Just release him. When was his last truly entertaining fight anyway? A potential re-match with Shogun should be fun to watch, but who knows if that will ever even happen.
I dont think it will affect his standing with the ufc.
I mean Mike Tyson actually was CONVICTED of **** and was still fighting afterwards.
I'm not sure what they'll do. I mean, it's a stupid video on YouTube and it isn't all that high profile so they could let it slide. On the other hand, Miguel Torres was arguably canned for less and was only brought back into the UFC after he showed a great deal of contrition about it (which I have a hard time seeing Rampage doing).
Additionally the UFC has been dealing with some attacks on their image lately as they try to get licensed in NY -- one of the big unions that has a beef with the Fertittas has been campaigning to stop it with stuff like this:
Notice who's featured prominently in that one already? Dana probably doesn't appreciate giving these guys any more ammunition -- even though I think it's kind of doubtful that their campaign will be successful. Anyways, between that and the whole missing weight/complaining/putting on subpar performances stuff, it wouldn't surprise me if Rampage gets the axe. I can see them keeping him around and trying to make some money off of the last fight on his contract too, though.
A fight promotion should do just that -- promote fights. It doesn't seem right for them to be sponsoring guys, indirectly hoping for them to succeed.
Everyone knows the UFC wants Jones to succeed, he's their poster child, but I agree this seems like going to far. It's a weird situation for sure, especially if you're Rashad.
Everyone knows the UFC wants Jones to succeed, he's their poster child, but I agree this seems like going to far.
It's no different from when Lesnar was champ. Of course the UFC wants him to keep winning, but they were professional about it by at least portraying neutrality to the public. Hell, they even took an effort to promote Cain before their fight.
Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney has told Sherdog that his Middleweight champion Hector Lombard (31-2-1, 1 NC) has been offered a contract by the UFC. Rebney has the option to match the contract and will make that decision next week.
"We've received the final proposed UFC agreement from Hector's attorney, and right now we are in the process of reviewing it to determine whether we're going to match the agreement. We've got the 60 pages of UFC contract that were forwarded to us by Hector's counsel. We've been waiting on the actual contract itself to see all of the specifics and every conceivable detail and know exactly what is being offered. Now we have something really specific to look at," Rebney told Sherdog.
I don't know about that. UFC might want him to get noticed a bit more and build a name for himself so they might give him some easy opponents.
He's 34 and has over 30 fights against cans for the most part, it's now or never for Lombard. Get him in there against a middle tier guy and see if he's the real deal.
If the UFC is trying to outbid Bellator then they probably offered him a fair chunk of change, so if he does end up in the UFC then I expect they'll want to have him fighting top guys pretty quickly. Same deal as Akiyama basically.
If the UFC is trying to outbid Bellator then they probably offered him a fair chunk of change, so if he does end up in the UFC then I expect they'll want to have him fighting top guys pretty quickly. Same deal as Akiyama basically.
My thoughts exactly. I'd expect him to fight at least a top 10 guy in his first fight. Jake Shields maybe? Brian Stann?
Last edited by Peter Griffin: 04-18-2012 at 10:31 PM.
