I hear ya. I often see fight lines and feel like I have to be missing something.

How about Chad Mendes?

How much of the new doping regulations do you think are fuelled by hopes of GSP coming back?

IIRC the main beef GSP had with UFC was lack of testing for performance enhancing drugs.

If Dana can convince GSP to come back that would mean bucco bucks.

about 0% chance gsp is not using hgh with that gut.

Usually u go with clean until proven otherwise, but I think MMA might just be the exception, proven guilty unless evidence say otherwise Wouldn't surprise me a bit if any of the champions got busted for PEDs of some sort, I guess some more than others though. Like, if Aldo got caught, I'd wouldnt blink an eye, but if Mighty Mouse or Frankie Edgar, I might be a bit more surprised.

Have heard others have complaints about the new reebok deal (Aldo, Schaub - not in ufc store anymore), but never expected ufc to get rid of Stitch due to him speaking out about his lack of compensation from reebok in article posted below:

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/7/20...-mma-interview



More comments from Stitch

Ugh. Who else isn't getting paid by Reebok!? The mat in the octagon has more sponsors & gets paid more than the fighters & staff.

I trust the replacement cutmen will be as good as 'Stitch' but it just takes one error for people to cry foul. Amazed that whoever wasn't the cutman for the Michael Bisping/Thales Leites fight didn't tape his big left toe and left the skin hanging for FOUR rounds.

Don't buy the UFC Reebok gear. Don't validate this 'turn for the worse' that UFC is enforcing everybody in the organsiation to go through. Completely understandable that folks have to 'toe the party line' with being pro-Reebok and being on the 'right side' of UFC though.

https://twitter.com/guicruzzz/status/623693205276598273

OT: Is $12k one of the lowest amounts paid for someone in a 'Main Event'? I know Todd Duffee hasn't fought that many times in the UFC (only five fights) but the Reebok pay deal wasn't particularly kind to him.

http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Todd-Duffee-22903
http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/UFC...h-36200K-89489

I think the key is that the UFC want to call all staff independent contractors but won't allow them to work else where and impose strict restrictions upon them

The contracts are unbelievably one sided, I hope there's a lawsuit that forces a sale in the future.

lawsuit has already been filed:
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/7/16...ews/in/7162628

Definitely not going to be buying any Reebok products while the deal that screws most of the UFC fighters is in place

Their fighter uniforms are truly ******ed whose idea was it to have white/black trunks vs black/white trunks in every fight?

Yeah I thought that was really dumb on the last event. Makes it more difficult for your up and comers to stand out when every fighter is wearing the same stuff.

The "Stitch" Duran firing seems sad too guy always come across really cool and humble. He's a cutman for big level boxing matches though so sure he'll be alright. I do hope Bellator can gain more momentum and give fighters a better alternative and the way UFC are alienating their fighters I wouldn't be surprised if some of the bigger name fighters make there way to Bellator in the near future.

I do like the 'all good fighters under one banner' aspect as we get the fights we want, but the monopoly side is brutal for the fighters so maybe Bellator catching some traction would be good. I mean, I don't see why the UFC can't just let the fighters wear their sponsors gear and remove the sponsorship tax, and then the UFC can continue paying them peanuts but they'll be fine due to sponsorship money

Having a succesful MMA promotion is hard, think Coker will sell once again like Strikeforce if he ever gets to that point. But man, I wouldn't want to be a fighter putting myself through hell for a measly 12k a fight in the biggest promotion, on top of it that I can't have my own sponsors! They basically shut down revenue streams for lesser fighters who aren't of world class talent. Before you could have a personality / character and get some sponsors even if you were not winning all fights. Now it seems u have to have both personality and winning 95% of your fights. Tough.

Agreed 100% on the fighter pay issue - for everything they go through not just in the ring, but for months in camp before as well, some of them seem to get paid very little. I sure as hell wouldn't do it for that money.

Dana's claim that fighters can still have their own sponsors rings pretty hollow too, since they're not allowed to represent those sponsors at any UFC media events or on fight night... which has gotta be close to 100% of the exposure a lot of these fighters get. And even those who have a high enough profile to keep sponsors without getting their logo in the ring will be taking a pay cut you'd figure. Pretty brutal.

Coker won't be able to sell this time BTW - he's just an employee of Viacom now, not the owner like he was with Strikeforce.

Yeah that's true, that possibility of selling is not there. I wonder what Bellators endgame is then (what they want is obvious, but more interested in what is realistic).

It's a tough deal, I get it that it's good to have someone like Reebok back you up, it legitimizes the sport a lot, but it's on the fighters expense, not the UFC's which is why it's so awful. If UFC made a bigger effort to cover some of the losses (at least double the salaries of fighters earning 5-30k per fight), people would be more understanding. But it seems like they have made no effort, they just took Reebok onboard, cut out other sponsors and told everyone this is for everyones best...

To me it seems like the UFC as a company only gains, meaning their status quo remains in terms of revenue of sponsors, they gain credit as a company for having Reebok onboard etc whereas fighters situation only got worse or status quo for already famous fighters making big bucks (ronda / connor already have the money thing set in stone for them).

His trainer was on JRE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJmYFlvKloE. I don't have any exp. in the strength and conditioning world but maybe someone who does can tell if he's FOS or not.

I have 3 units on Barao and am looking to hedge. What do you think about these:

TJ in r3 +775
TJ in r4 +1200
TJ in r5 +1800

I will probably make a small play on each but I think r3 and r4 are most likely for TJ TKO

Did something happen to Gomi? Went from 2 to 1 dog to almost 3 to 1 in 2 days.

The lance armstrong doc on netflix (stop at nothing) shows it best.

Lance is cycling up the mountain and a reporter says I know he's doping because there is no pain no struggle (years before he was caught). R5 against pettis was the MMA equivalent of that.

He may be fine next fight is it was blood doping as that's only caught by banning the IV, after october I can't wait to see him in round 5.

I noticed this too, line seems way off but movement this early looks weird think something must be up.

Felder and Nijem prices looking decent

The Lauzon steam is pretty crazy, good chance Gomi isn't at 100% or had a bad camp or something

I probably want to stay away from Castillo/Miller, both are only losing to elite guys for the most part, logically I think I like Miller but Castillo might grind him out or catch him standing, Miller's exiting his prime I think and Castillo may be too

Duke is tempting too as a dog despite her last few bad performances, i'm sure the UFC wants her to win a fight due to the 4 horsewomen thing and she did beat Phillips as an amateur fighter via sub, and if she can fight like she did against Pennington in r1 she should win. At some point Duke needs to put it all together.

Added a 0.1u parlay on Duke/Felder/Miller/Nijem/Caraway at +38xx

Not going to fire my individual bets until weigh ins I think

So Matt Barnes and Serge Ibaka are challenging each other to a fight in the UFC

Will never happen, but would be a solid freakshow fight. Maybe once their NBA careers wind down somewhere down the line.

I'd love to see what a legit Lebron-style HW athlete could do in the UFC with minimal training but obviously anyone that athletically talented can make more money in the NBA/NFL/whatever

Yeah, pretty much. I'd imagine most would use their height and reach advantage handily, and fight like a not particularly sophisticated Jon Jones...not like say um, the Klitschko brothers over in boxing where they jab their opponents to a boring points victory or where the opponents get worn down so much that they eventually get KOed.

Reebok responds to the criticism of the removal of 'Stitch':

http://www.mmafighting.com/2015/7/22...h-duran-firing

Also, Dillashaw vs. Barao 2 might not be pulling in the punters both in Chicago and on FOX.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/7/22...s-ticket-sales

OT: Andre Berto vs. Floyd Mayweather!? Who effing cares? Which suckers are buying tickets for that!? Those that do have clearly got too much money.

Thought this was a pretty good breakdown of TJ v Barao I, especially how he took out 2 of Barao's big weapons 1) defensive framing and 2) spinning kicks. Will be interested to see how Barao counters TJ's strategy in the first fight and how TJ modifies his gameplan for fight II.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p28TYwEB4s

Excellent video, thank you for sharing