Tito announces that Cyborg asks to be released by the UFC.

[xxxVALETUDOxxx]

LMAO at peeps on the net thinking they know more about contracts then guys that have actually read over and signed them. It's actually pretty funny how silly some of you sound.

[Brian]

It was proven when Tito was brought back into the fold. Post Ultimate Fighter, huge upswing in popularity, available on Spike, it was a whole new world, and thinking that (one of) the most popular fighters from the most recent pre-growth era could be huge (in terms of profitability) with the additional fans now watching.

WMMA is still unproven as a profit driver. By 2006 the popularity of UFC in general was established.

Further, you can't compare Cyborg's popularity with Tito's. Yes she got 850k viewers for her fight with Gina. Of course her husband also got 850k viewers once...against Nick Diaz. Are we arguing that Mr. Santos is hugely popular?

So right now you've got a situation where Cyborg's drawing ability is at best unproven, and where the draw of her endevor (WMMA) is also unproven.

For Tito's gambit to benefit Cyborg, all of the following must be true:

1. Women must draw additional eyes to MMA consistently.
2. Women who fight outside of the UFC must be exposed regularly to the mainstream fan.
3. Cyborg must look impressive in fights outside the UFC.
4. Cyborg has to fight opponents who are perceived as being legit - this has always been a problem with women's fighting sports. In women's boxing it was seen as a handful of truly talented practitioners and cans. And beating up a can didn't win people many points.
5. Cyborg needs to become known to the mainstream fan.
6. Dana needs to decide that putting together Cyborg vs. Rousey is worth risking the credibility of 135lb WMMA in the UFC on. (Either because he thinks he'll sell a million PPV or so, or because WMMA is doing poorly as a revenue driver. But when you're "best fighter" gets crushed by someone who you have no other use for...it's bad.
7. Rousey needs to decide that she's willing to go up a weight class to fight Cyborg.
8. Cyborg needs to be available contractually to the UFC at that time.

Add all of those together...and to be honest I'd advise Cyborg to work with Finkelstein rather than Ortiz.

[xxxVALETUDOxxx]

Have anyone here ever gone over a UFC contract? Or sat at a table and negotiated a contract with a fight promoter?

[Brian]

LMAO at peeps on the net thinking they know more about contracts then guys that have actually read over and signed them. It's actually pretty funny how silly some of you sound.

What contracts do I claim to know about.

I understand market economics. That's what I'm talking about.

[jasonkl]

tito is an idiot who thinks he is a genius. i don't know what cyborg's options could be now. he may have screwed her up for invicta, since they have a relationship with the ufc. bellator doesn't have a 145 pound weight class for women, and if they did she would have to fight in a tournament. there is no money in japan.

what could she possibly do?

[boboplata2.0]

tito is an idiot who thinks he is a genius. i don't know what cyborg's options could be now. he may have screwed her up for invicta, since they have a relationship with the ufc. bellator doesn't have a 145 pound weight class for women, and if they did she would have to fight in a tournament. there is no money in japan.

what could she possibly do?

fight miguel torres.

[mhsh]

Someone refresh my memory. How did Tito's second sitout go versus his first one? Is that the only tactic he knows?

Similar to what has already been said. He was a big time commodity when the sport was running very short on them. The sport is blowing up with big time commodities right now. What makes Cyborg special enough to think she has some sort of bargaining leverage?

[purekane]

Ronda will sell this fight by being the cute, barely legal looking ,pigtail wearing

slut.......... who fuccs to build up her testosterone by going up against

the injecting cheater with a pseudo penis like a female hyena.


You gotta have a villain. By the hate in this thread.. A suckers born

every minute.

[Brian]

Right. So you bring in Cyborg to be the Andre the Giant to Rhonda's Hulk Hogan.

If Rhonda wins, you fire Cyborg immediately because you've got nothing else to do with her.

If Cyborg wins (assuming not at 135)...you fire Cyborg immediately because you've got nothing else to do with her. And you've ruined the division you do have.

[ocmmafan]

here's my take on this situation, i feel you all do not see the big picture.

Tito is not an idiot, far from one, he is the reason fighters make good money in the ufc now, maybe just maybe he knows a lil something about a fighters worth.

By doing what he is doing, its only going to generate more interest in cyborg, she gets cut, goes to invicta or what ever, smashes who ever they put in front of her.

The same will be said for Rousey, she will smash everyone till the convo can no longer be contained, cyborg then gets offered a better contract then the current one, and the fight makes 5 to 10 times the amount of money!

Tito is a multi millionaire for a reason, do any of you honestly think cyborg would be getting paid top dollar in the ufc? I bet she makes no more then she did in strikeforce, yet the ufc will make millions off that fight. Honestly just think about it.

Agreed. Tito has proven he understands the business side of the fight game and forgets more than every arm-chair business manager in this thread will ever know, in the time it takes me to write this.

She will fight Rousy eventually and people will want to watch it.