Media Michelle Waterson and Marina Rodriguez shares a photo after their fight at UFC Vegas 26

[JustOnce]

They had a good fight despite of it being on short notice. Nothing but respect.

Who should be their next opponents?

Waterson retirement
Ribas-Nina Ansaroff or Hill

 

[Sausage_Carius]

Joanna vs Marina sounds awesome, but Joanna is too much of a diva these days.

JJ, a fighter who's sole purpose is to maximize their pay before retirement, releases video saying pay me to get off the couch = Too much of a diva.

Why don't you just post a picture of yourself licking Dana's boot.

Buddy you have no idea how negotiations work in the UFC. The fighters have no leverage now that a very large part of the UFC's income is guaranteed by ESPN apart from going to the media and whatever favor they may have with the boss. The media is a double edged sword. Worked recently for Barboza, who openly asked to be released, and blew up in the face of Jones.

Joanna and Dana were on the outs before her fight went down with Weili and he was openly trashing her. He only talked her up after the fight.

The UFC tried to make the Yan vs Joanna fight but I have no doubt they only offered Yan the title shot off the win. Why would I say this? Because they did the exact same thing when Joanna vs Waterson was made. They didn't agree to giving Joanna the title shot until the 11th hour.

This is just how negotiations in the UFC work. We know from the released documents from the court case that they play hard ball to a ridiculous degree with obvious threats and manipulation. They start way below the fighter's value that even the UFC is willing to pay and will use every excuse and tactic not to get even near that line including suggesting placement on poor cards, placed on prelims and offered bad style matchups.

If you were in the UFC and you had to negotiate in a hostile manipulative environment with next to no leverage apart from refusing to fight or giving up a belt and going to the media being iffy what would you reasonably do?

I'm all fucking ears.

 

[Askafan]

Joanna should take the Rodriguez fight, one of the easier potential match-ups for her.