DonRifle

Since I wake up every day in the last week to find another fighter pulling out of a fight with injury, maybe theres something going on between all the fighters and we are just not hearing about it. Some way to push the UFC into better contracts, better pay something like that. What do you reckon? If there was one way to demonstrate what they call player power in soccer this would be how to do it....

Bknmax

According to Dana it is nearly impossible to fake an injury,and no one want's to rip their acl on purpose.

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cdtcpl

I still think these guys just want the summer off.

edlavis88

If you actually look through all the press, fighters in general say they get paid very well. For the most part the underpaid stuff is just a few misinformed journalists jumping on the interviews of bitter ex UFC employees.

The fact is it makes no.sense for a fighter to take a stand over money by pulling out of a fight and forfeiting his.purse when he has already spent the money on a training camp!

I do think guys are taking advantage of the UFC helathcare thing, but more than that I think the level of competition has risen so.much in such a short space of time that guys are over training just to keep in touch.

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DonRifle

You could say though that they have to say they are paid well, since the company is a bit of a dictatorship with everyone having to please the big boss. Maybe if you come out bitching about what you get paid, you get cut after your next fight? Thats a pretty big deal if your whole career is on the line.
Im not usually one for conspiracies, but 4 or 5 injuries ago things were getting ridiculous, bisping today, stann yesterday, almost ever name is dropping out with something and now its almost beyond ridiculous. I have gone on bad losing streaks at poker before but this just beginning to look not so much like a coincidence anymore

If you take your argument whereby it makes no sense to walk away from the purse, yes there is good logic to that, but a union has to start somewhere, and eventually these unions pay the people who go on strike, because a percentage of their salary goes to them.

All speculation by me, but interesting speculation all the same!

EDIT: actually looking back - Randy spoke out about pay and then there was a lot of shit between randy and dana, and the only other person who ever spoke out about pay was Tito and he got fu**ed basically for a few years. And at the time those guys were the biggest names in the sport

edlavis88

I could believe it if it was certain fighters who were dropping out. But a guy like Bisping is a UFC company guy through and through and.gets paid so well by them, Stann is as honest as any fighter about. Cain, Vitor and Belcher are near to getting title shots so you'd think they'd wanna stick about, and guys like Akiyama and Alves are in desperate need of wins so you'd think they'd wanna get back in there ASAP.

The list of injured fighters is not a list of guys you'd expect to fake injuries

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Term

That is pretty much the same no matter where you work. Unless you are the big boss.

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Aiken

I can't help thinking that maybe this is PED related... Although I'm sure it isn't, IMO it's as likely an explanation as there being a conspiracy.

Hear me out -

Depending on whom you listen to, the percentage of fighters regularly taking PED can be anything from "UFC fighters are the most tested athletes on the planet, they're all clean" to "the majority of fighters are juicing..." Assuming that the truth lies somewhere in between, that leaves a certain percentage of fighters taking steroids or the Vogue PED of choice - Testosterone.

Now even those pundits who claim everyone is juicing, appear to agree that a lot of fighters take these "supplements" to (1) train harder (2) recover quicker and (3) get over injuries faster...

With the two very high profile drug issues so far in 2012 (Overoid and the elder half of the Doobie brothers*) it's not unreasonable to think that the UFC and Fox’s top brass have sent word down from on high, making it very clear that anyone else failing a drug test will be immediately cut... With the result, that many fighters are now off the juice and either getting injured or unable to recover in time from injuries suffered because they are training clean for the first time…

It’s also worth remembering that these guys are involved in a brutal sport where the rewards are potentially life changing. Even if the juicers convince themselves that all they’re doing is evening the playing field, (e.g. their buddy confirms their next opponent is juicing) – the temptation to juice, must be HUGE. Personally, I prefer to believe that the majority of UFC fighters are clean, but just because I believe it, doesn’t guarantee it’s true.

* Comedic license - I know that Nate says he doesn’t smoke

TheLyotoLegion

Highly doubt guys like Stann and Bisping would go on strike, Stann probably makes good money and Bisping was the second highest earner in reported earnings in 2010 I think.

I think there's more chance of UFC switching up match ups, I don't think either's going on but Bisping/Stann is a fight fans have wanted to see for a while and now they're both hurt and drop out on the same day, that could be coincidence or it could be something more.

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Purgetheweak

You mix high levels of competition, over-training, fighters getting older, and the ultimate realization that with the healthcare plan, you aren't forced to fight through an injury, just to pay for the treatment for the injury.

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