UFC Fight Night 128 (Barboza vs Lee) Thread
- Thread starter Nastycrow
- Start date
THE FIRST said:
It's frickin Friday and there is no hype for this card...
What is going on>?
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Magson13 said:
Oversaturation of the market. This is proof there should be less UFC cards.
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It is not just the UFC, Bellator events quietly pass by. Last week's Chandler fight saw just 240k people watch it on the Paramount network. There is little buzz for MMA these days. Yes, the UFC could run fewer shows, but I don't think it would changes things that much, the core audience, for the sport as a whole, is smaller than it was a few years ago. I think that if the UFC ran one less show per month, the ratings would show little change. Bellator's numbers for this year are trending to be the lowest since before Coker, potentially the lowest since moving to Spike.
Time to freshen things up. Every event has the same PR campaign: Fight week media events are identical and on the exact same days, posters look similar, same with commercials. I think the UFC has to not just put on strong shows, but completely revamp how they market it ( commercials, posters), the overall production...all of it. It looks and feels the same as it did 10 years ago. The UFC runs like a well-oiled machine, but that is now hurting them.
Mike Porch MMA said:
Not hard to see what Kevin Lee is doing. Heard/read a few sound bytes from him interview with Helwani. He's really talking down Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier. He's trying to make them come off lesser so he can possibly leap frog the line for a title shot again. I dont think it will work.
Ive heard a rumor that negotiaions have begun between Khabib & Conor to fight at the end of the year. Khabib's camp has quietly released info that if negotiations with Conor stall or just completely drag on, they will move on and pursue a fight with Dustin Poirier.
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Making weight would go a long ways towards getting a title fight.
I think Khabib wants to be active, injuries have taken considerable time off of his career, he now has the belt and likely wants to waste little time making his mark. It probably does not just that he has been very dominant and while anyone can win or lose on a given night, he has good reason to be confidant going into any match-up.
Spud said:
Leslie Smith says she's being paid her show and win money and the UFC consider that the end of her contract. Looks like they've got rid of the fighter leading the unionisation campaign.
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lol. can she refuse the pay in order to stay in the UFC?
seems like a pretty funny smart move for turning down an Aspen Ladd fight.
Spud said:
Leslie Smith says she's being paid her show and win money and the UFC consider that the end of her contract. Looks like they've got rid of the fighter leading the unionisation campaign.
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I am sure that is part of it, but if she had 3 fights left, I doubt they would have done it. It bugs me when ANY fighter misses weight, but I think Smith's refusal to take the 20% + an extra 5k for Ladd's 1.7 overage, added to her open criticism of the UFC, had Shelby thinking it was best to just call it a wrap. It will be interesting to see if she ends up at Bellator, they would likely pay more than Invicta. I am also curious to see if her vocal nature, combined with her union efforts, impact her options.
Jak said:
lol. can she refuse the pay in order to stay in the UFC?
seems like a pretty funny smart move for turning down an Aspen Ladd fight.
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I think she could, the UFC initially tried to buy out Hunt's contract. He refused so they had to provide him with fights.
Jak said:
Jeebs.... Leslie smith was making a lot of money to be a veteran fight for up and coming fighters.
I thought that she was turning down 22-26k or something that might actually be paltry.
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Apparently Leslie Smith wanted 100K contract...normally I stick up for the fighters against the UFC machine...but really Leslie.
John8204 said:
Apparently Leslie Smith wanted 100K contract...normally I stick up for the fighters against the UFC machine...but really Leslie.
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When you consider how limited her options are, it was a strange request. Especially at a time where UFC revenue is down.
And she made it sound like Ladd did this intentionally. That she waited until 9 to weigh in (Which is likely true since, you know, she still had weight to cut) and made a point of saying things to the doctor to make him stop her from cutting any more. Why would Ladd want to miss weigh and give up money?
I don't know if all commissions have followed the CSAC's path where the fighter gets fined a percentage of the show and win purse when they miss weight, but if Smith is thinking that Ladd missed weight strategically so that she'd have the edge, it's just math. Give up 20% of your show purse but get the 100% increase by getting the win bonus. Although, Ladd would also be sacrificing the possibility of winning a performance bonus or two that might be more than her win bonus.
I think Leslie Smith is just a strange woman in general. Tons of heart. Fun to watch. But she's not all there. Fascinating mentality.
Personally? I feel like Leslie is just one of those people who
chooses
to be difficult to deal with, in these situations. Fighter safety & progressiveness in their perks are important, imo, but Leslie
has
to understand she's not being realistic. Again, interesting woman. I still remember her fight with Cyborg fondly. KO'ed w/out any issue, but complained at the stoppage and literally cried when Buffer announced the result. Kept screaming "I never fu----ng quit!"
Mike Porch MMA said:
I think Leslie Smith is just a strange woman in general. Tons of heart. Fun to watch. But she's not all there. Fascinating mentality
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her decisions today seemed tantrum-y. Although getting show and win money to not fight is pretty sweet too. It's more than she would've got with a loss.
Mike Porch MMA said:
I think Leslie Smith is just a strange woman in general. Tons of heart. Fun to watch. But she's not all there. Fascinating mentality.
Personally? I feel like Leslie is just one of those people who
chooses
to be difficult to deal with, in these situations. Fighter safety & progressiveness in their perks are important, imo, but Leslie
has
to understand she's not being realistic. Again, interesting woman. I still remember her fight with Cyborg fondly. KO'ed w/out any issue, but complained at the stoppage and literally cried when Buffer announced the result. Kept screaming "I never fu----ng quit!"
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So.... Just a normal crazy women?
Mike Porch MMA said:
I think Leslie Smith is just a strange woman in general. Tons of heart. Fun to watch. But she's not all there. Fascinating mentality.
Personally? I feel like Leslie is just one of those people who
chooses
to be difficult to deal with, in these situations. Fighter safety & progressiveness in their perks are important, imo, but Leslie
has
to understand she's not being realistic. Again, interesting woman. I still remember her fight with Cyborg fondly. KO'ed w/out any issue, but complained at the stoppage and literally cried when Buffer announced the result. Kept screaming "I never fu----ng quit!"
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Jak said:
her decisions today seemed tantrum-y. Although getting show and win money to not fight is pretty sweet too. It's more than she would've got with a loss.
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I don't think she is the best person to be representing the potential union. Imagine her talking in public, or in front of congress...it could be cringeworthy.
More from Smith:
“I considered fighting Aspen anyway, purely out of pride,” Smith told MMA Fighting. “And another chance to showcase my skills in the Octagon. But if I had done that, it would have been purely pride. And I would have been fighting for free since I was already getting paid the money. Fighting for free out of pride is everything that I have been speaking out against. It’s not everything — there’s more to it. The manipulation of the fighters through pride was something that I felt pretty strongly about. So I’m not fighting her, because I don’t feel like I should fight for free.”
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Not true, she would have rec'd 2400 and Ladd's camp offered another 5k.
“I figured I had some leverage in the situation,” Smith said. “I told the UFC that I would be willing to take the fight as long as they extended my contract. They did not want to extend my contract. Instead, they said they would pay me my win bonus in addition to my show money and that would fulfill the fight on my contract and they would not be extending it.”
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As I understand it, based on what I have read and have been told, Smith wanted her contract extended one more fight. She is already on the record saying that she would not re-sign for less than 100k show money, a little over three times her current pay.
Smith is currently the president of Project Spearhead, an effort to determine whether UFC fighters are employees or independent contractors. Smith and those involved with Project Spearhead believe UFC fighters are employees and are seeking eventual unionization and federal protections. She has been very active on social media and in the press asking fighters to sign union authorization cards.
“It feels like the UFC is paying me off to go away,” Smith said.
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Do I think her union stance played a part? Yes. But she also openly criticized the org and had an overall record of 4-3. So a 4-3 fighter, that wants to unionize UFC fighters and criticizes the UFC, one that wants her pay tripled, would only take this fight if her contract was extended, was paid off by the UFC....what a shock.
But Smith was not done, she then went out of her way to bury her scheduled opponent:
“That’s disrespectful,” Smith said. “It’s super disrespectful. First off, she’s disrespecting all the other women who fight, because we all have periods, too, and we still make weight. We have our period before our fights, during our fights and after our fights, but we still make weight. We don’t blame it one anything. It’s shady. It’s not the first time that she hasn’t made weight.”
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And you want to be the face of a fighter union?
MysterLynch said:
It is not just the UFC, Bellator events quietly pass by. Last week's Chandler fight saw just 240k people watch it on the Paramount network. There is little buzz for MMA these days. Yes, the UFC could run fewer shows, but I don't think it would changes things that much, the core audience, for the sport as a whole, is smaller than it was a few years ago. I think that if the UFC ran one less show per month, the ratings would show little change. Bellator's numbers for this year are trending to be the lowest since before Coker, potentially the lowest since moving to Spike.
Time to freshen things up. Every event has the same PR campaign: Fight week media events are identical and on the exact same days, posters look similar, same with commercials. I think the UFC has to not just put on strong shows, but completely revamp how they market it ( commercials, posters), the overall production...all of it. It looks and feels the same as it did 10 years ago. The UFC runs like a well-oiled machine, but that is now hurting them.
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That's the thing - I lately was saying there are doing poor job promoting fighters like with MM and when a fighter is not great self promoter they /UFC/ can't market them.
The boom for mma now is not as high, it's slowed down and shows every week not making it better. Quality of the fights are there but there are cards that are not so great when it comes to names or their importance. Ppl though are going after a individual fighters esp when it';s individual sport and as you said it all seems like the same.
But UFC again were banking on one big show or two in a year and lesser cards were not promoted. So the platform for fresh new guys is not as big. When you have fewer shows you watch most of them so ppl get to know fighters. When there are so many fights - fighters can be overlooked.