Cyborg is a Free Agent (Chael said)

[Legendary]

two fights left on her contract before Nunes fight

fights Nunes

leaves one fight remaining on contract

=/= free agent

Yeah, this could be true, but they have to finish the contract before the agreed upon date. I remember Dana saying that they had to get Roy Nelson a quick fight before his contracted ended or they would have had to pay him for it regardless. Leslie Smith had a similar situation. She refused to fight Aspen Ladd after she missed weight and the UFC had to pay her the show and win money, but they cut her after that.

 

[Fight Professor]

She will sign a new deal.

And then complain how bad UFC is treating her.

 

[sb413197]

Chael's right, there isn't really a place for a 145 division at this point.

There are so few really big WMMA fighters. Maybe they should just go wild and make it heavyweight. No more cutting for cyborg, she can fight at her walk-around weight of ~180. That would be some fun crazyness.

 

[AimedWithV]

Followers = fame these days man... You don't think she's not getting appearance fees, and so on on the back of her moderate level of fame?

I don't see this fame.. and I don't know where she appears. I asked you in my first response , I'd like to know myself.
And followers is not a fame. Shit, I have no clue who I follow myself...it takes one click to do it...
Money = fame.

I was a huge Strikeforce fan, and they promoted her extremely well, and she had a lot of fans - it seemed like she had a lot more fans until Ronda called her out, rubbished everything she did, and took her fans without ever having to fight.

I followed SF well, I know who were her fans.
And SF promoting SUCKED. Their promotion didn't even properly promoted Fedor killer in Werdum.
Ronda and Nick were the only one that shined there - because of THEIR hard work, not Coker's.

I honestly don't remember big fandom of Cyborg from these days.
She's actually MUCH MUCH more popular now. And still not popular enough.

 

[98bird]

two fights left on her contract before Nunes fight

fights Nunes

leaves one fight remaining on contract

=/= free agent

 

[bukofezra]

She made a half mil this last fight, plus ppv points...the UFC will try to low ball her now, but I think she walks, especially since she wants to stay more active. I think she goes to Bellator, and Amanda as great as she is, is even less of a draw, and that is not going to change, especially since there is no one left for her to fight, except Valentina, but Amanda doesn't want none of that.

 

[wookie brawl]

Last time I check, it takes $0 to follow someone's instagram. Doesn't mean that the same people wlling to pay to watch her fight.
In fact, it's proven that they don't.



She headlined exactly one SF card, and the reason for her headlining it...well, you know the exact reason:

Her becoming a SF champ nearly buried MMA. Ronda basically picked it up from nearly closed coffin.
No one was interested to see her fight back then.

Man, she's not a draw. Known very well in MMA niche - especially after starting speeky Engrish - but draw she's not, sorry

You may have a point but where are your facts?
Draw or not - that's debatable. If she gets paid 500k a fight and UFC wants to re-sign her, she is bringing value to the UFC.
Cyborg is important in terms of the Brazilian market and bringing perceived legitimacy to WMMA that is very much in development stage. For these two reasons alone, she is important to the UFC.

 

[98bird]

PPVs and tv ratings say otherwise. She is not a draw. Facts are not your friend.

She was a huge draw, for WMMA ....with the exception of Rhonda. But after getting starched like like, I'm not sure anymore.

 

[98bird]

She made a half mil this last fight, plus ppv points...the UFC will try to low ball her now, but I think she walks, especially since she wants to stay more active. I think she goes to Bellator, and Amanda as great as she is, is even less of a draw, and that is not going to change, especially since there is no one left for her to fight, except Valentina, but Amanda doesn't want none of that.

I think Nunes can be a big draw if she goes out kill or be killed like she just did. Most WMMA fights are boring, decision fights and with a couple of submissions...but that's about it. She needs to go out and wreck bitches, then she'd be banking that $$$.

 

[Super Shotgun]

She has a million instagram followers, which, in perspective is half as many as Miesha, but three times more than Chael, which isn't half bad for a woman with a face like chewed bubblegum.

She was headlining Strikeforce cards for a long time - she's got that Bob Sapp appeal - I mean she's not Ronaldinho obviously, but she's still pretty famous... Certainly by WMMA standards.

She's a draw man, don't pretend she's not.

Comparing her to Bob Sapp is pretty disrespectful to Cyborg, she's a legit fighter.

 

[98bird]

Let her sign with Bellator and fight their 145 lb champ Julia Budd

Feel better, girl?

 

[ImNotSurpisedDonks!]

Cyborg is a huge draw. She's a huge star in Brazil, and even the casuals know her... It makes sense to keep her around. One loss isn't going to ruin her brand.

If they let her go, I'm sure Rizin has the money to get her beating up soccer moms again... No USADA either.

Either way Cyborg still wins.

I do wonder how much that was owing to her being unbeaten for such a long time and now that aura is gone?

 

[Daniel4802]

You may have a point but where are your facts?
Draw or not - that's debatable. If she gets paid 500k a fight and UFC wants to re-sign her, she is bringing value to the UFC.
Cyborg is important in terms of the Brazilian market and bringing perceived legitimacy to WMMA that is very much in development stage. For these two reasons alone, she is important to the UFC.

Cyborg, like most fighters, has value when she fights. The problem is the lack of remaining opponents for her.

If she can't get fights, the UFC makes $0 on her. Megan is the only true featherweight and the UFC nor Cyborg can keep relying on bantamweights to go up to appease her.

Cris may make less per fight elsewhere, but she'd have more opportunities outside the UFC.

 

[AimedWithV]

You may have a point but where are your facts?

What facts do you want exactly?
You can check the PPV numbers of the events when she was THE BIGGEST star.
These numbers show her exact value.
Being a draw = willing of people to pay for you.

If she gets paid 500k a fight and UFC wants to re-sign her, she is bringing value to the UFC.

She gets 500K because she's a champ. Very unpopular Woodley gets the same.
About whether UFC wants to re-sign her or not - we don't know yet. And if we judge it by Dana's loss of interest to Nunes rematch, her chances are slim.

Cyborg is important in terms of the Brazilian market

It's not that she's some kind of a key to Brazilian market.
Brazil is conquered by the UFC and isn't going anywhere. They will make events there regardless and will sell regardless.
Cyborg has been in exactly 2 Brazilian events, one being a Fight Night.

If anything, Paulo Costa attracts Brazil much more nowadays.

and bringing perceived legitimacy to WMMA that is very much in development stage.

Dude...come on, let's not be naive:
1. UFC could care less of legitimacy of WMMA. Or legitimacy of their whole roster. Legitimacy is not what brings them money.
Heck, they have pretty much officially illegitimate LHW champion, and absolutely illegitimate HW #1 contender...and?
2. Cyborg is the last fighter to show legitimacy of lower divisions - by herself being not the exact perfect specimen of WMMA figher in terms of size, strength...physical stats...looks...

 

[Trifick]

She will sign a new deal.

Based on everything Dana has said, there won"t be a new deal.

 

[brainz]

I thought nunes was the last fight on her contract could be wrong she might have one more. It would make sense (and a big payday) for her to sign with wwe could be good timing wrestlemania is coming up she could do something with Ronda for it.

 

[Foppa21]

As long as the UFC uses pretty much the same contract they used even 10 years ago, it's unlikely.

The champions have clause that's pretty much a auto renew for 1 fight for each championship fight. Effectively to make sure the champion doesn't leave with the title

 

[executionermma]

I'm brazilian and yes to some extent Cyborg is a draw, any brazilian MMA fan, even the most casual ones, know her, and the vast majority like and root for her, while with Amanda Nunes not so much, due to many reasons.
Even between non MMA fans she is fairly well known, outside football players there isn't many active athletes more famous than Cyborg in Brazil.
Cyborg vs. Nunes II can be huge in Brazil, but i don't know if UFC will make it happen, i think Dana isn't interested in continuing their partnership now that he can say that Cyborg isn't the best in the world.

 

[kingT]

Is there a possibility that she lost on purpose to get out of her contract with the UFC?

 

[GueseGuy]

She will go to Bellator. Dana and UFC are scumbags. She doesn’t wanna fight for these pieces of shit. Dana immediately called Nunes the greatest of all time after being Cyborg lol. But before the fight he was adamant that Ronda was the best ever. In his mind Cyborg was the never best ever so I don’t see how this win solidifies her as the goat in Dana’s eyes. The guy is such a biased piece of shit. Wasn’t it last year he publicly berated Nunes for pulling out of the fight against that other chick?