Leslie Smith dishes on the UFC's underhanded tactics - interview with Luke Thomas

[The Natural Born Runner]

Apologies if this has already been uploaded.

I wish I could say that I'm shocked. Leslie has been supposedly "cut" so to speak, with very little reasoning provided. Some cliff notes below:


- Leslie was going to be paid 31k to show, 31k to win if she fought Aspen.

- Due the nature of the NJAC contracts, she was asked if she wanted to fight Aspen even though she missed weight or would she prefer to decline the offer. The T&Cs stated that if she refused to fight she would receive her full purse (including win bonus). If she fought Aspen she would get 20% of her purse, but with Aspen's contract not being very good she wouldn't make much more.

- Leslie decided that it made much more sense to take 62k with no risk than fight with the chance of going home with only 35-40k if she was to lose.

- Leslie had one fight left on her contract so when the UFC paid her for this "no fight" scenario they counted it as her last fight on the contract, therefore Leslie is now "out of contract".

- Even though Leslie is 4-3 in the UFC (with a 2 fight win streak), in what I must say is a very weak division, the UFC turned around and said that they no longer wanted to negotiate a deal and they would not be renewing her contract.

- Leslie believes that it has a lot to do with her current "fighter's rights" campaign.

- Leslie mentions that the UFC made her pay for her own luggage allowance.

 

[Final Say]

So they paid her because they had to and cut her essentially

 

[Hard To Tell]

Most of these WMMA fighters are stealing a living anyway as they are not any good, no one wants to watch them and they are only there for political reasons. Lets not sugar coat it.

 

[Grijswaarde]

Well basically that-'s what it is; she has te right to decline and take all the money, but it is a bitchmove taking paying fans one fight away. So she has her short term money, long term she probably lost her career with it.

Dumb move imo.

 

[XThe GreatestX]

Mmmm. So she got free money and than was cut....

And is complaining about what exactly?

 

[Emjay]

"dishes"?

What is this? The View?

 

[Pitier of Fools]

Trying to figure out who I care less about, Luke Thomas or Leslie Smith.....


Can't decide.

 

[puppybird]

She dishes the dirt?

She should be in the kitchen doing the dishes

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

Mmmm. So she got free money and than was cut....

And is complaining about what exactly?

Well it's more the reasoning behind why she was cut, she was cut over absolutely nothing.

She's won two in a row, in a horrible division. Her opponent missed weight and she was more than happy to fight her but it made zero financial sense. I'm pretty sure if you offered Conor 20 million to not take a fight, or 10 million to fight and risk the other 10 million, he would probably would do the same.

Only an idiot would risk money when you're not earning much.

Let's not act like Leslie Smith makes a lot of money from MMA.

 

[Irishwhiskey119]

Most of these WMMA fighters are stealing a living anyway as they are not any good, no one wants to watch them and they are only there for political reasons. Lets not sugar coat it.

Lots of people want to watch them and Leslie vs Aldana was an entertaining war as were a lot of Leslie's fights.

Most of you WMMA hating virgins are fat and hilariously unathletic.

 

[ZaphMMA]

She was going to get cut after this fight anyway. Her career was over. She did the right thing.

Thanks for the cliffs.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

Well basically that-'s what it is; she has te right to decline and take all the money, but it is a bitchmove taking paying fans one fight away. So she has her short term money, long term she probably lost her career with it.

Dumb move imo.

Isn't it more Aspen Ladd's fault for not even making weight?

Shouldn't the UFC pay Leslie considerably more to take the fight i.e. some incentive. If Aspen makes 12k to show, then Leslie would only make 3k extra, that my friend is ridiculous.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

She was going to get cut after this fight anyway. Her career was over. She did the right thing.

Thanks for the cliffs.

So let's say she goes out there and submits Ladd inside of a minute, that would be 3 wins in a row.

Without some foul play, how on earth was she going to be cut?

 

[Unsurprised Diaz]

I support Leslian rights

 

[ZaphMMA]

Listened to it. Cliffs did not include the part where she Aspen had plenty of time to make weight and decided to not put in the effort. Bitch move by Aspen, and then a bitch follow up move by the UFC who was just waiting for a reason to cut Leslie.

After listening to the whole thing, I kinda side with Leslie.

 

[ZaphMMA]

So let's say she goes out there and submits Ladd inside of a minute, that would be 3 wins in a row.

Without some foul play, how on earth was she going to be cut?

She's a union activist. Need I say more? UFC wanted her gone.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

She's a union activist. Need I say more? UFC wanted her gone.

Well you've just hit the nail on there, they cut her because they don't like her opinions.

That is poor.

 

[PeterGriffin]

She dishes the dirt?

She should be in the kitchen doing the dishes

Lettuce not forget making sandwiches.

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

Underhanded tactics like paying for her stomach tumor surgery?

 

[dim_]

Apologies if this has already been uploaded.

I wish I could say that I'm shocked. Leslie has been supposedly "cut" so to speak, with very little reasoning provided. Some cliff notes below:


- Leslie was going to be paid 31k to show, 31k to win if she fought Aspen.

- Due the nature of the NJAC contracts, she was asked if she wanted to fight Aspen even though she missed weight or would she prefer to decline the offer. The T&Cs stated that if she refused to fight she would receive her full purse (including win bonus). If she fought Aspen she would get 20% of her purse, but with Aspen's contract not being very good she wouldn't make much more.

- Leslie decided that it made much more sense to take 62k with no risk than fight with the chance of going home with only 35-40k if she was to lose.

- Leslie had one fight left on her contract so when the UFC paid her for this "no fight" scenario they counted it as her last fight on the contract, therefore Leslie is now "out of contract".

- Even though Leslie is 4-3 in the UFC (with a 2 fight win streak), in what I must say is a very weak division, the UFC turned around and said that they no longer wanted to negotiate a deal and they would not be renewing her contract.

- Leslie believes that it has a lot to do with her current "fighter's rights" campaign.

- Leslie mentions that the UFC made her pay for her own luggage allowance.

what you fail to mention is that

- She initially asked for 100k per fight on a new deal

- The UFC paid for her to have a malignant tumour removed from her stomach in 2016 which they didnt have to

They treated her pretty well. She in return went out and compared them to an abusive husband on twitter.

Not really surprising they declined to offer her a new contract all things considered.

if she was 20-25 maybe.. but shes 35 years old now