INDUSTRY REDEFINING MOMENT TO UNVEIL WED 11/30

[Nash Diesel]

Hopped on Sherdog and saw this headline and I'm very very curious as to what it pertains to. It basically says that UFC fighters Donald Cerrone, Cain Velasquez, Tim Kennedy, TJ Dillashaw, and GSP himself will be joined by former Bellator CEO Bjork Rebney to announce an "industry redefining moment" tomorrow 11/30/2016. Read the short article and come to your own conclusion.

http://m.sherdog.com/news/news/GSP-UFC-Stars-Bjorn-Rebney-Promise-Industry-Redefining-Announcement-on-Wednesday-Call-114179

[Mark Hammer]

Nice. Any ideas?

[Percussion]

So this is about another union then? Well, good for them. But I also don't really give a fuck. Just keep playing punchstrangleface for money for my entertainment.

[Mark Hammer]

Would that really be "industry redefining" though?

[Percussion]

To the folks who really really really feel like this one is THE ONE ... I guess, ya.

Any guesses beyond that?

[Mik]

Its definitely going to be a fighter's union.

[LOCONUT]

Ehh. They have no real leverage unless they get all of the major fighters on board. I assume what they really care about is promotional rights?

[Nash Diesel]

At first the headline on Sherdog was pretty vague and I thought, holy shit there's going to be a new promotion with GSP at the front with some UFC fighters who are going to be free agents or are currently. THen I read the article and saw guys like Cain V, TJ Dillashaw, they're not going going anywhere. But when I saw Bjorn I did think of when he started Bellator and he had top 5 LW Eddie Alvarez chose them over the UFC and thought the same thing was going to happen with GSP leading the way. It has to be something pretty big considering the fighters involved are all UFC fighters.

[Fro]

Did the industry get re-defined yet?

[Nash Diesel]

So yeah pretty much what was thought this was going to be. The Mixed Martial Arts Athletes Association.....

http://www.newsday.com/sports/mixed-martial-arts/mixed-martial-arts-athletes-association-created-1.12682192

Not sure what to think but the quotes are very corny, even Tim Kennedy basically stealing a quote from the military "We're here to never leave somebody behind" which is basically a play off of "leave no man behind". Good luck fellas.

[Fanny Batter]

The sale opened this can of worms. How can a company be worth $4.2billion when guys are getting less than 100k for PPV's that bring in revenue dozens of times that amount? No name UFC fighter should be less than very wealthy. I don't think it's realistic for a 2-2 guy to be raking in shitloads, but even somebody like Jim Miller, who every UFC fan worth a salt knows, should have a few mill in the bank account. He's the equivalent of that trusty TE in American Football or a Left Back in our football - he's not the guy that sells out the stadia or gets all the plaudits but the sport just does not exist without guys like him. Either training camps need to be paid for by the company or salary needs to go up, because after fees, taxes and insurance these guys earn fuck all.

[Nash Diesel]

Yeah and the fact they did the Reebok deal which snuffed quite a bit of the fighters' pay. Not to mention only allowing certain sponsors and even having a certain fee that had to be paid to wear THOSE sponsors. I remember Dana White was like "Ronda doesn't have to wear a bunch of her sponsors on her gear and she's doing just fine!" Well that's Ronda. That's Conor. That's not everyone else who isn't a big name because no sport has ever had 100 big names, it's always like 2% of the entire population in that sport who are big big names getting big sponsorships.

[Fanny Batter]

What irritates me is that the logistic behind it has always been that guys get paid according to the revenue they bring in - how on earth do they manage that? For example, I saw a clip on UFC's social media of Diaz vs. Maynard today... that leads directly to revenue with web hits, possible spikes (obviously at a minor level) of Fight Pass subscriptions, increased discussion of the UFC which leads to greater interest and so on. From a tiny clip that can happen. Do Diaz and Maynard get anything from their fight being used to surge revenue? I very much doubt it. Do FOX pay them 100 million a year to just show Conor and Ronda fights? The correlation to revenue is so tremendously vague but they've seemingly got by with "he draws x on PPV so we'll pay him x/20" forever.

[Mark Hammer]

Nothing excites me about this industry defining news.

[McBain]

It's not supposed to.

[Mark Hammer]

On the contrary. The thread title is written in all caps.

[Nash Diesel]

On the contrary. The thread title is written in all caps.

Hey I thought it was going to be a super big deal. In a way it is, but it's wayyy too early to see what kind of good/bad it does. I have a feeling it's going to do more bad than good. To me it seems like they probably don't have a real plan and that they're just a group of guys banding together and talking about nothing. What plans do they have in place to ensure anything? It's like a ghost union, if that's a term, where it's not a real union because it'd be virtually impossible to do a fighter union at the snap of a finger but they're saying things that sound like they're trying to be one. Seriously what are they going to offer? Is GSP going to dip into his millions?

It's also "weird" that they are all pretty much represented by the new owner's competitor.

I do think that the UFC for too long with all the money they make, something has got to give. We hear a lot from people in the UFC and in general that we as fans, even most of the fighters, don't fully know the exact numbers of what it costs to put on a show, what fighters get paid "under the table", everything that goes into making that machine do what it needs to do with promotion, logistics, etc. I've heard that the taxes on putting on shows in certain states/countries are fucking insane sometimes which is why they have yet to do a show in Hawaii. So I don't want to be that guy who just says "They sold it for 4.2 billion why isn't Jim Miller a millionaire" because I'm sure the NFL is worth 20x that so they can pay Dick Tracy the back up punter league minimum of 500k or whatever. But with that said, and that's not a knock on you FB just using your words to just say we don't know the ins and outs, but there is no reason why they should adhere to JUST Reebok or certain sponsors and having to pay a fee to have that sponsor-obviously I'm talking pre-reebok with that.

The UFC though is the best MMA promotion in the world. No other promotion pays their fighters as much, they don't care of their fighters better than the UFC. If Jim Jones v. Tom Selleck falls through because of Visa issues, WSOF isn't still paying them their fight money but the UFC would.

[Spedizzo]

Something felt weird about seeing Cain/Cowboy up there. TJ Dillashaw is a cuck so it didn't make a difference to see him

Cain will never main event again (his injuries didn't help) and I wonder how Cowboy will be viewed in the graces of his new bosses/Dana White

Dana and co. are pretty swift in fucking over people who piss them off... whether it be getting cut easily, removed from analyst positions, whatever

[Mark Hammer]

Stipe vs Cain is a very real possibility and would certainly headline a ppv.

[Spedizzo]

He will most likely beat Werdum, and he will be logical as #1 contender

I did read somewhere though that Dana is really sour on AKA and putting them in the main event anymore

[Nash Diesel]

I wouldn't put anyone from AKA in the main event unless I absolutely had no other option. I mean Cain literally just said after the Werdum fight, win, lose, or draw, he has ANOTHER surgery lined up. AKA has great fighters but what the fuck is happening to them in training? It's not like they're the only gym that goes hard, but it's like a curse to be a top guy in that camp. That's why I laughed when Cormier had to pull out after just a few weeks ago talking shit about how untrustworthy Jon Jones is in terms of putting together the rematch. Cormier acted like he didn't already pull out 2 times before when set to face Jones and now look, had to pull out just a couple weeks prior with God know's what kind of injury.

[Mark Hammer]

Understandable but a simple remedy would be to line up another ranked HW bout on the same card. So if Cain pulls out you have a ready replacement. If Cain continues wrecking fools it will be hard to deny him.

[Nash Diesel]

If they're smart, IF Cain wins, and he's back by the Summer, you do Stipe v. Cain...but also have Junior Dos Santos on the main card as well and you could plug him in and do Stipe v. JDS 2. JDS was Stipe's last loss and JDS has lookedt beatable so it leaves it open that you know what, Stipe could get that win back and then you have a trilogy you could possibly do later on. Shitty thing with Dos Santos is he's really no better than Cain when it comes to injuries. He too has only fought like 4-5 times in the last couple years. Even shittier is, does anyone REALLLLY want to see Cain v. Dos Santos 4 after the beatings he took in 2 and 3? Not me, I love JDS, my favorite HW fighter, don't want him to get his ass beat again like that.

I find it fucking hilarious though that the UFC are getting more and more interested with rematches. In the past, Dana would talk about how they hate doing rematches. Now it's like they can't wait to rematch fighters especially when it comes to title fights.

[Mark Hammer]

I'd like to see that rematch. Stipe held his own when he was expected to get killed. A slightly better effort from Stipe in one of the three rounds he lost and he could have taken the decision.

[Nash Diesel]

I just wish A-JDS was more active and B-wasn't so spotty. You look at his record and it's win one, lose one, win one, lose one. I'm still bitter about the Overeem loss. Hate Overeem.

[Mark Hammer]

JDS' record didn't start becoming spotty til Cain got through with him. He's a shell of what he once was. Still dangerous, still a top HW, but he's not the killer he was up to and during his title reign.