(A vote against wholesome, quality entertainment like this is a vote against America, IMHO.)
It would be hard to deny that the MMA commentsphere’s seething hatred of all things Ronda Rousey was ever more intense than during her coaching gig on The Ultimate Fighter 18. Whether it was her brash personality, her wild mood swings, or her inability to be humble in victory or classy in defeat, it’s safe to say that “Rowdy” rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way by the time TUF had finished taping. Not that affected her ability to kick ass in the slightest, because well, Rousey is the kind of crazy that cannot be phased by unfavorable media coverage. Or trash-talk. Or the skillset of 99% of her opponents.
In any case, Rousey recently spoke with Sportsnet about her time on the show, and when the discussion shifted to the “infamous” brawl between Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen on this season’s TUF Brazil, the women’s champ revealed that not even she supports the reality show that many feel has long overstayed its welcome:
I don’t watch ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ now that I know how much bull is in it. I don’t support it.
They don’t know the first thing about fighting. They only know about reality TV and they treated us like we were ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ and not elite athletes that should be respected.
You hear that? Ronda Rousey just sort-of referred to Miesha Tate as an “elite athlete.” Can we all forgive her for that whole handshake diss now?
(A vote against wholesome, quality entertainment like this is a vote against America, IMHO.)
It would be hard to deny that the MMA commentsphere’s seething hatred of all things Ronda Rousey was ever more intense than during her coaching gig on The Ultimate Fighter 18. Whether it was her brash personality, her wild mood swings, or her inability to be humble in victory or classy in defeat, it’s safe to say that “Rowdy” rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way by the time TUF had finished taping. Not that affected her ability to kick ass in the slightest, because well, Rousey is the kind of crazy that cannot be phased by unfavorable media coverage. Or trash-talk. Or the skillset of 99% of her opponents.
In any case, Rousey recently spoke with Sportsnet about her time on the show, and when the discussion shifted to the “infamous” brawl between Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen on this season’s TUF Brazil, the women’s champ revealed that not even she supports the reality show that many feel has long overstayed its welcome:
I don’t watch ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ now that I know how much bull is in it. I don’t support it.
They don’t know the first thing about fighting. They only know about reality TV and they treated us like we were ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ and not elite athletes that should be respected.
You hear that? Ronda Rousey just sort-of referred to Miesha Tate as an “elite athlete.” Can we all forgive her for that whole handshake diss now?
Having briefly been employed in the soulless, hackneyed landscape that is reality television, I have to agree with Ronda here. Reality television producers are greasy-palmed, ghoulish characters who will use whatever editing tricks they need in order to fabricate drama, often out of thin air and with no regard to the integrity of the people they are portraying.
Take for instance, when Tate attempted to shake hands with Rousey following a victory in episode 7, only to have Rousey and Marina Shafir flip her the bird in response. Did you know that Rousey was actually giving her a thumbs up, and that those trickster TUF editors blurred it to make it *look* as if she was giving Tate the universal symbol for go fuck yourself? Or that the moment where Rousey defeated Tate in the coaches’ challenge and yelled “Fuck you, bitch!” while flipping her off was actually done using body doubles, 3D image scanners, and performance capture technology? Or that when, even after TUF had wrapped, the producers injected Rousey with a combination of horse tranquilizer and estrogen prior to her TUF 18 Finale interview to make her appear frigid and uninterested? Like I said, bastards all, those reality show producers are.
Which reminds me, has anyone been watching TUF 19? I know the rapport between BJ Penn and Frankie Edgar seemed respectful during the premiere, but I literally have not caught a second of the show since. That said, I really hope that one guy who’s struggling to support his wife and three kids wins this season. You know, the one with the tribal arm band and perpetual stubble who didn’t come to make any friends and never leaves it in the hands of the judges. Yeah, go that guy.
(The face of MMA’s anti-PED crusade, ladies and gentlemen.)
Does it say more about the UFC or its athletes that classy, universally-respected guys like Georges St. Pierre and Brian Stann only feel comfortable discussing their gripes with the organization’s drug-testing policies after they have stepped away from the sport? It’s hard to say for sure, but in any case, Stann has followed suit with GSP, first lamenting the sport’s drug issues as a “major part” of why he retired earlier this month before further explaining himself during an appearance on The MMA Houryesterday.
While Stann refused to name names, he was quick to admit that MMA’s lackadaisical drug-testing has made it easy for many a fighter to cycle on and off PED’s over the years — a trend that will continue to plague the sport until a change is made:
I think the time when you retire coming off a loss and then you say that, what I didn’t want to do was discredit any of my former opponents. You know, specifically seeing that Wanderlei (Silva) was my last fight, I didn’t want to come off like, ‘Hey, I’m making excuses. The only people that beat me were people on drugs.’ I don’t know any of that for a certainty. There’s one time when I fought a guy on TRT when it was allowed, and that’s the only time that I could say substantially somebody was taking something. But, it was a factor.
I’m a clean fighter. I’m 33 years old, and I have seen, in my own training, and in talking and knowing guys in the inner circle, I’ve known what guys are not on, and when they cycle on it. You can feel the difference in the gym and what big a difference it makes, and I do think there are a number of guys who are using just because the testing currently by our athletic commissions is inadequate.
(The face of MMA’s anti-PED crusade, ladies and gentlemen.)
Does it say more about the UFC or its athletes that classy, universally-respected guys like Georges St. Pierre and Brian Stann only feel comfortable discussing their gripes with the organization’s drug-testing policies after they have stepped away from the sport? It’s hard to say for sure, but in any case, Stann has followed suit with GSP, first lamenting the sport’s drug issues as a “major part” of why he retired earlier this month before further explaining himself during an appearance on The MMA Houryesterday.
While Stann refused to name names, he was quick to admit that MMA’s lackadaisical drug-testing has made it easy for many a fighter to cycle on and off PED’s over the years — a trend that will continue to plague the sport until a change is made:
I think the time when you retire coming off a loss and then you say that, what I didn’t want to do was discredit any of my former opponents. You know, specifically seeing that Wanderlei (Silva) was my last fight, I didn’t want to come off like, ‘Hey, I’m making excuses. The only people that beat me were people on drugs.’ I don’t know any of that for a certainty. There’s one time when I fought a guy on TRT when it was allowed, and that’s the only time that I could say substantially somebody was taking something. But, it was a factor.
I’m a clean fighter. I’m 33 years old, and I have seen, in my own training, and in talking and knowing guys in the inner circle, I’ve known what guys are not on, and when they cycle on it. You can feel the difference in the gym and what big a difference it makes, and I do think there are a number of guys who are using just because the testing currently by our athletic commissions is inadequate.
It’s not exactly a revelation to anyone who’s been following MMA for more than a week that the lack of random drug-testing is perhaps the biggest issue facing the sport today. Not helping this plight is NSAC chairman Francisco Aguilar’s confirmation earlier this week that each random drug test costs the NSAC between $35,000 and $45,000 to execute.
Without help from the UFC, Aguilar stated, random drug testing simply can’t be fit into the NSAC’s budget. And if you expect the same people who regularly pay someone $8,000 to get their brains smashed in to pay six times that much for what some (falsely) consider an extraneous test, think again, brotha’.
But there you have it: the fastest-growing sport in the world is neck deep in a drug-testing crisis that can only be solved by money it apparently doesn’t have. I wish I could do something other than throw my hands in the air, but I’m just as confounded as Stann is here. Any suggestions, Nation?
Maybe it’s just me, because I have a tendency to read too far into things, but based on his recent interview with MMAJunkie Radio, it seems to me that Karo Parisyan is *kind of* bitter over the fact that Ronda Rousey defected from his gym, Hayastan Academy, to train at Glendale Fight Club and in turn become the megastar that she is today.
A little context: You see, Karo Parisyan fancies himself as something like the king of Judo in MMA, and to some degree, his early success in the UFC did help spread awareness of Judo’s practicality in the sport. But Parisyan is also a bit of an egomaniac (see video above), so when Ronda decided to make the leap to GFC after training with Parisyan following her Olympic bronze medal win in 2008, one could expect that Karo might hold it against her. When his cousin, Manny Gamburyan, followed suit, well, you end up hearing stuff like this (emphasis mine):
That’s all good. No animosity toward them. Good for Manny, good for Ronda, because Manny’s always there with her at the trainings and stuff, and Ronda might be on her period and she might take her underwear off and stuff, so Manny helps her out with that stuff, too, like with the tampons and everything else. I’m being a dick to them.
Again, maybe it’s just me, but what in the actual fuck is Parisyan talking about here? He says there’s no animosity between the closely-located camps, then proceeds to insinuate…whatever he is insinuating there? It’s like, does he even know who Ronda Rousey is, bro?
More from this bizarre interview after the jump.
(Obligatory.)
Maybe it’s just me, because I have a tendency to read too far into things, but based on his recent interview with MMAJunkie Radio, it seems to me that Karo Parisyan is *kind of* bitter over the fact that Ronda Rousey defected from his gym, Hayastan Academy, to train at Glendale Fight Club and in turn become the megastar that she is today.
A little context: You see, Karo Parisyan fancies himself as something like the king of Judo in MMA, and to some degree, his early success in the UFC did help spread awareness of Judo’s practicality in the sport. But Parisyan is also a bit of an egomaniac (see video above), so when Ronda decided to make the leap to GFC after training with Parisyan following her Olympic bronze medal win in 2008, one could expect that Karo might hold it against her. When his cousin, Manny Gamburyan, followed suit, well, you end up hearing stuff like this (emphasis mine):
That’s all good. No animosity toward them. Good for Manny, good for Ronda, because Manny’s always there with her at the trainings and stuff, and Ronda might be on her period and she might take her underwear off and stuff, so Manny helps her out with that stuff, too, like with the tampons and everything else. I’m being a dick to them.
Again, maybe it’s just me, but what in the actual fuck is Parisyan talking about here? He says there’s no animosity between the closely-located camps, then proceeds to insinuate…whatever he is insinuating there? It’s like, does he even know who Ronda Rousey is, bro?
Parisyan was equally critical of GFC head coach Edmund Tarverdyan, suggesting that he is “eating Rousey’s brain” by hyping her standup abilities.
You can’t even compare that gym to our gym, bro. We’re an established MMA gym and a judo gym for over 20 years. [Glendale Fighting Club] is a college gym that became an MMA gym somehow because Roman Mitichyan, one of our guys, one of my best training partners and friends, was taking judo over there, which is part of mixed martial arts, and they bring Edmund, (who) eats up Ronda’s brain and he does what he has to do and brings Ronda in. I don’t want to say eats up her brain, but kind of gets her (thinking), ‘You’ve got to this standup.’ Ronda likes Armenians; she’s been around us all her life. She joined the [GFC], and it’s helping her out, I guess. I don’t know.
Personally, I never trusted that snake in the grass Tarverdyan. Any man who wears glasses as big as his usually has a hidden, evil agenda lying just below the surface, I’ve learned (looking at you, Scorsese!). But you’ve got to love Parisyan’s complete non-committal to sticking by his criticisms here.
“Their gym is garbage, bro, and it’s run by amateurs who are destroying the fighter I helped create. But their helping her, I guess, so it’s whatever.”
To be fair, Parisyan was also quick to sing Rousey’s praises…
Why is Ronda frickin good? Why is Ronda an animal, this little white girl? Because guys would not come train with us. They didn’t want to come train with us, because they thought we were animals and we would hurt them. Ronda was this little white girl that would get on the mat and cry.
I would have to yell at her and say, ‘You better suck your lip back in right now and get on the f–king mat. We’re not dealing with your crap, Ronda.’ And she would suck it in. I would say a small joke and maybe smile, and boom, she was on the mat again, and she was f–king dudes up. That’s why she’s so good, because she was training with animals like us. And she’s naturally strong. Ronda’s legit.
Parisyan last competed at Bellator 116, where he picked up a second round KO over Ron Keslar. Prior to that, he was KO’d by Rick Hawn at Bellator 95.
So what do you think of Parisyan’s words, Nation? Is this just a simple case of sour grapes, or did Parisyan cross the line with the remarks about Rousey’s personal hygiene? And should Rousey be rightfully raked over the coals for abandoning those who helped build her into the fighter she is today? Also, magnets: How do they work?
You can listen to the full interview here, but in the meantime, here’s a slo-mo replay of Parisyan’s recent KO win set to some pretty catchy dance music.
Earlier this week, Ronda Rousey forged ahead in her war of words with Cris Cyborg, calling the former Strikeforce champ an “it” and earning the ire of MMA apparel brand Americana in the process. While most of us likely assumed that Rousey would not be punished for her remarks — unlike Matt Mitrione, who made similarly unprofessional comments about Fallon Fox in the past and was suspended as a result — we couldn’t have possibly foreseen that White would not only support Rousey’s claims, but pile on Cyborg as well, could we?
HAHAHAHA, I know right? I could barely make it through that sentence myself. Dana White is and has always been an jackass with zero impulse control, so obviously, he used yesterday’s UFC 172 media day as an opportunity to hurl misogynistic insults Cyborg’s way like the professional that he is.
“When I saw her at the MMA awards, she looked like Wanderlei Silva in a dress and heels,” said White while his media cronies giggled in the background like a bunch of middle schoolers. I can’t blame them; they probably would’ve had their credentials pulled if they didn’t treat White like a Don from a 50’s gangster movie. “Wanderlei Silva in a dress, dats a good one, boss!”
But it was when White actually attempted to defend Rousey’s comments that the real standup act began…
Earlier this week, Ronda Rousey forged ahead in her war of words with Cris Cyborg, calling the former Strikeforce champ an “it” and earning the ire of MMA apparel brand Americana in the process. While most of us likely assumed that Rousey would not be punished for her remarks — unlike Matt Mitrione, who made similarly unprofessional comments about Fallon Fox in the past and was suspended as a result — we couldn’t have possibly foreseen that White would not only support Rousey’s claims, but pile on Cyborg as well, could we?
HAHAHAHA, I know right? I could barely make it through that sentence myself. Dana White is and has always been an jackass with zero impulse control, so obviously, he used yesterday’s UFC 172 media day as an opportunity to hurl misogynistic insults Cyborg’s way like the professional that he is.
“When I saw her at the MMA awards, she looked like Wanderlei Silva in a dress and heels,” said White while his media cronies giggled in the background like a bunch of middle schoolers. I can’t blame them; they probably would’ve had their credentials pulled if they didn’t treat White like a Don from a 50′s gangster movie. “Wanderlei Silva in a dress, dats a good one, boss!”
But it was when White actually attempted to defend Rousey’s comments that the real standup act began…(via MMAJunkie)
I think that this is the fight business, and people say mean things about each other. Is it not true? Has [Justino] not taken (steroids)? She got busted for taking Winstrol, the same drug that Ben Johnson took and many other athletes took to do what? To cheat. Ronda called her a f—ing cheater.
Fair enough, Dana, Justino has been busted for steroids in the past, and people do say mean things about each other in the fight game. So far, all’s fair here.
She’s not a transgender fighter. She’s a woman. What Ronda’s saying is, she’s taken so many drugs that she’s probably not a woman anymore. She’s not a transgender fighter. She didn’t have a surgery.
Is she an it? Is she a transgender fighter? Did she have a surgery? She called her an it. [Cybogs] called Ronda a chicken. Should Ronda be offended by being called a chicken? Grow the f–k up, everybody.
Again, I would have no problem with White’s statement here (other than it going against the “offensive and wholly unacceptable” precedent set by Mitrione’s suspension), had he not chose to follow-up a comment telling everyone to “grow up” by hurling a childish insult at Cyborg and then mocking the way she walks with zero irony whatsoever. Except that’s exactly what he did.
She’s a bad representative of female athletes. When you’re a female and you’ve taken that many drugs for so long, when you’ve been on steroids for as long as this girl has, you know, it’s tough.
So what you’re saying is that it’s easier for MMA fans to accept that a male fighter has advanced his career by taking illegal, mind and body-altering drugs than it is a female fighter? That’s gotta be right up there with Julianna Pena’s recent “I’m a girl” defense for the most hilariously unaware quote of the week! Care to clarify that, Dana?
This isn’t the same as a guy who had taken some stuff before and got busted and has come back and is fighting other men. The fine line between men fighting and women fighting is night and day (Ed note: WUT?). A lot of people still aren’t crazy about the women fighting. And a lot of the time these women are fighting on national television. And it’s just, you understand what I’m saying?
Wow. That might be the dumbest thing I have read all year. But no, Dana, I do not understand what you’re saying, so let me try to break down your line of logic:
Because Cyborg was busted for steroids once, three years ago, and recently passed a random drug test, her offense is somehow more unforgivable than re-signing Josh Barnett, who has been busted for steroids three times and twice under your own promotion, because she’s a woman? And unlike male MMA, which is pretty much a universally accepted and beloved sport at this point (LOL!), female MMA requires stricter regulations because it’s on national television, which male MMA apparently isn’t? In the words of the CME Podcast: ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!
Mr. White, what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I’ve ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
Until yesterday, however, when MMAFighting managed to get ahold of the ever-elusive Stocktonian and pressed him on his current standing with the promotion. Diaz’s response was a rant against the current state of fighter pay so vivid and thorough that we’re still not convinced it wasn’t spoken through his anger translator:
I’m ready to fight but not for some funny money that they’re trying to give me. They can let me go or they can let me fight, but let me do something. They know I need to make some money. I feel like they’re just trying to keep me on the waiting list. I don’t even want to communicate through anybody. If they want to figure out what’s going on, we should talk. No one is contacting me. I’m just doing my thing. Training every day. I’m ready to fight tomorrow.
They need to be about more money. My contract is all f*cked up. I want to be paid like these other fighters. I’m over here getting chump change. At this point, they’re paying all my partners and other people I train with are getting real money, and it’s too embarrassing for me to even fight again for the money they’re paying me. So they can either pay me or let me go. I’m with that.
(“Hold up a second, Nate. If you’re really only making that much money for this fight, I’ll gladly bow out.” Photo via Getty)
Until yesterday, however, when MMAFighting managed to get ahold of the ever-elusive Stocktonian and pressed him on his current standing with the promotion. Diaz’s response was a rant against the current state of fighter pay so vivid and thorough that we’re still not convinced it wasn’t spoken through his anger translator:
I’m ready to fight but not for some funny money that they’re trying to give me. They can let me go or they can let me fight, but let me do something. They know I need to make some money. I feel like they’re just trying to keep me on the waiting list. I don’t even want to communicate through anybody. If they want to figure out what’s going on, we should talk. No one is contacting me. I’m just doing my thing. Training every day. I’m ready to fight tomorrow.
They need to be about more money. My contract is all f*cked up. I want to be paid like these other fighters. I’m over here getting chump change. At this point, they’re paying all my partners and other people I train with are getting real money, and it’s too embarrassing for me to even fight again for the money they’re paying me. So they can either pay me or let me go. I’m with that.
Has anyone else ever considered the possibility that the Diaz’s are capable of being embarrassed? Like, that they possess the amount of self-awareness necessary to understand the emotion?
I train harder than everybody in the UFC. And then there’s boxers out there getting multimillion dollar contracts, and I’m a bigger draw than boxers. It’s embarrassing. I think I’m the biggest draw in the lightweight division. I feel like they’re trying to weed me out of the top 10. I saw that I went from no. 5 to 6 in the rankings, for some reason. That doesn’t make any sense.
I don’t get paid sh*t, and I’m about to tell the world. I didn’t like what my brother and my partners got paid. Now that they got a better contract, which still ain’t sh*t, it blows what I get out of the water. And they deserve triple what they get. I’ve been in the UFC for eight years and never turned down a fight. It’s not like I’m getting paid 20 bucks an hour and they’re getting 50 bucks an hour. I’m getting 20 bucks an hour and they’re getting paid 15,000 bucks an hour. They blow me out the water. At this point, I can’t even go to lunch with my partners because if we start talking about contracts or our business, I don’t have anything but bitter sh*t to say.
I like to imagine that these power lunches consist of Diaz, Warren Buffett, Mark Cuban, and Ice-T sitting at the head table of Medieval Times and lamenting recent business ventures while ravaging on tankards of ale and turkey legs.
“It’s like, no, you know, I can barely even afford a side of tomato bisque soup like all you made motherf*ckers, know what I’m saying?”
We’re entertaining entertainers. We get Shaq, Justin Bieber and Lil’ Jon at the show. How are we entertaining billionaires and we can’t even get sh*t?
My partners still make sh*t money for what the company is bringing in. They’re happy because they’re not getting paid what they used to get paid, so they get little chunks to shut up. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t get paid sh*t. I get $60,000 (to show) and $60,000 (to win). If I were doing this for the fame, I would have quit seven years ago. I can’t tell you what my brother and Gil make, but I can tell you that they signed a contract for more than I get paid to headline and win a fight, and that’s bullsh*t. So you understand where I’m coming from? I can’t even fight for the money they’re offering me. So I ask to get released because I can’t fight there for that.
I don’t talk to the UFC. No one calls me. I’m not going to call them begging. They know I’m on call, I take every fight. They know what they should be giving out.
When I signed my last contract, they conned me into signing an eight-fight contract to fight [Benson] Henderson. I was negotiating my contract three weeks out from the fight. [My manager] Mike [Kogan] came in and got me a little bit of a raise — a little – they act like they hooked me up. They didn’t do sh*t. They gave me a little something to shut me up for a minute. [They] got me to sign the contract, but the way they got me to sign the contract was like, Just trust me, sign the contract, and we can renegotiate anytime. I was like, I’ll just fight a couple of fights and then talk some sh*t because I don’t like this contract. So I’ll renegotiate in a couple of fights because they told me I could do that. Then they called me to take the Khabib [Nurmagomedov] fight when it wasn’t working out for them and Gil [Melendez]. They were trying to lowball Gil, too, and he was supposed to fight Khabib, but he said he couldn’t take the fight for the money they were offering. So they call me the next day and ask me to fight Khabib. I said, I’ll take the fight as long as I can renegotiate my contract. And then it was all downhill from there. Then they tweeted out that I turned down the fight, and I never turned down the fight. They tried to do me dirty.
Wait, wait, wait…you mean to say that Dana White might have tweeted something completely reactionary and not based in fact? Well I for one am shocked. Shocked I tells ya!
If I can get released, I can go fight somewhere and make some money. If they can renegotiate, I can make some money, because right now I’m broke. For some reason, the IRS is telling me that I owe them more money than I have right now, and I pay my taxes every year.
“Uh…Nate, I’m pretty sure ‘joint return’ doesn’t mean what you think it does.”
– Diaz’s accountant
At this point, they’re having a fat-ass party with others getting paid and they’re letting me see it. Before, I had no argument because I didn’t really know. But now they’re letting me see the party and letting me in. So now that I know for sure, I’m going to talk. If everybody would start speaking up and quit keeping their mouths shut, people would start getting paid. We’re working for a billion-dollar company. It’s ridiculous. I go to boxing events where they pay the fighters so much money and those boxing events aren’t even half the shows that the UFC is.
The crazy thing to me is that in what other professional sport do the cheerleaders make more than the athletes? I’m sure Arianny Celeste, Brittney Palmer, Joe Rogan, Bruce Buffer, probably you, everybody makes more money than I do. So I’m trying to make a move here. The way that the UFC makes me look, too, makes people I know believe that I’m some type of millionaire. I got a family to feed. I got my mom. She just got a brand new house and working two jobs still. I’m trying to break her off some money when I can but I’m going as broke as her.
There’s a lot more money that needs to be dished out because it’s coming in, and I know it.
It just goes to show, even the hardest, realest, anti-bullshitingest motherf*ckers in the UFC are just doing this MMA thing to break off some money for their moms. (*tattoos tear drop on cheek*)
As you would expect, Dana White’s response was equal parts logical business owner and corporate fat cat rubbing his greedy palms together.
Nate Diaz came in and signed a new deal and was very happy with his new deal. We gave him a shot at the title and he lost to Benson Henderson. If he would have won, obviously his deal would have changed if he became champion, which he did not. Then he got stopped by Thomson. Thomson finished him.
Now he comes off a win over Gray Maynard and feels like he should be making Justin Bieber money. Nate needs to get back in there and start fighting, win fights again and earn a title shot again.
What the hell is with all these Bieber shout-outs? I CHOSE MMA BLOGGING TO *AVOID* THAT TURD, DANA.
He was happy as can be when he signed his new deal. Go back and look at my twitter after he signed the new deal. I tweeted it. He was happy. We’ve done everything to honor the contract. I’ve always been good to Diaz. This is the kind of craziness you see with athletes. They end up spinning off and don’t make the money they should have made. Nate Diaz has what it takes to be champion or he doesn’t, but I’ll tell you, there’s only one way to find out. He has to come back and fight. He thinks he loses to two of the best guys in the world and deserves more money? In what f*cking planet does that make sense?
Guess how much money he makes sitting at home? Zero. Get back to work, Nate.
You know, there was an interesting discussion on the Co-Main Event Podcast recently about whether or not there should be a precedent set regarding the absolute minimum an MMA fighter should receive for a fight. While the topic itself was spurred by the news that a fighter at WSOF 9 made just $500 to show, it’s a discussion that bears just as much relevance in the UFC.
While Diaz’s current 60k/60k is rather standard fare for someone in his position in today’s UFC landscape (Gray Maynard, a fellow TUF alum and former title challenger, made 45k for his fight with Diaz), perhaps that’s the problem. There’s no denying that any veteran of Diaz’s calibersurely deserves more than a 60k split per fight, let alone the 15k/15k he was reportedly paid for his performance at the TUF 18 Finale. Any occupation with as much inherent risk as MMA deserves to be paid accordingly, especially when a multi-billion dollar company is the one financing it.
But while we’re discussing how things should be done, I also think that topless Kate Upton should serve me breakfast in bed every morning. The difference between the fantasy I’ve just constructed and Diaz’s being that only one of us has any chance of actually doing something about it. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: If MMA fighters want to actually do something about their pathetic pay situation, they need to take greater action than bitching about it on Twitter. Form a fighter’s union, or at the very least, maybe discuss your payrate with your boss, face to face, instead of airing your grievances for the world to see like the true professional you are supposed to be. It’s really not that hard.
Three-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen is known for seeing what he wants, when he wants, and that characteristic was easily identifiable in one of his latest TV interviews. In an appearance on Michael Landsberg‘s Off The Record, transcription via Damon Martin of FOX Sports, “The American Gangster” revealed the phone number of Stephanie McMahon, the daughter […]
Three-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen is known for seeing what he wants, when he wants, and that characteristic was easily identifiable in one of his latest TV interviews. In an appearance on Michael Landsberg‘s Off The Record, transcription via Damon Martin of FOX Sports, “The American Gangster” revealed the phone number of Stephanie McMahon, the daughter […]
