Did Ulberg Fabricate Medical Issues to Duck Jiri?

[Tokoloko]

Multiple sources including Jiri's manager revealed that Jiri was offered and accepted fight against Ulberg in Perth. Majority of Czech community took this fight as "finished". So it was pretty surprising when Jiri vs Rountree was announced. Later Jiri's manager explained the situation -


“Since Ulberg is not able to compete in October for health reasons, we agreed to Rountree. Had that not happened, we would likely have to wait until November for Ulberg.” (translated from Czech media) (one of sources - https://www.mmamag.cz/jiri-prochazka-carlos-ulberg-ufc-mma/ )


Its quite questionable why Ulberg, initially cited health/injury as a reason for being unavailable until November, is suddenly able to accept fight against Reyes 3 days after Jiri accepted fight vs Rountree, definitely looks like tactical "ducking" for more favourable matchup.


What is even more funny? Ulberg was talking after his last fight about how is he open to fight Jiri next. How he wants to fight top of division and go for title elimination...but as soon as he is offered title eliminator fight he lies about his medical condition. -



UFC should really start punishing this kind of behavior. We offer u fight and u declined without valid reason? Alright then ur rank drops - for example.

What do yall think about all of this?

 

[backlight]

 

[Randy Fandy Fo Fanders]

 

[Portland8242]

Guess we'll have to see if resurgent Reyes can do the job.

Ulberg kind of strikes me as the fighter where if you match his length/reach/speed he's rather pedestrian.

 

[burningspear]

He might have ducked himself into a hammering?

 

[Kung Fu Kowboy]

Do we have a doctor in the house to confirm this?

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

I'm tired of these motherfuckin' ducks in this motherfuckin' sport!

 

[usernamee]

Guess we'll have to see if resurgent Reyes can do the job.

Ulberg kind of strikes me as the fighter where if you match his length/reach/speed he's rather pedestrian.

He's a safety before all else kind of fighter. He went crazy in his fight with Kennedy and gassed and got smoked and since then he's on his bike picking guys off with points for a decision unless he fights lower level guys that gets hurt more easily.

 

[RockyLockridge]

I'll allow it.

I think these are better match ups anyhow. Although I'd have probably made Reyes vs Jan 2 and moved Reyes a bit slower toward the title

 

[HHJ]

It's the smart move.

Remember what happened to Reyes and Oezdemir?

Aint no one trying to get derailed for years, and suffer PTSD for the rest of their life.

 

[usernamee]

It's the smart move.

Remember what happened to Reyes and Oezdemir?

Aint no one trying to get derailed for years, and suffer PTSD for the rest of their life.

 

[Skarsgard]

Wouldn't say he's ducking without further evidence. No idea what the health concerns were. If it was an injury, it could be clearing up faster than he thought and now the Jiri fight is off of the table.
Doesn't look awesome for him though.

 

[Tokoloko]

Wouldn't say he's ducking without further evidence. No idea what the health concerns were. If it was an injury, it could be clearing up faster than he thought and now the Jiri fight is off of the table.
Doesn't look awesome for him though.

It was elbow. And yea yea, for sure, it was miracle straight up from heaven. From 3 months out to week. Sorry but i dont trust this story...

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

only he knows, but i wouldn't be surprised. MMA is becoming (unfortunately) more like boxing and boxers do that kind of horse shit all the time

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

It's the smart move.

Remember what happened to Reyes and Oezdemir?

Aint no one trying to get derailed for years, and suffer PTSD for the rest of their life.

and don't forget Kennedy Nzchukwu slept him

 

[Skarsgard]

It was elbow. And yea yea, for sure, it was miracle straight up from heaven. From 3 months out to week. Sorry but i dont trust this story...

I don't know anything about the dude outside of his fights. Is he habitually injured and constantly pulling out like oil card fighters?
Anecdotal, but I recently thought I had a partial tear in my pec that would have taken me out of my upcoming meet. Turns out it was just overtraining and I just needed a two week deload. Could have been a similar situation, or he could have been looking for a more favorable matchup.

 

[El Fernas]

Why did the UFC offered a new fight for the same date to a guy that allegedly declined the first one for medical reasons?

 

[sdpdude9]

Suspicious for sure. But not out of the realm of possibility there was an injury or medical issue that upon further examination wasn’t as serious as originally thought.

 

[Mesos]

3 days later does seem like a tactical duck. Some of these dudes make it obvious that they are avoiding certain fights and think people wont notice.

 

[JBJ was here]

Why does anyone believe that Jiri's camp would have reliable medical information about Ulberg? Ulberg's camp wouldn't have disclosed anything to them, and the UFC disclosing medical information would be problematic at best. It's doubtful that the UFC makes a habit of telling fighters why an opponent turned down a fight--it's not like fighters have to even tell the UFC why they turn down a fight or tell the truth if they do say anything; that's one of the consequences of the UFC refusing to classify fighters as employees--and when they do say something the details are almost certainly lacking and incomplete.