Media Michael 'Venom' Page got face-to-face with Cédric Doumbé at PFL Dublin

[TorontoTO]

I guess he did like the offer, but I can assure you it wasn't 10k/10k lol. When it comes to established talent from other promotions the UFC pays large.

Not really, Chandler and MVP are very marketable fighters for the UFC desired demographic, Ala Americans and Brits

That’s why they got signed, not because of their skill level. Likewise UFC could have signed both these guys long before they were in their late 30s

 

[JKS]

Not really, Chandler and MVP are very marketable fighters for the UFC desired demographic, Ala Americans and Brits

That’s why they got signed, not because of their skill level. Likewise UFC could have signed both these guys long before they were in their late 30s

They sign them because they were signed to Bellator for many years with good contracts. And I can assure you they signed Chandler for his skill level, it follows a pattern....Gilbert Melendez, Eddie Alverez, Tatsuya Kawajiri, among others, all top LWs who were established and the UFC signed. MVP they signed because he's an exciting fighter, but also for the potential to be a contender as well.

But my point stands. All these guys who are very established in other organizations get paid very well to come over. And it's been like that for many many years.

 

[TorontoTO]

They sign them because they were signed to Bellator for many years with good contracts. And I can assure you they signed Chandler for his skill level, it follows a pattern....Gilbert Melendez, Eddie Alverez, Tatsuya Kawajiri, among others, all top LWs who were established and the UFC signed. MVP they signed because he's an exciting fighter, but also for the potential to be a contender as well.

But my point stands. All these guys who are very established in other organizations get paid very well to come over. And it's been like that for many many years.

You are smoking some good copium, if you think UFC couldn’t outbid Bellator and every other promotion. And lol they signed Chandler who was 35 and had gotten KOd because of his skill level, they needed 15 years to decide he was ready for the ufc

Also let’s play this game, who has the UFC brought over who was in their prime and not on the decline. Gamrot and Jiri both took way less money to sign with the UFC. You are living in some fantasy where the ufc is in the business of signing the best

 

[JKS]

You are smoking some good copium, if you think UFC couldn’t outbid Bellator and every other promotion. And lol they signed Chandler who was 35 and had gotten KOd because of his skill level, they needed 15 years to decide he was ready for the ufc

Also let’s play this game, who has the UFC brought over who was in their prime and not on the decline. Gamrot and Jiri both took way less money to sign with the UFC. You are living in some fantasy where the ufc is in the business of signing the best

Ah yes, good one, using sherdog buzz words of the month, you really got me there.

First of all, the UFC never pursued Chandler heavily. Chandler when he was renewing his contract in 2016 received a great long term deal and in 2018 he renewed again under a champions clause. There was talks in 2016 with the UFC, but they didn't pursue him and instead signed Will Brooks who beat Chandler twice and at the time had a higher stock, he was left Bellator as champion. Chandler in 2016 when he was a free agent was coming of a tough 3 fights skid and wasn't regarded as high. They singed him in 2020 and at that point Chandler went for the best deal.

And they didn't wait 15 year, Chandler has only been fighting since 2009. The UFC doesn't sign fighters in their first fight to big deals, they signed him when the time was right. They only talked to him once when he was a free agent. They cant just offer fighters deals anytime lol, it's not how it works.

Here are some names, and these are just the very establised fighters who were champions in other promotions. I am not even going into guys like Gamrot as I'd be writing a list as long as my arm.

Will Brooks
Allistair Overeem
Gegard Mousasi
Gilbert Melendez
Eddie Alverez
Jake Shields
Yushin Okami
Anderson Silva

You can even add guys like Rockhold, Cormier, Jacare and the SF fighters in there as well. They fought under SF for a couple years which was run seperately and then they signed to the UFC.

The UFC does go out and sign top fighers no doubt. But their focus is more on signing fighters in early stages of their careers so they can grow and devlop with the promotion. They can't sign everyone out there though.

 

[TorontoTO]

Ah yes, good one, using sherdog buzz words of the month, you really got me there.

First of all, the UFC never pursued Chandler heavily. Chandler when he was renewing his contract in 2016 received a great long term deal and in 2018 he renewed again under a champions clause. There was talks in 2016 with the UFC, but they didn't pursue him and instead signed Will Brooks who beat Chandler twice and at the time had a higher stock, he was left Bellator as champion. Chandler in 2016 when he was a free agent was coming of a tough 3 fights skid and wasn't regarded as high. They singed him in 2020 and at that point Chandler went for the best deal.

And they didn't wait 15 year, Chandler has only been fighting since 2009. The UFC doesn't sign fighters in their first fight to big deals, they signed him when the time was right. They only talked to him once when he was a free agent. They cant just offer fighters deals anytime lol, it's not how it works.

Here are some names, and these are just the very establised fighters who were champions in other promotions. I am not even going into guys like Gamrot as I'd be writing a list as long as my arm.

Will Brooks
Allistair Overeem
Gegard Mousasi
Gilbert Melendez
Eddie Alverez
Jake Shields
Yushin Okami
Anderson Silva

You can even add guys like Rockhold, Cormier, Jacare and the SF fighters in there as well. They fought under SF for a couple years which was run seperately and then they signed to the UFC.

The UFC does go out and sign top fighers no doubt. But their focus is more on signing fighters in early stages of their careers so they can grow and devlop with the promotion. They can't sign everyone out there though.

Dude had to go back a decade for his examples, enough said

 

[wwkirk]

You are living in some fantasy where the ufc is in the business of signing the best

Recent UFC seems different than pre-ESPN UFC. The impression I got back when the UFC was gobbling up orgs, is that they really were trying to get the lions share of the best fighters around. But it seems that since the lawsuit, they have been much less aggressive in securing outstanding fighters. Perhaps even non-aggressive.

 

[JKS]

Dude had to go back a decade for his examples, enough said

You asked to give you names and I did. Now you're gonna cry about and change the narrative around?? I gave you a decades worth of top fighter signings. You want since 2020?

Jiri Prochazka ( dont care what he gets paid, he got signed as a top fighter)
Manel Kape (Rizin BW champion)
Michael Chandler
Matuesz Gamrot (KSW LW/FW champ)
Shakvat Rakhamov (M1 champ)
Ben Askren (Bellator and ONE FC champ)
Dricus Du Plesis (Multiple organization champ)
Mosvar Evloev (M1 multiple time champion)
Justin Gaethje (2018, but a top signing)
Michael Page (Just signed)

You got fighters like Aliskerov, Garry, Mokaev, Topuria, Brady, Fiziev, Chimaev, Jack Della who are all top 10 and contenders. These guys weren't as highly developed as the names above, but still top fighters in other promotions.

The UFC goes out and gets top talent. And now they are signing them even earlier, that's why you have many new contenders and top 10 fighters.

 

[TorontoTO]

You got fighters like Aliskerov, Garry, Mokaev, Topuria, Brady, Fiziev, Chimaev, Jack Della who are all top 10 and contenders. These guys weren't as highly developed as the names above, but still top fighters in other promotions.

None of those guys were proven talent when they got signed, they were prospects. I have never argued that they didn't sign some talent that later developed into good talent.

Jiri Prochazka ( dont care what he gets paid, he got signed as a top fighter)
Manel Kape (Rizin BW champion)
Michael Chandler
Matuesz Gamrot (KSW LW/FW champ)
Shakvat Rakhamov (M1 champ)
Ben Askren (Bellator and ONE FC champ)
Dricus Du Plesis (Multiple organization champ)
Mosvar Evloev (M1 multiple time champion)
Justin Gaethje (2018, but a top signing)
Michael Page (Just signed)

Askren was retired and had a bum knee, M1 was a third tier Russian promotion that had a deal with the UFC to sign their champs. Dricus had lost his KSW title and gotten KOd, Chandler and MVP are both late 30s and past their primes. Only guys on there you can point to are Kape and Gaethje, Jiri and Gamrot both took less money

 

[JKS]

None of those guys were proven talent when they got signed, they were prospects. I have never argued that they didn't sign some talent that later developed into good talent.

Askren was retired and had a bum knee, M1 was a third tier Russian promotion that had a deal with the UFC to sign their champs. Dricus had lost his KSW title and gotten KOd, Chandler and MVP are both late 30s and past their primes. Only guys on there you can point to are Kape and Gaethje, Jiri and Gamrot both took less money

That's why I said they weren't as developed as the other guys, but were very top fighters in smaller promotions and are now top 10 and contenders.

You can spin it any way you want and come up losses and other things to put these guys down. Bottom line, they were top fighters from other promotions that got signed by the UFC. Saying a fighter lost is irrelevant because they were still top fighters. If PFL happened to pick up Olivera, Usman, Izzy, Jiri, Figgy, Aljo, would they not be top fighters cause they lost their belts??? And just cause a fighter is older, is not relevant if they are still performing at the top level and at thier best hense, prime.

BTW, cute to spin the numers around to try and push your argument, typical sherdog poster.....late 30s?? Chandler was 34 and MVP is 36, that's not late 30s lol. And if they took less money, so what, they still got signed by the UFC.

 

[David Street]

 

[pankrat]

Ah yes, good one, using sherdog buzz words of the month, you really got me there.

First of all, the UFC never pursued Chandler heavily. Chandler when he was renewing his contract in 2016 received a great long term deal and in 2018 he renewed again under a champions clause. There was talks in 2016 with the UFC, but they didn't pursue him and instead signed Will Brooks who beat Chandler twice and at the time had a higher stock, he was left Bellator as champion. Chandler in 2016 when he was a free agent was coming of a tough 3 fights skid and wasn't regarded as high. They singed him in 2020 and at that point Chandler went for the best deal.

And they didn't wait 15 year, Chandler has only been fighting since 2009. The UFC doesn't sign fighters in their first fight to big deals, they signed him when the time was right. They only talked to him once when he was a free agent. They cant just offer fighters deals anytime lol, it's not how it works.

Here are some names, and these are just the very establised fighters who were champions in other promotions. I am not even going into guys like Gamrot as I'd be writing a list as long as my arm.

Will Brooks
Allistair Overeem
Gegard Mousasi
Gilbert Melendez
Eddie Alverez
Jake Shields
Yushin Okami
Anderson Silva

You can even add guys like Rockhold, Cormier, Jacare and the SF fighters in there as well. They fought under SF for a couple years which was run seperately and then they signed to the UFC.

The UFC does go out and sign top fighers no doubt. But their focus is more on signing fighters in early stages of their careers so they can grow and devlop with the promotion. They can't sign everyone out there though.

I agree with you but Yushin Okami was never champion in any MMA org. The ultimate gatekeeper though, and arguably got robbed vs Shields in Rumble on the Rock.

To deny UFC gathers the majority of top talent of any org in MMA is purposely blind. Not as much as a decade before though.

 

[pankrat]

You asked to give you names and I did. Now you're gonna cry about and change the narrative around?? I gave you a decades worth of top fighter signings. You want since 2020?

Jiri Prochazka ( dont care what he gets paid, he got signed as a top fighter)
Manel Kape (Rizin BW champion)
Michael Chandler
Matuesz Gamrot (KSW LW/FW champ)
Shakvat Rakhamov (M1 champ)
Ben Askren (Bellator and ONE FC champ)
Dricus Du Plesis (Multiple organization champ)
Mosvar Evloev (M1 multiple time champion)
Justin Gaethje (2018, but a top signing)
Michael Page (Just signed)

You got fighters like Aliskerov, Garry, Mokaev, Topuria, Brady, Fiziev, Chimaev, Jack Della who are all top 10 and contenders. These guys weren't as highly developed as the names above, but still top fighters in other promotions.

The UFC goes out and gets top talent. And now they are signing them even earlier, that's why you have many new contenders and top 10 fighters.

Dave Branch was champion in two different weighclasses when he got signed back by UFC.

 

[David Street]

Hopefully This signing will be the first of a mass exodus from PFL's Bellator.
Who will make it over to UFC next? Patricio Freire, A.J. McKee, Yaroslav Amosov, Usman Nurmagomedov, Johnny Eblen, Patchy Mix, Vadim Nemkov, Alex Shabliy, Timur Khizriev, Khasan Magomedsharipov, Ramazan Kuramagomedov, Imamshafi Aliev, Mukhamed Berkhamov, Dmytrii Hrytsenko, Kyoji Horiguchi, Ryan Bader, Aaron Pico, Sergio Pettis, Raufeon Stots, Juan Archuleta, Jefferson Pontes...

 

[SuspectChin]

This is exactly why I can't get behind PFL. They do too many bush league gimmicks for a quick media boost. From the Francis/JBJ face-off (a fight that will never happen), to having MVP stand-off with Doumbé in the cage (making out like he had signed with the organization), as if a fight between the two was etched in stone. In reality, all PFL did was help MVP collect a bigger payday to get signed with the UFC with that stunt.

This is like taking a hot female out on a date and dinner (with her telling you how much of a great time she's had afterwards), only to find out that she's ditched you for a guy with deeper pockets a week later.

Amateur and desperate at it's finest.

 

[TorontoTO]

This is exactly why I can't get behind PFL. They do too many bush league gimmicks for a quick media boost. From the Francis/JBJ face-off (a fight that will never happen), to having MVP stand-off with Doumbé in the cage (making out like he had signed with the organization), as if a fight between the two was etched in stone. In reality, all PFL did was help MVP collect a bigger payday to get signed with the UFC with that stunt.

This is like taking a hot female out on a date and dinner (with her telling you how much of a great time she's had afterwards), only to find out that she's ditched you for a guy with deeper pockets a week later.

Amateur and desperate at it's finest.

Are you watching current UFC? They sat Strickland and DDP together so they could get a clip of a crowd fight to advertise the next PPV, did Brock vs Cormier staredown, etc

 

[David Street]

Are you watching current UFC? They sat Strickland and DDP together so they could get a clip of a crowd fight to advertise the next PPV, did Brock vs Cormier staredown, etc

Brock vs Cormier ? Brock is too old and too much steroids.

 

[leto1776]

Can’t believe there’s this much arguing over why the UFc signed MVP. Unless they feed him a steady diet of cans, he won’t even be around for long

 

[Thesnake101]

Can’t believe there’s this much arguing over why the UFc signed MVP. Unless they feed him a steady diet of cans, he won’t even be around for long

If they keep him away from wrestlers he'll do fine enough. Don't particularly like the guy since his fights tend to be pretty dull if there's no highlight finish, but his striking is pretty legit for what's currently at WW.

 

[TorontoTO]

 

[CC27]

Was def wrong, didnt think UFC would step up to pay him. He said he wasnt short change himself just to go to UFC which I figured from start, some guys will just to get in the door to leave their mark or make more later he wasnt one of those guys. Figured PFL would come in with a bigger offer with focus on Europe and you have that perfect Doumbe fight waiting and UFC came in hot and got him.

How far he goes who knows, I think he can beat Holland and then you have to use him on a UK card. Get maybe 5-6 fights out of him over three years.