Let me explain to you all what the UFC is doing...

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Gabkicks

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Khabib received two contracts to fight Alvarez, there apparently was no McGregor/Alvarez negotiations going on at all. (per Ariel Helwani).

Yet, Conor vs Alvarez is happening at MSG in NY.

Conor / Alvarez was the plan all along.

But why did they drag it out and drag Khabib into this?

Dana and the UFC know very well that Conor's next opponent should he beat Alvarez will very likely be a title defense to Khabib Nurmagomedov.

This was done to rile up Khabib and his supporters and get his name out there. Creating an "Everyone is scared of Khabib" scenario. Which it did.

Now, when its time to fight Conor, Conor will be fighting the angry undefeated Russian that everyone was afraid of who said he was gonna come after Conor.


In short:

They are setting up for Khabib vs the winner of Alvarez vs Conor, by getting Khabib's name out there in a way that makes it look like everyone is scared of him. That, on top of his undefeated record, makes a fight with him marketable.
 
Those 2 contracts Khabib was holding said Zuffa, who no longer own the UFC. You were fooled.
 
Gabkicks said:
Khabib received two contracts to fight Alvarez, there apparently was no McGregor/Alvarez negotiations going on at all. (per Ariel Helwani).

Yet, Conor vs Alvarez is happening at MSG in NY.

Conor / Alvarez was the plan all along.

But why did they drag it out and drag Khabib into this?

Dana and the UFC know very well that Conor's next opponent should he beat Alvarez will very likely be a title defense to Khabib Nurmagomedov.

This was done to rile up Khabib and his supporters and get his name out there. Creating an "Everyone is scared of Khabib" scenario. Which it did.

Now, when its time to fight Conor, Conor will be fighting the angry undefeated Russian that everyone was afraid of who said he was gonna come after Conor.


In short:

They are setting up for Khabib vs the winner of Alvarez vs Conor, by getting Khabib's name out there in a way that makes it look like everyone is scared of him. That, on top of his undefeated record, makes a fight with him marketable.
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Or Khabib could just be lying so his 10 fans keep on talking about him.
 
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Interesting perspective, TS. It actually makes sense from the point of view you described.

My only question is was Khabib aware that he was being used this way? I think he was, with the knowledge that if he played along with this on twitter, that he would get the NEXT shot afterwards. It also adds a bit of luster to the potential Khabib/MJ title eliminator for the casuals who might not know him.
 
Interesting theory.

It's possible.

If that's the case, it's almost like a pro wrestling "angle" or storyline. You create interest or 'heat' where there was none before.
 
tithas said:
Or Khabib could just be lying so his 10 fans keep on talking about him.
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I wouldn't say 10 fans. Maybe 10 in NA the guy has 976k Instagram followers. Pretty much in the top 5-10 when it comes to current mma fighters social media followings
 
Or MAYBE it's the UFC slapping the Russian in the face for running his fucking mouth the entire time he was on the sidelines, and demanding a title shot after ONE FUCKING WIN!

Just as likely.
 
All they did was use Khabib as leverage in their negotiations with Conor and Alvarez
Nothing deeper than that
 
Gabkicks said:
They are setting up for Khabib vs the winner of Alvarez vs Conor, by getting Khabib's name out there in a way that makes it look like everyone is scared of him. That, on top of his undefeated record, makes a fight with him marketable.
Click to expand...


Not only is it this -- everyone is scared of Khabib -- but you also get the "Khabib was wronged and he's coming for his justice" angle as well.

If they did do this on purpose, it was well done and a good move.
 
The plan is Conor vs Khabib in Russia.

The UFC want that to be the inaugural fight in Putin land.
 
Those contracts were to pressure either Eddie or Conor to sign on the dotted line; letting them know the Eagle was a viable second option.
 
Jermei said:
Those 2 contracts Khabib was holding said Zuffa, who no longer own the UFC. You were fooled.
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You do realize hopefully that Zuffa actually still is in charge of the UFC, right? The sale doesn't just magically happen over night. It's not uncommon for a merger/acquisition to take a full year. When you're talking about a multi-billion dollar deal, there's a shit ton of things to process and work out, and that all takes time. Generally there's a timeline created for how the transition period will work. The sale was announced what, 2 months ago? Zuffa is almost definitely still in charge, even if only "technically" in charge. A company I worked for was bought by a large multi-national. The sale was announced in January, but we weren't under their umbrella until mid July. That was roughly a $50 million deal. Now imagine a $4 billion deal, which is 80x more. Do you really think they just cut a check for $4 billion and Zuffa handed over the keys and that was it?
 
WinZip said:
You do realize hopefully that Zuffa actually still is in charge of the UFC, right? The sale doesn't just magically happen over night. It's not uncommon for a merger/acquisition to take a full year. When you're talking about a multi-billion dollar deal, there's a shit ton of things to process and work out, and that all takes time. Generally there's a timeline created for how the transition period will work. The sale was announced what, 2 months ago? Zuffa is almost definitely still in charge, even if only "technically" in charge. A company I worked for was bought by a large multi-national. The sale was announced in January, but we weren't under their umbrella until mid July. That was roughly a $50 million deal. Now imagine a $4 billion deal, which is 80x more. Do you really think they just cut a check for $4 billion and Zuffa handed over the keys and that was it?
Click to expand...

I'm sure you're right though and yeah i don't know the specifics of that deal ... but UFC 205 is going to be huge and Lorenzo is still collecting all that bank? Good for him but man id want a cut if the company was now mine.
 
lol @ UFC having to manufacture all these elaborate plotlines in order to promote their fights. Sucks for them they don't have a product that sells itself
 
Jermei said:
I'm sure you're right though and yeah i don't know the specifics of that deal ... but UFC 205 is going to be huge and Lorenzo is still collecting all that bank? Good for him but man id want a cut if the company was now mine.
Click to expand...
Again, this stuff is complicated. I have no idea how current and future revenue is divided between Zuffa and the new owners. The Fertitta brothers were already rich. Now with the buy out, they're even richer. Why worry about 1 card's revenue when you've got literal billions at your disposal?

It could be structured such that Zuffa is still in charge, but the new owners are now in charge of Zuffa during the transition. Or it could be 100% still under the Fertitta brothers until the deal closes and all the cash is paid out. Or there could be structured payments and with each payment, the new owners absorb X percent more of the UFC's business. There's a million ways this deal could be structured and I'm not even close to an expert in that area. I can only go by my own experience with a company getting bought by a large multinational corporation - and the UFC deal was worth more money than that multinational earns in a year, so it's probably gonna take some time.
 
Hell no. One thing you can be clear on is that Conor will NEVER fight Khabib. It's a terrible matchup that neither Conor nor the UFC want any part of. As much as he's avoiding a title defense at FW, that will be his next move if he wins the LW belt until somebody else beats Khabib. They don't have to make it look like every is scared to fight Khabib, everyone is scared to fight him, including Conor, and that's why it won't happen.
 
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