Middle teir fighters retiring early the best form of pay protest

[NoBiasJustMMA]

I wouldn't read too much into Mein retiring. Dude is 25 and already a 10 year vet with 39 fights he's prob just worn out and wants to move on

Do you think he would be retiring if his pay was not cut by the Reebok deal?

 

[yermajesty]

I wouldn't be surprised if we see Mein in Bellator in a year or so.

 

[Brueskie]

At the highest level there is massive opportunity. However, for people with any decent skill set, intelligence, or outside opportunity then MMA is a terrible career choice. If you are someone like Chris Leben, then of course MMA is a great career choice because what the hell else is he going to do.

Yup.

Pro fighting should be looked at like being in a band or writing a novel. You may be one of the very few who hits it big and rakes in the dough, but you should in no way count on it. I realize many here think that just getting in the UFC should count as hitting it big, but nope, the previous analogy still applies. Landing a recording contract or having your book bought by a publishing is still no guarantee of success.

 

[FrontNakedChoke]

Could be onto something. Some fighters have no other source of income though.

 

[KantoTerror]

Also, fighters not being active because they aren't being offered fights. The Reebook sponsorship has killed the "independent contractor" part of being an independent contractor.

This....the threat of getting shelved will force fighters to just retire and look for a much more safer employment.

 

[KantoTerror]

why would the UFC care about them quitting?

I don't see it being that great of a protest.

If you want a real protest all the top tier fighters would have to agree to sit out until everyone gets payed better, it won't happen (in a perfect world).

Reason why top tiered fighters don't give a fuck is because they're eating a much more tastier "dough"...Let's wait for them to drop rankings and bitch about how bad the reebok deal was....It was agreeable that the mid-tiered fighters are the ones who will get hurt with the deal... but yeah...they are the ones who actually fill in the cards that are more exciting...

 

[HP_Nut]

Main is a 10 year vet with 39 fights. He's 3-2 in his last 5 fights with a ton of wear and tear. He's been averaging 4 pro fights a year so it's not like he's struggling to get fights. He likely just realized that his body isn't going to last forever and that he's not going to become a contender any time soon.

Neither of these guys were "middle tier" fighters, they're bottom of the roster jobbers that nobody would give a crap about if they didn't use the word "retire" instead of simply waiting to be cut.

I agree with the points you made about mileage on his body but disagree with your assessment of Mein as a bottom of the roster jobber. His 2 losses were to Matt Brown (nothing to be ashamed of), & to Alves, a fight in which he was clearly ahead on all scorecards until Alves made somewhat of a miracle comeback, at times it seemed Alves was about to be finished. Brown is top 10, Alves at least top 15. Mein's UFC wins include Pyle & Dan Miller, 2 well respected vets

 

[Malthian]

I agree with the points you made about mileage on his body but disagree with your assessment of Mein as a bottom of the roster jobber. His 2 losses were to Matt Brown (nothing to be ashamed of), & to Alves, a fight in which he was clearly ahead on all scorecards until Alves made somewhat of a miracle comeback, at times it seemed Alves was about to be finished. Brown is top 10, Alves at least top 15. Mein's UFC wins include Pyle & Dan Miller, 2 well respected vets

I get what you're saying, but I consider him somewhere in the top 20-25 for welterweight. He might be borderline top 15 in the UFC.

I consider 1-5 to be contenders and 6-15 to be middle carders. Anything below that is pretty much a "jobber" in my opinion. IE, if you cut everyone past the top 15 in the division, people would barely even notice if they noticed at all.

Let's put it this way, if the UFC decided to cut every fighter outside the top 15 in Welterweight, how many people would really fight to make sure that he stays? That's spells "jobber" to me.

 

[rjmbrd]

I wouldn't be surprised if we see Mein in Bellator in a year or so.

Retirement freezes your contract, it doesn't grant you a release.

 

[The_Renaissance]

Mein is far from a jobber. But he's been in war after war since he was what, 16? He probably realises he's never gonna make major bank from this and perhaps going into the coaching side of things with his dad while working another job is a better career option if he doesn't wanna end up a vegetable.

 

[rjmbrd]

I get what you're saying, but I consider him somewhere in the top 20-25 for welterweight. He might be borderline top 15 in the UFC.

I consider 1-5 to be contenders and 6-15 to be middle carders. Anything below that is pretty much a "jobber" in my opinion. IE, if you cut everyone past the top 15 in the division, people would barely even notice if they noticed at all.

Let's put it this way, if the UFC decided to cut every fighter outside the top 15 in Welterweight, how many people would really fight to make sure that he stays? That's spells "jobber" to me.

It just shows whatever weird bias you brought to this discussion.

There isn't any reasonable way to describe Jordan Mein as a jobber. He went 3-2 and spectacularly knocked out Dan Miller and Mike Pyle, did well in StirkeForce and is both skilled and physical.

If he stuck around smart money would be on him becoming a top 10 ranked fighter by his late 20's or sooner.

 

[empsim]

for every mid tier ufc fighter that retires there will be 10 fighters who happily take his place...

 

[Malthian]

It just shows whatever weird bias you brought to this discussion.

There isn't any reasonable way to describe Jordan Mein as a jobber. He went 3-2 and spectacularly knocked out Dan Miller and Mike Pyle, did well in StirkeForce and is both skilled and physical.

If he stuck around smart money would be on him becoming a top 10 ranked fighter by his late 20's or sooner.

He's 25 years old, has been a pro for 9 years and just had his 39th fight. Anderson is 40 and had 40 fights. Randy Couture is 52 and had 30 fights. GSP is 34 and had 27 fights. Shogun is 33 and had 33 fights.

What on earth would lead you to believe he's going to break the top 10 when he's 39 fights into his career and still hasn't broken the top 10? Heck, Mein's first fight was Rory MacDonald (Rory's 3rd fight). In that time Rory's gone 18-3 and is now the #2 in the division.

"Jobber" isn't an insult. It just means that he's the kind of guy you put on the under card to fill it out. He's not likely to be a contender. And if you think that 39 fights isn't enough to have an idea if he's going to be a contender or top 10 fighter then I don't know what to say.

Some guys just don't got it. No knock against him, he's in a tough division.

 

[rjmbrd]

He's 25 years old, has been a pro for 9 years and just had his 39th fight. Anderson is 40 and had 40 fights. Randy Couture is 52 and had 30 fights. GSP is 34 and had 27 fights. Shogun is 33 and had 33 fights.

You cherry picked guys with inactivity in their career. OK lets play this dance of the retards using only active, current top 10 fighters:

Carlos Condit 38 fights
Donald Cerrone 35 fights
Renan Barao - 38 fights
Uriah Faber - 40 fights

What on earth would lead you to believe he's going to break the top 10

My eyeballs and having even a cursory knowledge of MMA and the MMA landscape.

when he's 39 fights into his career and still hasn't broken the top 10? Heck, Mein's first fight was Rory MacDonald (Rory's 3rd fight). In that time Rory's gone 18-3 and is now the #2 in the division.

Right so Robbie Lawler, the current welterweight champion, showed up an unranked welterweight, who was previously kicked out of the UFC for losing. Read that last sentence again and think about how absolutely absurd your point sounds now.

Lawler came into the UFC, for the second time, on a loss, with 29 fights in his career.



TL;DR
You do not know what you are talking about, take a nap.

 

[tenniswhiz]

At the highest level there is massive opportunity. However, for people with any decent skill set, intelligence, or outside opportunity then MMA is a terrible career choice. If you are someone like Chris Leben, then of course MMA is a great career choice because what the hell else is he going to do.

Get an MBA from Stanford? Go work for Google?

 

[Malthian]

You cherry picked guys with inactivity in their career. OK lets play this dance of the retards using only active, current top 10 fighters:

Carlos Condit 38 fights
Donald Cerrone 35 fights
Renan Barao - 38 fights
Uriah Faber - 40 fights

My eyeballs and having even a cursory knowledge of MMA and the MMA landscape.

Right so Robbie Lawler, the current welterweight champion, showed up an unranked welterweight, who was previously kicked out of the UFC for losing. Read that last sentence again and think about how absolutely absurd your point sounds now.

Lawler came into the UFC, for the second time, on a loss, with 29 fights in his career.

The only reason that Condit wasn't in the UFC earlier was because the UFC didn't have his weight division. He was in the WEC in his 23rd fight and won the WEC championship in his 24th fight.

Same goes for Cerrone. Made the WEC in his 7th fight and fought for the WEC title in his 9th fight.

TL;DR
You do not know what you are talking about, take a nap.

Lawler made it into the UFC on the 5th fight and hung around for 7 fights before he washed out. He clearly showed a lot of talent otherwise he wouldn't have made the roster the first time around.

Renan Barao made the WEC in his 25th fight and was 24-1. He was signed along with the WEC roster.

Urijah Faber won the WEC featherweight title in his 13th fight and lost the title in his 23rd fight. After this 28th fight the UFC brought him along with the WEC roster.

For a guy trying to pull examples out, you picked bad examples to make your argument. All of the guys you named had stellar records and all of them except Barao were already among the top of their respective weight classes VERY early in their careers as either title holders or title contenders.

Jordan Mein's first fight in a non regional promotion was for the UFC as his 36th fight, and he came in with a 27-8 record.

One thing you are right about, your knowledge was "cursory" when it comes to measuring Mr. Mein against your list of fighters in "similar" situations.

 

[LSU]

I wouldn't read too much into Mein retiring. Dude is 25 and already a 10 year vet with 39 fights he's prob just worn out and wants to move on

Ya I used to love watching him when he was 15

 

[BBMN]

CM Punk should retire now that he's still undefeated

I will laugh if he manages to win his debut match, and then proceeds to cut a scathing promo against Dana and Reebok, and then retires on the spot. Classic Punk.

 

[LSU]

Mein is far from a jobber. But he's been in war after war since he was what, 16? He probably realises he's never gonna make major bank from this and perhaps going into the coaching side of things with his dad while working another job is a better career option if he doesn't wanna end up a vegetable.

His first fight ever was against the Red King when they were like 15 and 16

 

[storeybuckle]

organizations need middle tier fighters to fill their cards, early retirement could become a trend. If the pay remains rubbish for lower end fighters they may not end up with any lower end fighters.

I personally could care less about what a fighter gets paid let alone any other athlete. I personally think there'll spoiled and overpaid to begin with