I cant believe they let him walk.

[DoopidyDawesome]

It's great for Bellator though and ultimately good for MMA in general. These kinds of moves will continue to push fighters to unionize and get the best possible deals for themselves. The UFC is fucking up badly here though.

 

[mcdowels]

rory should stop fighting - its not healthy for him

 

[Irishhandbomb]

After they let Benson go nothing really surprises me.

 

[packoftwenty2]

"faught"? Oh, you're American...

The word is "fought".

 

[phillysmoker]

are you guys honestly surprised. i knew this shit was going down as soon as i heard he was signed to fight wonderboy. only time i wanted rory to win becuase i knew they'd lowball his next contract, its very shameful on ufc part.

 

[D 1 Wrestler]

Me neither ... this is one of the worst decisions ive ever seen out of the UFC.
Its unbelievable.

you have no clue how much he was asking for or that bellator was willing to pay. Overpaying someone is dumb and not how UFC became a 4 billion dollar business

 

[Haj01]

After they let go of Benson a former UFC Champ. I knew this was just the start of a new trend...

Well actually i knew it started when they didn't resign Phil Davis. He was pretty much in the exact same spot as Rory. A top contender.

 

[dim_]

Who says they let him walk, UFC had matching rights, but who's to say that Bellator didnt structure the offer in such a way that UFC couldnt match it.




Bellator have in the past put in clauses in the contract that while costing them nothing basically block UFC being able to match.

Things like

+ We will give you 10% of the gate where the gate exceeds $5m
or
+ we will give you 20% of the ppv revenue when the PPV exceeds 500,000

Bellator can put in clauses like that that basically have no effect on Bellator as they are never going to trigger the clauses, but by including them that means that UFC have to match them.

They are basically put in by Coker to prevent UFC being able to match the contract.




If Rory wanted to go to Bellator, its very very easy for Coker to structure the contract in such a way that its impossible for the UFC to exercise matching rights.

 

[Russie]

I like Rory and wanted to see him remain. I think the UFC feels at this point in time they made the most of what they could on Rory and no point shelling out a lot more money. Let him go to Bellator for the money where he will dominate the competition and build his name back up. In a few more years he'll be hot again come back to UFC where they will then make more money on him and relish in the attention splash that would come with him returning. It may or may not play out that way but I'm sure that's what the UFC feels. Let him walk today and revisit it later if he can do something for us.

 

[steliokontos]

Its good news for Wonderboy at least,

The UFC wont want a champ whos been beaten by a Bellator guy, and who better to beat him then the guy who beat Rory, if Woodley wins, then he redeemed himself for the Rory loss.

 

[Rational Poster]

I've had friends who aren't even into MMA mention the Lawler vs McDonald fight. Rory is well known, well liked and he's a top WW, I'm shocked to see they let him go

How many Rory fights did you buy?

Love him or hate him Rory is a Top 5 WW in the world.How could the ufc let him go after the fight he had with Lawler were he gave his heart and Soul.The fight with wonderboy i dont think Rory was 100% not taking anything away from wonderboy but with rory breaking his nose 2 times while in camp. I dont think his nose was even healed and it showed in the way he faught but he made no excuses about it and if he pulled out of the fight he would of taken alot of bad press.I see the new ufc being alot like the wwe entertainment those days are gone when number 1 contenter faught the champ.Now it's if you can talk the talk and you can fill our pockets up with lots of money your blond and good looking Will give you a shot.All the best to Rory a true Martial Artist who the ufc didn't think he was worth the money he was asking for.

How many Rory fights did you buy?

 

[TheRassler]

Rory's nose will never be the same ever again, it'll get broken again in training camp before he shows up on fight night.


It was a good decision not to resign him.

 

[J. Bernie Cunningham]

Either UFC is going full shit show under WME-IMG, or the UFC and Rory saw Bellator's offer and agreed he should go get paid, tear their division up and come back with fresh momentum.

Don't be surprised if he re-signs with the UFC after 3-4 big wins.

 

[Brit_Brawler]

They were too greedy to pay the man what he deserves . Now bellator is going to have a fighter on their roster that absolutely tooled the current ufc champ. Great business move lol

 

[tithas]

Love him or hate him Rory is a Top 5 WW in the world.How could the ufc let him go after the fight he had with Lawler were he gave his heart and Soul.The fight with wonderboy i dont think Rory was 100% not taking anything away from wonderboy but with rory breaking his nose 2 times while in camp. I dont think his nose was even healed and it showed in the way he faught but he made no excuses about it and if he pulled out of the fight he would of taken alot of bad press.I see the new ufc being alot like the wwe entertainment those days are gone when number 1 contenter faught the champ.Now it's if you can talk the talk and you can fill our pockets up with lots of money your blond and good looking Will give you a shot.All the best to Rory a true Martial Artist who the ufc didn't think he was worth the money he was asking for.

Its very, very simple. If Rory wants 250k a fight but he only makes the UFC 100k a fight he goes away. As long as you generate more (most likely double) the revenue as you are paid they will keep you. This is not a charity, its a business as if Bellator gave him 6 figures I doubt the UFC will match it because he does not generate that kind of revenue outside of Canada.

 

[tithas]

They were too greedy to pay the man what he deserves . Now bellator is going to have a fighter on their roster that absolutely tooled the current ufc champ. Great business move lol

"deserve". You only deserve to make the money your employer is willing to pay you based upon the money you will make for your employer. If you do not like that system then go be self-employed.

 

[Willy Lump Lump]

I'm curious to see how much bellator gave him .
Ufc was probably thinking if we give Rory 250k ( that's a guess ) then a bunch of other guys are going to expect the same

Yea. Except they likely offered him less, and coming off two losses.. can't blame the ufc, for the reason you mentioned.

He wanted a bigger check than his was "worth" by UFC standards. Nobody's a bad guy here, just business

 

[Troy Nelson]

I don't know if you guys are aware, but the UFC cares about money and little else. Rory wasn't much of a draw.

He'll have a better career and make more dough in Bellator. It's a win win.

 

[VAfan]

that was expected if you ask me. he's in a lot of boring fights, just lost to the guy who will probably hold the belt now, and is a problem for gsp if he comes back.

 

[Deleted member 220895]

Rory needs a change in setting. I feel like he was stuck in neutral his last few fights. New competition in a different organization could be what he needs.