UFC 207: Nunes vs Rousey

[ColinBollocks]

It's a weird one. Similar to Brock, I can't see her sticking around unless she's connected to the title somehow. Still, does she want her finale in MMA to be two straight losses? Ronda is one of those fighters that constantly bangs on about her legacy and it's such a crap way to end such a pioneering career.

[David]

Yeah, but after two losses where do you go? Further down the card? Maybe even a third loss? It would be interesting to see what would happen.

[jimufctna24]

I think Ronda will take another lengthy absence if she losses. I can't see her shaking off another defeat, and coming back 3 months down the line. It just doesn't suit her temperament. We all know how hard she took her last defeat. 

 

However, even if it goes terribly, I don't think this will be her last fight. Time is a great healer, and money talks. Almost everyone in MMA tries to come back at least once. Especially major stars. People forget that Ronda's pre-cursor - Gina Carano - was pencilled in to return a few years after she retired. I think her pre-fight medical got it the way. GSP has been circling a return for quite some time now. Fedor went back on his retirement last year. The list goes on and on. 

[herbie747]

Gina Carano - was pencilled in to return a few years after she retired. I think her pre-fight medical got it the way. GSP has been circling a return for quite some time now. Fedor went back on his retirement last year. The list goes on and on. 

 

2/3rds of your list are people that didn't come back. People who have money rarely come back - and Rhonda has money.

[jimufctna24]

GSP hasn't come back yet, but it seems inevitable that he will once his contract dispute is sorted. Gina also intended to come back. While I'm not their accountants, Couture and Fedor hung up the gloves while seemingly financially stable, yet both came back. Lesnar is another example.

 

There are examples of fighters retiring and sticking to it, but perhaps none as viable as Rousey. The UFC has no reason to coax Forrest or Franklin back into the Octagon right now. They can easily live without them. In 3 years time, a Rousey comeback fight might be the best thing that the UFC can pursue business wise.

[herbie747]

Yeah but you listed 3 examples of people who've come back, and 2 of them haven't come back. That's all I was saying - if you're going to list off people who came back, don't list ones that nearly did - just use better examples.

 

And Fedor came back because he was broke. I'd say those M1 fuckers fleeced him. Randy came back because his previous run was during the darker days of the sport - he earned fuck all. Brock came back because he was offered a mint for 1 fight, and had something to prove to himself.

 

Rousey has money now. And I reckon she's mentally checked out. She has done ZERO media for this - not 1 interview or press conference or media call. There are 2 ways to react to a loss - the way Rousey did: turn into a hermit, cry, be an emotional wreck, go on chat shows & talk about suicide - or like McGregor did: focus 100% on one goal with all of your efforts at all costs. Rhonda didn't even bother ditching that moron coach of hers. 

[David]

And Fedor came back because he was broke. I'd say those M1 fuckers fleeced him. 

 

Fedor is part-owner of M1 though Herb, so he'd have essentially been fleecing himself. In all my time reading about Fedor never did I hear about him being broke from any real reputable source. In fact, he supposedly made over $2 million for beating Jaideep Singh in his Rizin debut, and a similar amount for the Maldonado fight, on top of a substantial cut of the Russian gate and PPV money, taking him to well over $5 million apparently.

 

He's been earning mental money for beating chumps since 2011, and earned around $1.5 million for fighting Dan Henderson in Strikeforce.

 

It could be said that he's earned that much money that he could afford to continually tell the UFC to piss off throughout the latter half of his career.

[herbie747]

Don't know if he's broke, but I think he got taken for a ride by a lot of people around him when he was fighting. He seemed to have complete trust in his management to the point where he had no idea or input into his contract deals. I think a lot of his money may have gone into supporting M-1 too. And I wouldn't be surprised at all if he was extorted for a lot of cash; happens to a lot of Russian athletes.

 

I realise we don't know for sure - but his brother thought he was being taken for a ride by Vadim.

 

And if he has money, why is he fighting again? If it's because he wants to compete, then he'd be itching to test himself against the best in UFC. But he's fighting Matt Mitrione & Fabio Maldonado. He's choosing the easy fights & cash-grabs. So with that in mind, you have to wonder what his motivation is!?

[ColinBollocks]

Fedor being broke is heartbreaking, if true. It would be mad if he is considering the amount of companies he's managed to bankrupt due to him getting silly money.

[herbie747]

Fedor being broke is heartbreaking, if true. It would be mad if he is considering the amount of companies he's managed to bankrupt due to him getting silly money.

 

He didn't get the silly money though. His management did. Vadim is shady AF. He had Fedor building churches and who knows what else. Lots of top Russian athletes have been extorted by the mob. Have you seem "The Red Army" documentary? It's about a Russian ice hockey team that were the best in the world, but the Russian government wouldn't let them leave the team. Fascinating.

Fedor had a couple of divorces too and lives in a small communist era apartment. Who the fuck knows what went on!?

 

Edit - he was sued for $3.3m (226.2 Million Rubles) - explains his return.

https://www.reddit.com/r/MMA/comments/4c1a61/fedor_emelianeko_sued_for_226m_rubles_33m_usd_due/

[ColinBollocks]

You would hope he got a healthy taste of that money, though, wouldn't you?

[herbie747]

You would hope he got a healthy taste of that money, though, wouldn't you?

You'd hope yeah, but I doubt it. I'd say he had a few million put away, but got sued recently so he's broke now.

[ColinBollocks]

Ah right. I missed the whole sued edit. I guess it makes more sense him being broke or at least fearing he'll end up that way.

 

A shame though. Compare the current Fedor scenario to Faber's retirement and it's a little sad. I don't mind older fighters choosing to fight on, if they still enjoy it, but doing it because you're a broke bitch is horrible.

[David]

Don't know if he's broke, but I think he got taken for a ride by a lot of people around him when he was fighting. He seemed to have complete trust in his management to the point where he had no idea or input into his contract deals. I think a lot of his money may have gone into supporting M-1 too. And I wouldn't be surprised at all if he was extorted for a lot of cash; happens to a lot of Russian athletes.

 

I realise we don't know for sure - but his brother thought he was being taken for a ride by Vadim.

 

And if he has money, why is he fighting again? If it's because he wants to compete, then he'd be itching to test himself against the best in UFC. But he's fighting Matt Mitrione & Fabio Maldonado. He's choosing the easy fights & cash-grabs. So with that in mind, you have to wonder what his motivation is!?

 

I think if we look at it all objectively the actual opposite is true. The people around him & advising him haven't taken him for a ride, they've managed to play a major part in negotiating contracts and salaries that Fedor really had no right earning. There were copies of a contract that Fedor signed in 2008 that apparently covers his two fights with Affliction and also a couple with Strikeforce in which he earned a minimum of $2 million per fight.

 

People talk about Conor being a shrewd businessman? Fedor has been paid millions of dollars per fight to smash up cans on many occasions. From the point where he beat Mark Hunt in 2006 up until he fought and lost to Werdum in 2010 he fought five times, never making less than $1 million per fight (usually earning around double that apparently), and maybe two of those fights were legit serious in Arlovski (although it was pre-recent UFC run Arlovski, who was shite) and Rodgers.

 

Even losing 3 in a row, all by stoppage and submission in Strikeforce, didn't dent his earning power for some reason, as he went on to beat a crippled Jeff Monson in a show that he promoted and that drew the then-largest live crowd for an MMA event in Europe (22,153) and reached 7.5 million viewers.

 

Since doing that he smashed Satoshi Ishii in Japan on New Year in front of over 20,000 people and hammered Pedro Rizzo in another M1 show before retiring.

 

Then he came back and signed with Rizin to make $2.5 million to beat Singh, and made another boatload of cash when he "beat" Fabio Maldonado in an M1 show in Russia.

 

Now he's signed a multi-fight deal with Bellator that still allows him to fight outwith the promotion, and you can bet that he's not being paid chump change here either.

 

He's also not being extorted by anyone most likely. The guy is on first-name terms with the biggest Russian gangster of them all, Vladimir Putin, who issued a decree to have Fedor installed on the Russian Presidential Council.

 

And honestly, why would he be arsed about signing one of the restrictive contracts that the UFC offers its fighters? Fedor has already said that he thinks UFC fighters are akin to slaves, so there's little chance he'd be looking to get involved with them. As shown above, he gets paid a shitload of dough to beat up hand-picked opponents for the most part, and he most likely double-dips the profits when he's paid as a fighter, and also shares in the promotional earnings as a part-owner of M1. 

 

He's not in it for the competition, he's in it to make as much money as possible for as little effort as possible, and he's also a nationalistic star in Russia, campaigning with Putin and suchlike.

 

As for his brother, you have to remember that he is a fucking mentalist. He's claimed in the past that he single-handedly killed a bear by stabbing it through the throat with a spear before stabbing it in the heart, and has just been released from jail after serving time for sexual assault.

 

So aye, even if he was sued for $3 million there's a pretty good chance he didn't actually pay for it (it was an actual company that was sued, not him personally I don't think), and even if he did he'll be sitting on more than enough Roubles to throw away $3 million and still be chuckling all the way to the Bank of Russia. 

 

This image of him as a simple, God-fearing man who's being taken to the cleaners by the Russian mafia and his evil manager is bullshit. It's carefully cultivated to keep him popular in Russia, but the cunt is loaded, and has his fingers in a lot of Russian-flavoured pies, from Governmental positions to being the Chairman of the Russian MMA Union, to part-owning a major MMA promotion, to hanging out with Putin.

 

In short, he's come back because there's easy money to be made, as always. Coker's a smart man, which makes me wonder why he's falling for the Fedor allure yet again. There's no money to be made off him unless they're planning a move into Russia or looking for Russian TV deals.

[the_mole]

Quoting Rizin is nonsense, Japanese orgs like to exaggerate, there is plenty of proof I can't be bothered adding but Pride lied about their finances for over a year, They lied about their attendance, Saitama seats up to 37,000 according to their website and Rizin lied about their NY ratings, said in was 10 million when it was 6.

 

Bellator already have a Russian TV deal, same one the UFC has.