Reed Rothchild - Bjorn went all in... And Dana shit the bed
Fuck that why should Askren get a title shot right away
Askren is a top 10 ww... Some say top 5.... He's probably the guy at 170 that can out grapple GAP... Who wouldn't want to see that
All we would see is 25 minutes of GSP jabs to the face. I am interested in Ben's wrestling vs Georges ... but come on you need at least 1 impressive win vs a top 5 ww to be even considered to challenge GSP.
Just another attention grab by Bellator to keep their name in the papers.
I wouldn't doubt Bjorn is trying to goad Dana into publicly ragging on Ben as well. He can't be too happy Ben came out and said he wants to go to the UFC so if he can get Dana to shit on him in public he's probably thinking it will help re-sign him.
Penn was asking for more money than the UFC could afford at the time, when Pride offered him an assload of cash. What's more they at least tried to negotiate with Penn.
BJ left the UFC for K-1 because Zuffa didn't want to give him a $10,000 raise (this according to BJ). This is me paraphrasing the story from BJ's book:
In fact, the much more favorable pay offered in Japan ($187,500) over the UFC’s typical miserly wages (after the 2004 win against Hughes, Penn was offered $30,000 per fight by the UFC; he was willing to settle for just $40,000 and was rebuffed) was a strong factor in Penn’s decision.
Jens Pulver won the UFC gold at 155 and after two fights, left over a contract dispute (meaning he wanted more money).
Reed Rothchild - Bjorn went all in... And Dana shit the bed
Fuck that why should Askren get a title shot right away
Askren is a top 10 ww... Some say top 5.... He's probably the guy at 170 that can out grapple GAP... Who wouldn't want to see that
GSP
1) throwing away your most successful fighter = going all in ? 2) 2 guys known for boring position based point-fighting decision styles matched against other = fireworks, epic , ftw, rawr!! ???
If Askren wins it's a victory for Bellator and how build fighters
Reed Rothchild - Bjorn went all in... And Dana shit the bed
Fuck that why should Askren get a title shot right away
Askren is a top 10 ww... Some say top 5.... He's probably the guy at 170 that can out grapple GAP... Who wouldn't want to see that
GSP
1) throwing away your most successful fighter = going all in ? 2) 2 guys known for boring position based point-fighting decision styles matched against other = fireworks, epic , ftw, rawr!! ???
If Askren wins it's a victory for Bellator and how build fighters
They've done this before with hector who was coming off a big run there
no one is chalking up his recent win as 'credibility points ' to bellator.
The bellator champ signing to the UFC is win-win for the UFC. If he wins the title, fine you had someone who is good (which doesn't give any credibility to the rest of the roster)..but you don't have him anymore... a promotion who wants to compete with the UFC losing one if their few UFC level guys - to the UFC - is good for them how? if he loses the title fight, not only do you not have the best guy in your division, but also he wasn't the overall top guy and it highlights - what everyone thinks now - that he's a big fish in a little pond
Spin it how you will, but it's transparent to everyone , that they're dropping a guy that isn't exciting and the 'credibility points' angle is all spin
eljamaiquino -
Dana has let multiple champs go himself though. Penn, Barnett and Frank Shamrock left as champs iirc...
Barnett failed a drug test and was stripped of his title. Shamrock was pre-Zuffa. Penn was asking for more money than the UFC could afford at the time, when Pride offered him an assload of cash. What's more they at least tried to negotiate with Penn.
Bellator has not made Askren any sort of offer to stick around, yet they're enforcing the matching period, which lasts a fucking year. They really are just playing games here.
Barnett wasn't stripped by the AC. Dana just ignored him. At the time the AC didn't have rules to strip titles or overturn results based on a drug test. That's why Barnett still has a win over Couture unlike Diaz vs Homicide.
Not UFC's job to legitimize a competing promotion's champion.
Also how many non-hardcores actually know who Askren is? How would this fight even be marketed without Ben first winning a few under the Zuffa banner? It's not like UFC can use Bellator footage.
Dana is right, Bjorn is playing games, and UFC simply has no reason to gamble.
Mark Hunts Pet Monkey - Not UFC's job to legitimize a competing promotion's champion.
Also how many non-hardcores actually know who Askren is? How would this fight even be marketed without Ben first winning a few under the Zuffa banner? It's not like UFC can use Bellator footage.
Dana is right, Bjorn is playing games, and UFC simply has no reason to gamble.
People who don't know Askren likely won't be interested in getting to know him once they find his own promotion were "trying" to give him away, despite Askren being their WW champion.