Josh Thomson: "The UFC did try to re-sign me, but couldn't match Bellator's offer"

[SalvadorAllende]

Dat Reebok money

Im pretty sure that he will make peanuts from Bellator but he can compensate with the sponsorship money

 

[KantoTerror]

WTF are you talking about are you trying to convince me that a billion dollar company couldn't afford to keep Thompson? What does it matter if Melendez was signed prerebook? Are you trying to convince me that sponsor ship money makes more then PPV points?

I'm not trying to convince you. You're trying to convince yourself...

 

[Rational Poster]

Hard to buy it with Thomson being on a convenient 3 fight skid. Just like Kos' claim that it was his decision to choose Bellator over UFC.

Exactly.

If they were winning they wouldn't be allowed to look elsewhere. UFC would offer them more money than Bellator ever could like they did with Chad.

 

[KantoTerror]

WTF are you talking about are you trying to convince me that a billion dollar company couldn't afford to keep Thompson? What does it matter if Melendez was signed prerebook? Are you trying to convince me that sponsor ship money makes more then PPV points?

This Billion dollar company your talking about...how's their fighter pay structure...?

 

[Baba Ghanoush]

Huge difference between "wouldn't" and "couldn't" match the offer. Josh is better off in Bellator at this point in his career. Let's not kid ourselves to think he was worth whatever he was asking for from the UFC, he more than likely was never going to be a UFC title contender ever again.

 

[mkt]

Josh isn't top 10. He's lost his last three fights.

He's also 37 (very old for a lighter weight class) and has had many injuries. He's not the future of LW.

Having said that, I like Josh and hope he does well in Bellator. I doubt he wins the title, though. He probably would have 3 or 4 years ago.

 

[Rational Poster]

This is a battle of semantics. I wouldn't be surprised if UFC did try to resign him at a lower rate than his previous contract. Bellator could have offered more and the UFC didn't match. Both arguments are true there - UFC did try to resign as Josh says and the UFC really wasn't interested per Dana's quote.

Exactly...

Josh was making 85/85 on a three fight losing streak. UFC wanted to sign him to a more reasonable contract for his current place in the LW division... probably in the 30-40K range. All Bellator had to do was offer him slightly more than that and UFC didn't want to match because he's not worth that to them.

Josh is certainly worth that to Bellator. They need someone to give Will Brooks a fight that isn't named Michael Chandler.

 

[HereticBD]

This Billion dollar company your talking about...how's their fighter pay structure...?

This is relevent, how?

 

[Oblivian]

I'm not trying to convince you. You're trying to convince yourself...

This Billion dollar company your talking about...how's their fighter pay structure...?

They have matched or exceeded other offers on the free market. They chose not to in this case with Thomson, a guy that lost his last three and is 36 years old talking about retirement. This is a pretty easy one to understand. The UFC didn't value Thomson at what Bellator thinks he's worth.

 

[Yoville]

I like Josh but your statement is true. He's no star and has no star potential in the UFC. UFC is a business when its all said and done and if Thomson wasn't generating any buzz then maybe he can in Bellator.

UFC is only trying to focus on three fighters right now instead of trying to built up more, Name 10 fighter that UFC is trying to turn into star power

 

[WallyBear]

If Bellator offered him the free choice of sponsors for fight night in the contract...that way the UFC really couldn't match

 

[xP]

Arguing the semantics of wouldn't and couldn't is pointless. Of course they "could" match it.

Josh was making 85/85 in the UFC.

Bellator isn't going to come close to that. If he is lucky he'll break even but I'm reasonably certain he'll be taking a loss somewhere. The champion at 155 in Bellator doesn't make 100K per fight. Michael Chandler makes 25/25.

Sponsors don't pay Bellator fighters like they used to pay UFC fighters.

He was making that until he lost three fights. They wouldn't have gave him 85k to stay so that number wasn't on the table for either side I would guess.

He was simply worth more to Bellator than the UFC. JT is on the down slide but he's still solid and has a name.

 

[KantoTerror]

Keeping eating the Reebok deal. We all know other than the champs and unique popular fighters...the rest of the fighters are unhappy.

 

[TriangleChoc]

I don't see why ALL fighters wouldn't go shopping if their UFC contract was up.

Can you imagine a contender or even a champ letting their contract wind down and going into talks with Bellator? It would force the UFC to actually start stumping up some actual cash or risk a mass exodus.

 

[KantoTerror]

I don't see UFC going down because of the reebok deal...they are going to weather this shitstorm... but If they resign without changing the stipulations on the deal when it expires...then and only then....

 

[Yoville]

I don't see why ALL fighters wouldn't go shopping if their UFC contract was up.

Can you imagine a contender or even a champ letting their contract wind down and going into talks with Bellator? It would force the UFC to actually start stumping up some actual cash or risk a mass exodus.

They have to get match offer first.

 

[Cptn1NSAN0]

Thomson is a great fighter who's been in tons of awesome fights but this doesn't bother me too much. Can't keep everybody. He is getting up there in age (37 I think?) and he's not going to be able to keep up with this new wave of elite LWs. Bellator is the right place for him, he will make more money from having his own sponsors again and have more favorable matchups for the twilight of his career. I'd like to see him go out on some wins, or at least challenge for the Bellator LW belt. Brooks vs Thomson would be a sick fight.

 

[zuffazombee]

I don't see why ALL fighters wouldn't go shopping if their UFC contract was up.

Can you imagine a contender or even a champ letting their contract wind down and going into talks with Bellator? It would force the UFC to actually start stumping up some actual cash or risk a mass exodus.

Exactly. Then the UFC would have to start paying more than other MMA organizations.
[/SARCASM]

 

[LongTermLurker]

I don't doubt Josh is happy with his deal but curious what would have happened if the UFC decided to 'match.' We saw in the Eddie case that a match can be bogus and still stand. Bellator matched a ppv bonus before they had ever even attempted a ppv. UFC could have dragged Josh's contract fight in the courts.

 

[Terminal]

Dude is 37 and is on a 3 fight losing streak.

Why would the UFC wan't him?