Will we ever see Stipe vs Minakov somehow?

[beginner555]

It would really suck to see them reign in their own organizations and never meet eachother because of contract bullshit
Is there any way this fight can happen?

 

[Matthew Fedler]

I’m really hoping the UFC signs him for their possible Russia show in September.

 

[ImNotSurpisedDonks!]

No. The reason being if Minakov signs, he will not pass the litmus test in Werdum, Cain or Ngannou. If home boy is struggling vs Linderman, he is ROYALLY f'd against top 5's in the UFC.

 

[xyzxyz94]

No. He has like 3 fights with Bellator that he won't fight because it's for really shitty money. They aren't going to give him a better contract because he already said he wants to go to the UFC. They're just going to keep offering him fights for like 10K every 6 months to keep his contract valid and he'll say fuck that and fight for 10x more in Russia.

 

[Todd498]

Minakov is the 2nd best HW out there imo. It would be a damn shame if the UFC didn’t sign him. Or maybe Dana thinks he’s not ‘Marketable’ like Francis is. Lol

 

[KeepItRealist]

Minakov is the 2nd best HW out there imo. It would be a damn shame if the UFC didn’t sign him. Or maybe Dana thinks he’s not ‘Marketable’ like Francis is. Lol

Hard to say with his competition. He's knocking out UFC leftovers like Bigfoot on a ten-fight losing streak or something.

So weird. He won the Bellator title, defended against Cheick and just disappeared. I never heard a word about him again until recently.

 

[Todd498]

Hard to say with his competition. He's knocking out UFC leftovers like Bigfoot on a ten-fight losing streak or something.

So weird. He won the Bellator title, defended against Cheick and just disappeared. I never heard a word about him again until recently.

He’s wasting his prime years no doubt. The guy has so much talent.

 

[A-ZIK]

No. Sad but True. Vitaly won't fight vs high level opposition. He make really good money in Russia for beating mid level guys.

 

[cyrusthevyrus]

In Bellator maybe

 

[KeepItRealist]

He’s wasting his prime years no doubt. The guy has so much talent.

Indeed. It's just hard to call any HW outside the UFC one of the best in the world because as shallow as the division is, it's still got the best MMA fighters for the most part. Minakov certainly should be in the UFC, Ivanov too.

 

[xyzxyz94]

He's probably going to lose to Pavlovich soon enough anyways, that's the guy the UFC should really be going after.

 

[Feniamin]

He's probably going to lose to Pavlovich soon enough anyways, that's the guy the UFC should really be going after.

I'm pretty sure that Minakov said that HW belt of Fight Nights is not interesting to him and he is not gonna fight for it. And I think Minakov and Pavlovich are teammates.