Looks Like The UFC Is Holding Tito's Contract

[Jardinewinstko]

bullshit i say, bullshit

[kingrobert]

I agree with your statement. In the UFC if your bringing in the money you pretty much get what you want. I dont know why the UFC wouldnt want to come close to matching what Tito wants. You pay Brock 500,000 cause he sells pay per views but Tito does the exact same thing. If Affliction gets Tito I think it would be huge for them. Tito is up there in popularity with Chuck and Randy as the face of MMA. Love or hate Tito everyone knows who he is.

[thebwit]

Originally Posted by Duskseyr

I realize this may be sort of off topic, but I still feel it's relevant to the conversation at hand.

This issue with Tito shouldn't even be going on. Is he difficult to work with, sure. Is he a dickhead? Most of the time. Is he still a talented fighter, that is highly marketable, and capable of putting asses in seats, and money in everyone's pocket? Damn skippy.

So I think what needs to happen is that the UFC rethinks their stance on some of these kinds of things. Just because a fighter loses 1, 2, or even 3 matches, it doesn't mean they are washed up, out of their league, or should be thrown to the curb.

Think about it. Wandy loses 3 straight, and goes into his fight with Jardine with his back to the wall. Everyone sayin if he didn't pull it off that he was in jeapordy of losing his job.

WHAT!? Are people that fucking retarded? IT WAS WANDERLEI FUCKING SILVA! THE AXE MURDERER!

I'd continue, but I think I might explode. I'd also wager you guys get my point, and probably feel the same way.

Originally Posted by kingrobert

I agree with your statement. In the UFC if your bringing in the money you pretty much get what you want. I dont know why the UFC wouldnt want to come close to matching what Tito wants. You pay Brock 500,000 cause he sells pay per views but Tito does the exact same thing. If Affliction gets Tito I think it would be huge for them. Tito is up there in popularity with Chuck and Randy as the face of MMA. Love or hate Tito everyone knows who he is.

Ok time to just play a little devils advocate here and think like the heads at UFC. While Tito hasn't won a fight in his last 3 fights that isn't good for him or for the UFC. Now it took a bit of research, but Tito's last two PPVs (73, 84) did 425,000 and 475,000 respectively. Lesnar's debut did 650,000. For a comparison, UFC 85 did 225,000 buys. But overall the average seems to be at about 400k ppv buys for most events. Tito isn't putting asses in seats like he used to.

Now there are a lot of loyal Tito fans and they will follow where he goes. But lets look at it this way. If Tito loses his next fight - against who ever, Babalu, Alexander, or some other fighter, the fans aren't going to be buying as much because of Tito.

Tito NEEDS a win. He knows it to. He is not in a position right now to demand over 1 mil per fight. Should he get what he was getting? Absolutely. But should he get a pay raise? Not by my standards.

There was the great quote from Mr. Deeds where Adam Sandler asked the pro football player if he would be willing to take a pay cut if he didn't perform and the football player said no. Then Mr. Deeds said, why should we offer you money as if you were performing? Or something to that matter.

I am in favor of performance based bonuses. I think they motivate people a lot. And I think Tito asking for crazy money is dumb. I think he should ask for what he was getting, but have a bigger performance based bonus. Not just the PPV sales because those have leveled off. But he should ask for a win bonus or even a submission bonus.

[Duskseyr]

I actually agree with you about the idea of performance based bonuses. I also agree that Tito isn't worth what he's trying to get right now, and that he won't be until he takes some legit guys out.

My point was more about the way UFC handles business. They have cut some excellent fighters in the past, fighters with proven track records that simply hit a bad stretch, or caught some shit luck.

I feel like the UFC doesn't truly value any fighter, and that's a damn shame, because they are making money hand over fist off the efforts of everyone they have under contract, from the world champions to the curtain jerkers.

[prophet665]

Originally Posted by Duskseyr

IT WAS WANDERLEI FUCKING SILVA! THE AXE MURDERER!

Is that Wandy's brother? Cause...you know...those Brazilians sure do have some funny names sometimes and tend to name a few siblings the same thing. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and the like.

And we all know that Wandy seems to think "fuck" means something different in the English language.

Ok...back on topic...

Unfortunately, Tito made his bed and now he has to lie in it. Is it a dickhead move to do this, absolutely. Was it Tito's fault (or his management's fault) for allowing that provision in the contract? Absolutely! Especially if the UFC is not required to match PPV buys and just match a salary offer.