the capital. - Diaz/Tibau nearly never took place. UFC 65 was being held at Sacramento, and Diaz decided to stay at home in Stockton rather than at the hotel. As a result he didn't get taken to the weigh ins, ended up driving and got caught in Friday rush hour traffic arriving way late. The Commission had already decided he had 5 more minutes to show or they were going to just cancel the fight and he made it at the last minute. He made $24K for the fight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 21, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted June 21, 2012 Interesting stuff there. Had no idea about that World Fighter Championships thing. I guess the 'Who the fuck calls me Diablo?' quote is from some other time then if he didn't make the weigh ins for Tibau. Probably the Neer fight. They were defo calling him 'Diablo' somewhere around that time. Cheers for the info. Doing that post I was finding it hard to piece together exactly what the fuck was going on with Diaz at that time. He was all over the place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnum Milano Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 I'll post some more info about the World Fighter Championship either later this evening or tomorrow. Just to clarify, Diaz did make the weigh ins for the Tibau fight. Had he stayed at the hotel in Sacramento, then he would have been taken to the weigh ins along with all the other fighters by the UFC. As he opted to stay at home in Stockton, he had to make his own way there and nearly missed them due to getting caught in the traffic. As I'm getting some info for this World Fighting Championship, you notice that there are money marks galore around in 2006. An example: Calvin Ayre's BoDog promotion supposedly had a $750,000 one-fight offer that they proposed to Brock Lesnar for a fight with Roger Gracie. At the time Gracie had never had an MMA fight, but he was coming off the back of the 2005 ADCC where he won both his weight class and also the Absolute championship, submitting all eight opponents along the way, plus he'd won the BJJ World Championships for the past three years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 (edited) I remember Bodog, you could not the miss the fucker in 2007 on the net. That was the company where Fedor fought Lindland. Do not forget the WFA in 2006 went for it big as well, their show over the Summer was actually not bad, the follow up sadly got cancelled and the company bought by UFC, that is how I believe they got Rampage. WFA sadly gave birth to Bill Goldbery as a commentator, fucking dreadful. 2006/2007 was the year of the money mark for sure. Edited June 21, 2012 by jimufctna24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnum Milano Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 I remember Bodog, you could not the miss the fucker in 2007 on the net. That was the company where Fedor fought Lindland. Do not forget the WFA in 2006 went for it big as well, their show over the Summer was actually not bad, the follow up sadly got cancelled and the company bought by UFC, that is how I believe they got Rampage. I was reading about the WFA purchase earlier aswell. Not only did they pick up Rampage's contract this way, but they also got Machida, Heath Herring, Ivan Salaverry, Razor Rob McCullough and Urijah Faber. There also seems to have been a situation with Lindland, where Dana White said that the UFC picked up his contract, though Lindland claimed he wasn't bound by a WFA contract and is not part of the deal. Don't know if this is an additional factor to the beef that White has with Lindland, or where it all began? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 (edited) Lindland and Dana fell out after he wore a sponsor he should not have had in 2005, I think it was after he submitted Travis Lutter. He did not help his case with his campaign about Rich Franklin being protected from him. I have not seen it, but there is a film about it made a few years back. I did not know they picked up Faber in that purchase though. Edited June 21, 2012 by jimufctna24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnum Milano Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 I did not know they picked up Faber in that purchase though. Doing a bit of digging online, it appears he signed a multi-fight deal with the WFA and was due to debut against a guy called Fabio Mello (no idea who) at the companies second PPV on 9th December. That PPV was cancelled, and two days later Zuffa purchased them. Interestingly enough, Carlos Condit vs Pele was also scheduled for that PPV, which would've been a heck of a fight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted June 21, 2012 Author Paid Members Share Posted June 21, 2012 I have not seen it, but there is a film about it made a few years back. Fighting Politics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 21, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted June 21, 2012 Yeah Zuffa did well off that. They're doing what Vince McMahon did in the 80s with the WWF. Go to each promotion and cherry pick who you want. If they're bound by contracts just buy the company or put them out of business. They got lucky Pride put themselves out of business and they got Wand, Nog, Shogun, Cro Cop etc. They bought the WFA and got the guys Magnum listed. Affliction went tits up and they got Belfort, Daley, Hominick, Little Nog, Rothwell etc. And the Strikeforce buyout of course, where despite Dana claiming 'business as usual' they quickly swiped Hendo, Diaz- Reem, Cung Le and Lavar Johnson. They don't fuck about. How did the WEC buyout go down? Did they get anyone when EliteXC crumbled I can't remember? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 21, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted June 21, 2012 (edited) I did not know they picked up Faber in that purchase though. Doing a bit of digging online, it appears he signed a multi-fight deal with the WFA and was due to debut against a guy called Fabio Mello (no idea who) at the companies second PPV on 9th December. That PPV was cancelled, and two days later Zuffa purchased them. Interestingly enough, Carlos Condit vs Pele was also scheduled for that PPV, which would've been a heck of a fight. Ah man, Condit vs Pele would've been a crazy fight. The name Fabio Mello rings a bell. edit - Mello fought Gomi at Pride: Bushido 4. That's where I must've seen him. Edited June 21, 2012 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnum Milano Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 How did the WEC buyout go down? Did they get anyone when EliteXC crumbled I can't remember? Looking at Elite's final card I don't think they got anyone directly, as a lot of the fighters seemed to be morphed into Strike Force. Guys like Kimbo, Petruzelli, Daley, Shields and Nelson eventually made their way (or returned) to the UFC but not straightaway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted June 21, 2012 Author Paid Members Share Posted June 21, 2012 it's crazy to see look back at all the shows that came and went over the years. I'd completely forgotten about Bodog. I never saw much of that stuff but i remember following it all online, I saw the bigger shows they put on though like the Fedor/Lindland PPV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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