Joanna Jedrzejczyk will be defending her title soon, but if she is to be believed, Michelle Waterson won’t be sharing the Octagon with her. The reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) strawweight title holder recently returned to the United States and will be starting her camp with American Top Team soon. Her opponent has yet to […]
Joanna Jedrzejczyk will be defending her title soon, but if she is to be believed, Michelle Waterson won’t be sharing the Octagon with her. The reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) strawweight title holder recently returned to the United States and will be starting her camp with American Top Team soon. Her opponent has yet to […]
Recently, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has seen a massive uptick in top fighters calling for so-called ‘money fights’ in their next bout rather than the fight that makes the most sense from a rankings and/or merit standpoint. The term rose to extreme prominence in early 2016, when current UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor began
Recently, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has seen a massive uptick in top fighters calling for so-called ‘money fights’ in their next bout rather than the fight that makes the most sense from a rankings and/or merit standpoint.
The term rose to extreme prominence in early 2016, when current UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor began throwing about his now-infamous ‘moneyweight’ comment about his fight with late replacement Nate Diaz in the main event of UFC 196, a fight McGregor would actually suffer his first UFC loss in. But ‘money fights’ were here to stay, and McGregor only added fuel to that fire when he took on Eddie Alvarez to win his second UFC championship at November 2016’s UFC 205.
The upper echelons of the UFC roster – who are solid drawing fighters in their own right but nowhere near McGregor – justifiably see what ‘The Notorious’ is pulling in each fight, and that coupled with the UFC’s recent sale to Hollywood giant WME-IMG for a staggering $4.2 billion has them understandably wanting to be paid like top athletes. But the problem is, not as many want to see some of these so-called ‘money fights’ even close to as much as they’d want to see any fight with McGregor.
Welterweight champion Tyron Woodley began calling for a huge payday literally minutes after he knocked out Robbie Lawler to win the title last August, pegging Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz as his prospective big draw opponents. When he was instead scheduled to face Stephen Thompson at UFC 205 and fought “Wonderboy” to a draw, Woodley then began putting out the feelers for a ‘money fight’ with middleweight champion Michael Bisping. The term has also been used by newly-crowned bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt, who wants to face featherweight champion Jose Aldo, and by Rose Namajunas for her desired match with surging contender Michelle Waterson.
Those are big fights, but they just aren’t bouts on the level of a true ‘money fight’ headlined by McGregor, and overall some of of these champions will just have to start defending their belts rather than calling their shots for potentially huge paydays. That’s not to say some kind of super fight, such as a long-rumored GSP vs. Anderson Silva bout, wouldn’t be good for the sport in a barren schedule of early 2017 bouts lacking a true feature attraction.
What do you think – is all the ‘money fight’ talk getting old, or do you understand the fighters’ points of view?
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s strawweight Rose Namajunas has her sights set on returning to the Octagon. The last time we saw “Thug Rose” compete, she fell short in a split decision loss to Karolina Kowalkiewicz. The “Polish Princess” went on to face Joanna Jedrzejczyk for the 115-pound championship at UFC 205 in New York City.
Namajunas has gone 3-1 in her last four bouts, and she has the itch to throw leather again. She appeared on MMAFighting.com‘s The MMA Hour and revealed when she’d like to return:
“I’m cool with February, I’m cool with March, either way. March sounds like a good time.”
After Michelle Waterson’s win over Paige VanZant last month, Namajunas said she would welcome a bout with “The Karate Hottie.” “Thug Rose” still believes that is a fight that should be made.
“I think it kind of makes the most sense. Every time there’s a strawweight fight, I always get messages, ‘oh you should fight Rose,’ or, ‘Rose should fight them,’ and it’s just like, it’s cool and everything. But there was a noticeable difference, the amount of people recommending I fight somebody, and then [the amount saying I should fight] Michelle. It was a crazy amount of responses.”
Calling out Waterson didn’t exactly yield the type of reaction Namajunas was expecting. While fans responded in droves, they were mostly positive about the proposed match-up. “Thug Rose” had anticipated a different vibe.
“So, that just makes the most sense. It would be the most exciting I think. She’s coming off of a hot win, and it’s just, she won in really fast fashion and she looks great and she’s marketable. I’m marketable. It makes sense. I’d love to fight anybody, really, at this point. I was hoping maybe I’d call her out and there’d be some type of backlash or some type of noise created out of it, but it’s just more of the fans going, ‘yeah, that’s a good idea.’ So it’s kind of like, either way.”
https://youtu.be/HANtwvipb8U?t=3205
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s strawweight Rose Namajunas has her sights set on returning to the Octagon. The last time we saw “Thug Rose” compete, she fell short in a split decision loss to Karolina Kowalkiewicz. The “Polish Princess” went on to face Joanna Jedrzejczyk for the 115-pound championship at UFC 205 in New York City.
Namajunas has gone 3-1 in her last four bouts, and she has the itch to throw leather again. She appeared on MMAFighting.com‘s The MMA Hour and revealed when she’d like to return:
“I’m cool with February, I’m cool with March, either way. March sounds like a good time.”
After Michelle Waterson’s win over Paige VanZant last month, Namajunas said she would welcome a bout with “The Karate Hottie.” “Thug Rose” still believes that is a fight that should be made.
“I think it kind of makes the most sense. Every time there’s a strawweight fight, I always get messages, ‘oh you should fight Rose,’ or, ‘Rose should fight them,’ and it’s just like, it’s cool and everything. But there was a noticeable difference, the amount of people recommending I fight somebody, and then [the amount saying I should fight] Michelle. It was a crazy amount of responses.”
Calling out Waterson didn’t exactly yield the type of reaction Namajunas was expecting. While fans responded in droves, they were mostly positive about the proposed match-up. “Thug Rose” had anticipated a different vibe.
“So, that just makes the most sense. It would be the most exciting I think. She’s coming off of a hot win, and it’s just, she won in really fast fashion and she looks great and she’s marketable. I’m marketable. It makes sense. I’d love to fight anybody, really, at this point. I was hoping maybe I’d call her out and there’d be some type of backlash or some type of noise created out of it, but it’s just more of the fans going, ‘yeah, that’s a good idea.’ So it’s kind of like, either way.”
The “Karate Hottie” believes now is the time to cash-in following her submission win over Paige VanZant at UFC on FOX 22 this past weekend.
Waterson, in an interview with The MMA Hour, named several of the strawweight divisions elite – including the champion – as potential fights next.
“I really respect Rose (Namajunas), I think she’s a great person,” Waterson said. “I think it would be an awesome matchup. (Daniel Cormier) was wanting me to call out Carla (Esparza). Even Karolina (Kowalkiewicz), that’s what (Dominick) Cruz wanted. Those three.
“Even Joanna (Jedrzejczyk), I would love to fight Joanna. Any of those names really sound like interesting fights to me. We’ll just have to kinda see what we can do as far as negotiating those fights and where each one of those will take us.”
The fight with VanZant came after a 17-month layoff for Waterson, a former Invicta FC atomweight champion. She also discussed her pay, which shocked many when it was revealed by the California Athletic Commission at $15,000 to show and another $15,000 to win.
“It is a little embarrassing,” Waterson said. “But we’re going to fix it. I hope so. I hope they know what they have in me, because I’m not going out there just to cruise. I’m here for the UFC, to represent the UFC in the best light that I can, and hopefully they see the value in that.”
Michelle Waterson understands the game of MMA.
The “Karate Hottie” believes now is the time to cash-in following her submission win over Paige VanZant at UFC on FOX 22 this past weekend.
Waterson, in an interview with The MMA Hour, named several of the strawweight divisions elite – including the champion – as potential fights next.
“I really respect Rose (Namajunas), I think she’s a great person,” Waterson said. “I think it would be an awesome matchup. (Daniel Cormier) was wanting me to call out Carla (Esparza). Even Karolina (Kowalkiewicz), that’s what (Dominick) Cruz wanted. Those three.
“Even Joanna (Jedrzejczyk), I would love to fight Joanna. Any of those names really sound like interesting fights to me. We’ll just have to kinda see what we can do as far as negotiating those fights and where each one of those will take us.”
The fight with VanZant came after a 17-month layoff for Waterson, a former Invicta FC atomweight champion. She also discussed her pay, which shocked many when it was revealed by the California Athletic Commission at $15,000 to show and another $15,000 to win.
“It is a little embarrassing,” Waterson said. “But we’re going to fix it. I hope so. I hope they know what they have in me, because I’m not going out there just to cruise. I’m here for the UFC, to represent the UFC in the best light that I can, and hopefully they see the value in that.”
Namajunas posted on Instagram that she would like to face off against recent UFC on FOX 22 winner Michelle Waterson. Like Waterson, Namajunas holds a submission win over Paige VanZant.
A photo posted by Rose Namajunas (@rosenamajunas) on Dec 18, 2016 at 12:03pm PST
Namajunas and Waterson both competed under the Invicta FC banner before the UFC created the strawweight division. Namajunas competed on The Ultimate Fighter, finishing as a runner-up, while Waterson waited to sign with the promotion after her run as Invicta FC atomweight champion ended.
The 24-year-old Namajunas (5-3) was defeated by Karolina Kowalkiewicz via split decision in a title-eliminator this past July, snapping her three-fight win streak. Waterson (14-4), who turns 31 in January, has won each of her two UFC appearances.
Rose Namajunas has her next opponent in mind.
Namajunas posted on Instagram that she would like to face off against recent UFC on FOX 22 winner Michelle Waterson. Like Waterson, Namajunas holds a submission win over Paige VanZant.
A photo posted by Rose Namajunas (@rosenamajunas) on Dec 18, 2016 at 12:03pm PST
Namajunas and Waterson both competed under the Invicta FC banner before the UFC created the strawweight division. Namajunas competed on The Ultimate Fighter, finishing as a runner-up, while Waterson waited to sign with the promotion after her run as Invicta FC atomweight champion ended.
The 24-year-old Namajunas (5-3) was defeated by Karolina Kowalkiewicz via split decision in a title-eliminator this past July, snapping her three-fight win streak. Waterson (14-4), who turns 31 in January, has won each of her two UFC appearances.
Fresh off UFC on FOX 22, the UFC rankings were updated.
Michelle Waterson, who finished Paige VanZant in the main event, moved up four spots to No. 7 at strawweight. Waterson, a former …
Fresh off UFC on FOX 22, the UFC rankings were updated.
Michelle Waterson, who finished Paige VanZant in the main event, moved up four spots to No. 7 at strawweight. Waterson, a former Invicta FC atomweight champion, is unbeaten since joining the UFC.
VanZant fell two spots to a tie for ninth with Maryna Moroz. The changes also moved Jessica Aguilar and Juliana Lima down a spot each, while Alexa Grasso jumped one position to 14th.
The two bantamweight divisions saw ample movement from the lower portion, as fighters moved up after inactivity left fighters dropping out.
In the pound-for-pound Top-15, Cris “Cyborg” Justino moved ahead of Khabib Nurmagomedov into a tie for 11th with reigning UFC bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes.
