"Im surprised he took that fight." - Sean Omalley

[jitzmonkey]

Look at how much better Dustin looked ' taking this' last fight. Much more respect

I’m not arguing that.
I’m arguing that O’Malley likely doesn’t value “respect.”

 

[Captain Insano]

What everyone likes to call "ducking" is actually called "managing a career in the fight business".

This is why boxers make more money: they're smarter.

"But what about a street fight?!?!?!" ..... "You can't bite a guy in a 'real fight' " ....

 

[BluntForceTrama]

I’m not arguing that.
I’m arguing that O’Malley likely doesn’t value “respect.”

Without a doubt. The point is should he. and is it ok if we don't respect him for this.

Don't you want to beat all challengers? Or do you want to cherrypick your way while holding the title? Why be cbampion if its hollow like that? Wed all see through it.

 

[El Panteron]

Without a doubt. The point is should he. and is it ok if we don't respect him for this.

Don't you want to beat all challengers? Or do you want to cherrypick your way while holding the title? Why be cbampion if its hollow like that? Wed all see through it.

Because 1) some champions get PPV points and more money and 2) people absolutely do not see through that, people are fucking morons, just read this forum for five minutes.

Legacy and integrity of the sport are the point for us fans, but we've got jobs and lives outside of being fans, this IS their job and their life and fighters will take stuff that we don't consider into account. And they work for a shit, shit company that does them no favours at all.
Of course I don't want to see ducking champs and hollow records, but it's easy to see how and why it happens.

 

[Poatan Power]

I'm convinced Twitter, but maybe social media in general, has rendered the majority of the population incapable of drawing accurate conclusions from basic sentences. They can't even consume paragraphs "tl;dr"

 

[kalabula]

Why would anyone be surprised that a fighter who has only a few good years to make money in this sport would choose opponent’s intelligently?

 

[jitzmonkey]

Without a doubt. The point is should he. and is it ok if we don't respect him for this.

Don't you want to beat all challengers? Or do you want to cherrypick your way while holding the title? Why be cbampion if its hollow like that? Wed all see through it.

I can agree with you all I want; but I just genuinely don't believe that he actually cares about legacy or the OG fans/practitioners of the sport.

 

[tasticles]

Not accepting a fight doesn't necessarily equate to "ducking." Too many people don't seem to understand the difference. If Dustin turned down the lowly ranked BSD, that wouldn't be ducking; it would have been completely reasonable. I'm glad he accepted, though.

Yes indeed. It's not even ducking when an old fighter at 40 wants someone within 5 years of them. And we have established Sean will duck. He's far from the only champ to do it.

 

[AmonTobin]

I think most of the young talented guys are wise to the fight game and want to get in and out as fast as they can while making as much money as they can. I also think Conor McGregor phenomenon had a huge influence on them and everybody else for that matter. So coming from that place, it makes sense and I don't blame them.

I definitely respect the fighters who aren't afraid to "fight down" in rankings, even if their choice is considered a "stupid business decision". There's no eveidence to suggest Poirier fighting and beating St Denis was less meaningful than waiting to fight only someone closely ranked or higher ranked than him. Was it a bigger risk? Maybe but the payoff was enormous. You're giving the fans what they want. You're making a statement with a great performance against what many belived to be a dangerous fighter currently on a tear (rankings be damned). You're also telling everyone that you believe in yourself and you're ready to take risks. That's a fighter's fighter right there.

TLDR: New gen fighters: cherrypicking because its business. Last gen fighters: Hell ya. I'll fight whoever the UFC wants me to fight.

 

[xhaydenx]

Except he is now fighting the guy. Dude made a business decision by taking the most lucrative fight in the division first and then the tougher fights. It's a career for them to make money, not a noble quest to please all the fans while sacrificing their health and earning potential.

Suga didn't make any business decisions, the UFC did. They wanted the Suga/Chito storyline and they pretty much had to do it when they did because otherwise Chito likely would have lost his next fight, which would have again been against one of the top 5. If that had happened, the Chito story would have ended. UFC handled the whole thing well.

 

[BigDramaShow26]

O'Malley may have gotten a gift number 1 contender fight immediately followed by a gift decision win, but he is fighting Merab now. That's all you can really ask.

 

[Iroh]

Suga didn't make any business decisions, the UFC did. They wanted the Suga/Chito storyline and they pretty much had to do it when they did because otherwise Chito likely would have lost his next fight, which would have again been against one of the top 5. If that had happened, the Chito story would have ended. UFC handled the whole thing well.

Yeah, and O'Malley had been saying for forever that he wanted to fight Chito after he would become champ. I'm sure that didn't influence the UFC...

It's like telling a friend all year what you want for your birthday, then it is your birthday and your friend gives you exactly what you have been talking about all year and then giving the friend all the credit for coming up with the idea for the present.