UFC 270: Ngannou vs Gane - Jan 22 ??

[David]

16 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

It all stems from behind the scenes contract bullshit. It’s been picking up steam since the summer when Ngannou was supposed to defend the title against Derrick Lewis but they couldn’t agree on a date and the UFC just decided to create an interim belt and do Gane vs Lewis as a ‘fuck you’ to Ngannou. They said it was a disagreement on dates but at the same time Ngannou had been vocal about being unhappy with fighter pay. That rift started around the time when the UFC wanted to do Ngannou vs Jon Jones but didn’t wanna pay what those two wanted for the fight. There’s also been bickering between Dana and Ngannou’s manager apparently. Then recently Ngannou’s been on about wanting to leave the UFC to do some Boxing fights and Dana’s said ‘OK fine go then’, when really he’s anything but fine about it. Then they set up Ngannou vs Gane, clearly hoping Gane would win so they could tell Ngannou to piss off. Which is why when Ngannou won, Dana went backstage and sulked instead of putting the belt on him.

Basically Dana’s a fucking dick who can’t take his stance business wise but still be professional about it. Everything becomes personal with him. 

A major part of the issue is the fact that Ngannou's management team CAA is a direct competitor of Endeavor, who owns the UFC. This is blatantly why Dana has been pushing Francis to get "better representation."

CAA represents NFL & NBA players, works with Barcelona football club and so on. I think it's safe to say that they know how to do their job. Yet, Dana's take is:

Quote

“I think Francis has been misguided too, by some people who aren’t very bright. That doesn’t help either, when you got some people behind you that don’t have a f*cking clue what they’re talking about.”

I think the main issue here is that Francis has went down the route of working with an actual sports agency, which isn't usually the case with UFC fighters. Dana is used to dealing with the, and I mean no disrespect by this, usual MMA management figures. 

Compared to management groups like CAA these MMA regulars are small potatoes, and likely very easy for Dana and his guys to manipulate and deal with. Different story with Marquel Martin, who seemingly isn't in awe of Dana or willing to put up with his bullshit. His latest comments show exactly that:

Quote

“You hear this false narrative of representation [at UFC]. What does representation look like in your mind, UFC? To say yes to every single thing that you do. Am I supposed to take you out to dinner, be your best friend? No, I have a fiduciary obligation to my client, and the facts are, okay, if you want to judge me and try to put me out of business for whatever reason and bully me publicly, I don’t respond to that. CAA doesn’t respond to that. We know how to do our job. We’re very competent at what we do.”

“Let me make this clear: It’s not all about money. It is 1000 percent not all about money, and they know that. But at the end of the day, the UFC has a business model, that’s how they run it with all their fighters. They can’t put themselves in a situation to establish a precedent that negatively reflects [on] them, so that’s kind of the rub. If they had an offer that made sense for them and for Francis, we’re open to entertain it. They’ve made it pretty clear where they’re at, so it’s an unfortunate, and I hate to say this, but it feels like a standoff.”

TL;DR version? Ngannou and his choice of sports management are trying to treat these negotiations as they would negotiations with an NBA. MLB, or NFL franchise, and the UFC don't like that. More importantly, they don't want that becoming a trend.

Fighters are supposed to be awaiting the UFC call, and react like one of the idiots on the Contender Series show where they all compete for Dana's approval and his handshake and contract.

Edited January 25, 2022 by David

[Bus Surfer]

I am fully on board with fighters negotiating and getting whatever they feel they are worth. The UFC does pay peanuts and it was stated that they only needed to sell 24,000 ppvs on Saturday in order to pay the fighter wage bill for the night. That's incredible. When you add on ticket sales, sponsors and everything else for the event, its a no brainer that the UFC is taking the piss. 

Francis was on with Ariel last night. He mentioned he's passed up around 6 or 7 million so far in not going for what the UFC is offering. I'd love to know exactly what money and terms he wants in order to move forward. I've seen people online sagging him off saying he should have been happy with the 6 or 7 million, but it's hard to not feel for him when the Tyson Fury/Wilder amounts of 20 and 30 million get mentioned. 

I don't ever see a situation where the UFC let him Box alongside fighting under their umbrella. I'd love to know what terms he wants. 

Doesn't feel like it's gonna get sorted anytime soon. Francis deserves better. 

[David]

2 minutes ago, Silky Kisser said:

Francis was on with Ariel last night. He mentioned he's passed up around 6 or 7 million so far in not going for what the UFC is offering. I'd love to know exactly what money and terms he wants in order to move forward. I've seen people online sagging him off saying he should have been happy with the 6 or 7 million, but it's hard to not feel for him when the Tyson Fury/Wilder amounts of 20 and 30 million get mentioned. 

I think at this stage it's got a lot to do with how the UFC contracts are set out. We've all known exactly how restrictive they are, but it's maybe taken the emergence of actual sports management that deals with more than the UFC to be able to frame the contracts in comparison to those offered by the other major sports leagues out there, and realise that the UFC are running a bit of a racket here.

What we can be sure of is that the UFC will accept the loss of their heavyweight champion so long as it means they can maintain the overall fighter pay and contractual structure for the foreseeable future. But will that work? As fighters smarten up and begin working with these mainstream sports agencies we're going to see more spotlight on how these UFC contracts are laid out. 

Personally, I don't think UFC fighters can make claim to being worth the same levels of money the likes of Fury and Joshua earn, because they usually don't pull in the levels of revenue that those fighters do. For me, a champion being paid a show & win of about $2 million per fight or so sounds about right. They should obviously enjoy a decent chunk of PPV sales after a certain number as well, which could see them earn around that $6 million to $7 million mark. That's the incentive right there to make sure they market themselves well and so forth. 

But again, I don't think this is about the money with Ngannou. This is about how things are done.

For example, could you imagine if the same shit was going on, but from the other side? Imagine if Bob Arum or Frank Warren were threatening to sue Tyson Fury for even talking about a potential UFC appearance? 

Could you imagine Eddie Hearn trying to arrange the rematch for AJ against Usyk for a certain date, and when AJ says he needs more time to prepare Hearn comes out and says “If AJ don’t wanna fight, no problem. He can wait and fly around the world on vacation, whatever he's doing, knock yourself out. Whenever you’re ready we’re here.”

As fans we just accept this is how it is, but to those on the outside who deal with proper sports franchises and actual professionals it must seem bizarre. A professional promoter doesn't act the way Dana White does. It's like dealing with a 'roided up, bald Trump. The guy is literally a joke.

[Carbomb]

53 minutes ago, David said:

The guy is literally a joke.

Literally? ?

 

 

OK, fair enough. 

[wandshogun09]

Dana when a fighter asks for more money;

Dana later that night at the blackjack table;

[Egg Shen]

well, there you have it:

[David]

Even his explanation is pure fucking amateur hour, isn't it? He can't put out a statement without calling everyone an idiot. What a berk.

[Egg Shen]

?