Latest Brandon Vera Hype - 1/10/07

There had been negotiations to have Sylvia make his next title defense against heavyweight contender Brandon Vera. But Vera has only one fight left on his current contract and the UFC will not extend a title shot to a fighter that could wind up leaving the promotion following the fight. Apparently negotiations on an extension with Vera are at an impasse with sources revealing that Vera is asking for a rather large signing bonus that the UFC is unwilling to agree to. It is likely that Vera will end up sitting for much of the remainder of his contract, reportedly in the neighborhood of eight months, and then be given a fight in a preliminary bout to finish out his contract.

Source: MMAWeekly

I hated to read that part.

i hope that isnt the case. vera is just starting to build a name/rep.

I wish we knew exactly what kind of money he was looking for. It's tough to point fingers right now without knowing some numbers.

yeah, wtf. is he asking for randy kinda money or crocop kinda money?

why not

yeah, wtf. is he asking for randy kinda money or crocop kinda money?

Is "Massa Lloyd" his manager??

yeah, wtf. is he asking for randy kinda money or crocop kinda money?

^^^ You broke the chain now edit your post and add the following:

yeah, wtf. is he asking for randy kinda money or crocop kinda money?

or kinda yeah wtf. is he crocop kinda asking randy for money, money?

Its funny how he is holding out with the possibility of a huge payday with the Showtime org, but in reality there is a pretty big chance that it will be out of business or bought out by the time the UFC lets him finish up his contract

He should just take the slightly lower payday now and use the fame and notoriety of the UFC to increase his value in the long run. Look what shortsightedness could have done to Rampage had the UFC decided to skip on his contract...

There has to be some middle ground to get a deal done here man. Vera is too good to be put on the shelf for that long. UFC and Vera need to meet half way or this will end up being bad for both sides.

yeah, wtf. is he asking for randy kinda money or crocop kinda money?

My guess is he just didnt want to sign on for a fight with big Tim, possibly lose and be banished to the prelims for n money. Very, very bad move for Dana to do this in my opinion. The guy is acting like a spoiled child. Let Vera fight out his contract and move on if he wants.

If his name grows he will eventually be back. If he sits for even 4 or more months and signs with the UFC again, then Dana has set back a guy who could be a major draw for him.

Even if Vera is asking too much money, just give him his last fight and let him move on. At least Vera is young, but 8 months is a loooong time to sit and not fight.

in other words its not about the fight for Vera, its about the monetary gains......reminds of Tito

It HAS to include money, you'd be stupid to let the opportunity to make training money for yourself. The idea in this day and age that people can be champions off of 30k a year is ridiculous, this guy wants to be a professional fighter.

Let the guy fight out his contract and do what he's going to do, that puts pressure on him and not the UFC.

Don't be a vindictive dick by shelfing him for revenge.

That sucks if he's asking for a reasonable amount of money given his success and continuing popularity and the UFC is going to cause him to miss other opportunities because they can't get their way in the negotiations. UFC just loses so many people because of contract disputes that it's getting tired and ridiculous. But who knows, maybe it's not the UFC but the fighters that are being unreasonable. But with UFC's gaining popularity and considering their history with contract/money issues, why would a fighter price themselves out of the premiere American MMA organization that they probably worked very hard to get into? Or is it the UFC that's using the #1 American MMA org. leverage to get what they want?

Bad move for Vera. He had a good shot at beating Sylvia, and as champ he could have commanded a sizeable paycheck. I wonder if the signing of CroCop had something to do with his demands. If he wasn't confident he could be champ for an extended period, that may have given him cause to demand a big short-term payday.

Is Vera's current contract UFC exclusive?
For instance, can he legally go and fight for lets say the IFL before he finishes his last fight on his UFC contract.

If I were him, I would sign an incentive based contract extension! For instance, if he beats Sylvia, he gets a % of gates or something.

Of course, it would suck if Tim ecks out a boring 5 rd dec. and Vera is left holding his dick in his hands with no one to fight for a while.

Vera has plenty of people to fight, after all, he can make 205

Do these contracts not have any provisions that protect the fighter?

For instance, you could stipulate something like this:

If I am healthy and available to fight I must be provided a fight within 6 months of my previous fight or else the exclusivity clause is voided.