Rumored Artem Vakhitov rejects DW contenders contract? Set to Glory instead?

[xhaydenx]

They just banned any Russian fighters, as far as I know, political bullshit. I don't think it was personal

Glory had a ban on Russian fighters, and released them over Russia invading Ukraine. So he went to MMA. Now Glory has lifted that ban, he's returned.

It was because of the visa and travel restrictions that were getting placed on Russians.

It made it a nightmare for Glory to work with Russian fighters, so they just put the russians on ice for a while, and brought them back once things settled a bit.

It wasn't because Russia was invading Ukraine. If they could have kept them and knew things would run smoothly they would have.

 

[GordoBarraBJJ]

dude probably doesnt wanna fight for $10k and a Venum coupon.

25% off venum coupon.

 

[Lord Pyjamas]

Glory is a career , UFC is an opportunity

In a fascist nation. Maybe bet for the free world instead.

 

[agibmxmma]

Glory is a career , UFC is an opportunity

+1

 

[Doctor Grudge]

One of those narratives I bet we're revisiting in 5-10 years time wondering "what if".

Can't blame him though, just not sure why he went on DWCS in the first place - was it to convince GLORY to offer him more money?

To get in the UFC asap, I reckon. UFC probably wasn't interested in signing him flat out.

Poatan is a bit different because Adesanya had cleaned out the division so there was more interest to sign him. Double champ status probably made Alex a bit more marketable also.

For Artem, his "rival", Peireira still had people to fight. Even if Alex had gotten through Ank, there was interest in fighting other champs (DDP, Jones, Aspinall).

 

[Dorkman]

Makes sense. Fair chance given poatans age he's not getting the belt back. Alex having the belt is the only thing that could possible Fast track Vakhitov to the title scene. So basically brings his options to either fight for contender series alum pay on the undercard. Or return to the title scene/main event picture of glory. Seems like a fair decision to make.

 

[Bowel-forged Stool]

Just needs some more time to develop b4 he’s D1 ready

 

[Doctor Grudge]

Makes sense. Fair chance given poatans age he's not getting the belt back. Alex having the belt is the only thing that could possible Fast track Vakhitov to the title scene. So basically brings his options to either fight for contender series alum pay on the undercard. Or return to the title scene/main event picture of glory. Seems like a fair decision to make.

He's fighting for the belt in his next fight probably. Definitely has a chance to get the belt back.

 

[FEDORFAN44]

I don't blame him.hes going to lose to Rico but will make a big payday.im not trying to shit on him but he wasn't heading anywhere in mma

 

[Dorkman]

He's fighting for the belt in his next fight probably. Definitely has a chance to get the belt back.

Yes, but I'm not favoring he succeeds

 

[flektarn]

As the guy on insta said.
122kg ripped vs 93kg pudgy - 262 pounds vs 209 pounds
6'5 vs 6'1
Rico has many different reaches online, but his advantage there should also be big.

If Artem pulls this off, he has my respect.

yea I was just thinking the little I've seen of Artem...Rico is huge by comparison. What is this matchmaking.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

yea I was just thinking the little I've seen of Artem...Rico is huge by comparison. What is this matchmaking.

205 champion fighting hw champion isn't all that uncommon match making

 

[Harlekin]

205 champion fighting hw champion isn't all that uncommon match making

Pretty common, I agree.
Artem seems too small though. Usyk is 2 inches taller and weighs 226 more ripped.
While Artem weighs in at 205 a bit pudgy and could make ufc MW

 

[Phisher]

What was the logic of banning him in the first place?

Was he personally going over the border, dragging people out of their cars, kickboxing the shit out of them, and then putting Russian license plates on their cars?
Because... if he did that, then it would make a lot of sense to ban him until he ceased such things, there is no place in civilized society for that.

Or is he being punished for being born in a place?

I haven't been following the story closely but I am going to venture a guess that Putin likely did not call this kickboxer and consult him on military strategy, and hey if I am wrong so help me God I will consider maybe apologizing... I'm just a little confused on the chain of command as to how this guy was deemed to be the party held accountable for war/international politics.

Those Russian athlete bans were rank hypocrisy.

I'll have to check myself from going into WR territory.

 

[Thesnake101]

Best striker in MMA and Dana fumbles the ball and lets him work.

Good work, Dana.

They weren't even interested in signing him after his contender series fight, Alex had to tell Dana to give him a shot.

Doumbe was the real fumble, Artem I don't think was taking to MMA as well as Cedric did, even if he's fighting in a weaker division. Cedric seems to just be on point everywhere, while Vakhitov looked a bit underwhelming in his CS fight against a can, very real chance he would've ended up getting exposed like Diniz did.

I believe this is actually confirmed, and not a rumor. He rejected Dana's bullshit contract. It wasn't enough money and there were things in the contract he didn't want to agree to.

Does ANYONE question why PPV numbers are down, and the UFC has grown duller?

I rest my case as far as my claims that the lack of talent and frequent paper-thin cards are because the UFC is cheap.

This is sad. Real kickboxers would do that much better in the UFC if they were paid well enough (and didn't have Nazi-level controlling contracts) to actually attract a decent talent pool. I'm sure there are kickboxers that would adapt to the ground game better than Alex did.

The UFC will probably pay some Belal-type fighter instead.

Alex Pereira rival Artem Vakhitov spurns UFC starter contract, returns to GLORY for Rico Verhoeven fight

Kickboxing champ Artem Vakhitov is heading back to GLORY after failed negotiations with the UFC.

sports.yahoo.com

This isn't the worst fumble they've had, not by a long shot. Compared to letting Parnasse go, telling Vartanyan to go on Contender's, not pushing for Keita, Soldic, etc. this is nothing. Signing Vakhitov would've been a gamble that might not have panned out (see Saki or Belgaroui), just because he was an amazing KB doesn't mean he'll translate to MMA, those other guys I mentioned though, they were all very skilled and exciting MMA prospects or downright seasoned vets with real title aspirations.

It sucks that they don't have any competition that could punish them for passing on such talent.

 

[jeff7b9]

Those Russian athlete bans were rank hypocrisy.

I'll have to check myself from going into WR territory.

I was hoping that presenting the topic in joke form would result in getting some information (which it did) without getting too deep into WR territory.

I maintain that punishing athletes for politics or military is dumb.

 

[joy2day]

This isn't the worst fumble they've had, not by a long shot. Compared to letting Parnasse go, telling Vartanyan to go on Contender's, not pushing for Keita, Soldic, etc. this is nothing. Signing Vakhitov would've been a gamble that might not have panned out (see Saki or Belgaroui), just because he was an amazing KB doesn't mean he'll translate to MMA, those other guys I mentioned though, they were all very skilled and exciting MMA prospects or downright seasoned vets with real title aspirations.

It sucks that they don't have any competition that could punish them for passing on such talent.

It's a gamble with most all of those guys at that level- the difference is if the fighter who is a quality kickboxer succeeds, you have someone to balance out the many Belals with some more excitement. Obviously, the fighter has to be committed to training and transitioning, but the more of a pool you accept into the UFC, the more you will eventually have that succeed. There are few real, high-level kickboxers that have entered MMA relatively speaking, and even less who truly trained in MMA and/or weren't near their athletic ending point by that time.

I know you are right that they have made bigger mistakes than this, my thing is, the free market is ALREADY punishing them for these decisions; the rumblings seem legit that PPV sales have dropped badly.

 

[Young Calf Kick]

Fair play to him, the DWCS contract would be an absolute joke to a guy like Vakhitov, I hope he told them to get fucked

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

The potential eventual upside to going the UFC route would have been much bigger, but its a gamble, most guys dont end up like Poatan.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

The potential eventual upside to going the UFC route would have been much bigger, but its a gamble, most guys dont end up like Poatan.

He'd need to win like 3 fights in a row to get a decent second contract, and he'd still be far off from the million dollar ones.