BJ will just make his own Million Dollar Belt.
I find that people still really aren't comprehending why this situation went in the direction it did.
If you allow BJ Penn to fight outside of the UFC while holding a belt, then you set a precedent for all of your champions to request the same. You would have no ethical or legal ground to refuse them.
So Penn fights in K-1. A month later, DSE makes Couture a great financial offer. He needs to make a living, too, right? You let Penn go overseas, so why can't you let Couture? What can you say to that? "We wanted BJ to supplement his income, but not you."
What is Randy going to do? Penn just up and left without permission, so he might as well. Now you've got Japan poaching your champions, maybe at or around the time you have plans for them. And some of them will lose, guaranteed.
Do people see how quickly this would spin out of control?
Jake - forget the "ethical/legal" precedence... you make offeres to obligate your Champion to fight in your event... If he prioritizes other organizations, THEN you strip him... This is such proactive nonesense the way the UFC did it, and the way you present it.
The promoter needs to sit down and plan with their marquee fighters... This sport (especially at the level it is at now) is about relationships. People need to communicate, cooperate, and coordinate to find the common ground that is best for all parties... This seema to not have happenned.
All we have is - "BJ knew what wopuld happen", or "He was disloyal"
When it come to the fighters... it has come to easy for the UFC (big money, brand name, didn't have to come from inside the sport to make a reputation) and so there is not an understanding of the need to work with each other to make things happen. There are just demands, and exclusive contracts, and power plays...
"Sure, Zuffa will continue on, but many of the fans are starting to think the UFC title situation is more than a joke... it's a travesty. "
lol, yeah, like the 155 belt was til Jens got KO'd twice. Penn will lose sooner or later and it won't matter that the UFC dropped him
And people keep dangling the Pride American debut as some kind of boogy man, but what happened to Battleship? Inoki Bam Ba Ye? K-1 MMA? RINGS? The UFC has outlasted alot of shows, and will outlast alot more. Pride makes tons of money in Japan, but over here they will do less than the UFC does, I'd bet
"The promoter needs to sit down and plan with their marquee fighters... This sport (especially at the level it is at now) is about relationships. People need to communicate, cooperate, and coordinate to find the common ground that is best for all parties... This seema to not have happenned."
There was absolutely no confusion in the matter whatsoever. Zuffa demanded that Penn - as a UFC titleholder - remain within their company. Penn and the belt are commodities. It's at their discretion whether or not to allow him to fight in K-1. They refused. BJ went anyway, probably under the assumption that they wouldn't strip and vacate yet another belt.
"If he prioritizes other organizations, THEN you strip him"
That's exactly what they did. Penn placed the K-1 offer over the UFC's contractual demands. So he was stripped. What's the big mystery?
Bottom line is if you own one of the worlds biggest events you do not want your fighters going back and fourth. How many of the Pride fighters fight in other events?
Do you really believe K-1 is going to let BJ fight in Bushido....yea right they hate each other.
BJ probably has two options right now or three.
1)wait until K-1 decides to do another mma event.
2)ROTR
3)try to sue Zuffa and get back in.
It is to bad all of this happen BJ is a great fighter and a better person. But business is business!
Can someone please explain the ceremonie thing its like saying whoever fights for the belt isn't really the WORLD CHMAPION.
Correct me if I'm wrong!
"But what looks like happen to me is he won and tried to use the belt as leverage to get a raise. Well most UFC fighters already know how much they will be making for their next few fights. Well after the belt he wanted more. Zuffa said no so he left. Done deal......"
ummmm... wrong & wrong... sorry...
BJ said he was happy with what Zuffa was paying him, and could continue to fight for them at whatever they thought was fair, as long as he could supplement his income along the way...
BJ never asked for more money from Zuffa...
And if Zuffa was SO concerned about BJ losing abroad, why did they initially agree to let him fight in K1 as long as Zuffa gets to negotiate the deal???... hmmmmm...
--- "There was absolutely no confusion in the matter whatsoever. Zuffa demanded that Penn - as a UFC titleholder - remain within their company."
This is my point... they Demanded... poor poor practice
--- "Penn and the belt are commodities. It's at their discretion whether or not to allow him to fight in K-1."
He is a commodity, then he should be treated like one... he should not be treatedlike property as you say "whether or not to ALLOW him to fight in K-1".
--- "If he prioritizes other organizations, THEN you strip him"
That's exactly what they did. Penn placed the K-1 offer over the UFC's contractual demands. So he was stripped. What's the big mystery?"
Wrong spin... His fight in K-1 did not interfere with a fight offer in the UFC. I said you make offers to keep in him active in your org. If there is a lay-off, and he is not shelving an offer that was presented to him... then I see their move as a bad decision. A lost opportunity...
"The best thing about all this is that BJ Penn will probably end up in Pride's Light/Middleweight tourny next year and make a lot more money for himself down the road. "
if BJ thinks that, why's he suing the UFC?
"Incidents like this hurt the sport"
how? you just said BJ would simply go to Pride, so how does it affect the sport one way or the other?
I just want to say that I think the comparison with Randy Couture is a little off-base.
They are paying the higher weight classes quite a bit more cash if I am not mistaken. They are also more apt to let them fight more frequently - it seems like they are tossing Liddell a fight every opportunity they get.
IMHO they never expected BJ to hold the belt and were not prepared for it. Hughes was their boy. BJ makes this huge career move by beating Hughes and the UFC wants to backburner him immediately afterward. In comparison Liddell gets to fight in Pride and after a loss gets an instant fight in the UFC right away.
The fact of the matter is that the UFC is playing favorites and does not have the bank roll or respect for the lower weight classes. BJ had one of the biggest wins of his career and everybody knows exposure in Japan is HUGE in this sport. The UFC absolutely refused to work with him.
Personally I am rather disgusted with the business skills of Zuffa. They have punted allot of talent overseas and promoted/fed a bunch of luke warm players over here. Pride owns them in building fighters - always has and always will. Every time the UFC makes a superstar they seems to lose them just as fast.
I don't think its good for the sport or the UFC in the long run. They put BJ in a no win situation and they did it because they were, IMHO, pissed he won.
Furthermore... don't crown some one the champ if you don't intend to pay more.
Don't put someone in a title bout, if you don't want them to win.
Don't have a title if you want to make plans on who the Champ will be.
Don't prime someone as a title contender, but put no effort into marketing them, and then say they have no "marketability" when it was you who sidelined any attempts at a marketing scheme.