Why did Werdum leave UFC?

[wisdom blows]

There was never IMHO a real desire for the UFC to promote Werdum, I think he was brought in with the intension of playing off the "UFC vs Pride" fued for a couple of matches before being dropped having shown that "UFC > Pride".

His win over Gonzaga though was unexpected and when he beat Vera too the UFC were in a difficult position, the answer was IMHO the JDS fight. Put Werdum in a terrible risk/reward matchup agenst a dangerous up and comer amd if he'd wins his career isnt helped, if he loses it becomes much easier to cut him.

The idea that the Werdum/JDS fight was so important that it couldnt possible be canciled to make Werdum/Randy is laughable, that match didnt happen because the UFC wanted Brock to get first shot at an aged Couture coming off an 18 month layoff.

this doesn't make sense considering Werdum was in the UFC before JDS was.

 

[catchwrestle1]

Are you guys retarded?

HE COULD HAVE STAYED IN THE UFC IF HE CHOSE TO.

HE EFFECTIVELY CUT HIMSELF BECAUSE HE DID NOT WANT TO ACCEPT THE PAYCUT.

The UFC simply terminated the contract when he did not agree to renegotiate.

"What's so hard to understand?"

 

[lallinho]

Lost a boring decision to AA and got crumpled by JDS, so they said less money or you're cut.
IMO he and Ubereem are the only guys with a shot at JDS

 

[PabloZed]

Boy, contracts are not what they used to be. I guess they are like NFL contracts.

 

[KounterPunch]

His contract wasnt "over".
The UFC has a contract clause stating that they reserve the right to renegotiate the contract after a loss.
They gave him a new number that was ridiculously low , compared to his just paid fee , and he said " F ---- that !" and walked.

 

[Tony_Clifton]

Give Werdum credit. He didn't take the ridiculous cut in pay and moved on to SF. Beats the #1 HW in the world and raises his name and value. Anyone know what he's making today?

 

[The Real Pedro]

They royally skrewed him, he was supposed to get a title shot after beating Gonzaga and Vera but got passed over for Brock who was gifted a title shot.

He came out of shape against than unknown JDS, and got demolished. After which they basically used this as justification for lowering his pay, at which point he walked.

Overall he was treated very badly by the UFC.

He may have been treated badly by the UFC. But any time a professional fighter comes into a fight unprepared and out of shape, they are screwing themselves career-wise as well. Werdum is a very good fighter IMO, but he has not handled his fighting career very well.

 

[hendunesia]

He came in looking out of shaped and got KTFO by some no name fighter making his UFC debut.......

Told him take a pay cut or get cut.

Got cut.

 

[electricsheep81]

It is assumed that the UFC felt they were paying him too much and he wasn't worth the money. Back then, UFC was competing with Pride and Affliction so Werdum must've been given a pretty lucrative contract.

Affliction wasn't around when Werdum came to the UFC and Pride was in the process of being purchased by the UFC, before Werdum made his UFC debut..


to answer your question TS

If I remember right, Werdum was getting nearly 160k - 180k a fight (show and win money), making him one of the higher paid fighters at the time. He didn't live up to their expectations, wasn't as big of a draw as they thought, the KO loss to JDS, or what ever their reason was, the UFC wanted to pay him less. The UFC wanted to redo his contract paying him less money, he wasn't having that, so the UFC terminated his contract.

He could have stayed and been paid less money, but by him leaving, it ended up being the best thing that could have happened for him. Funny how things work out like that sometimes.

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

From what I remember it was basically like this, Werdum was about to fight for the title before he fought JDS, no one knew who JDS was, Werdum came to the fight in the worst shape of his life, Werdum got KOed. After the fight the UFC wanted to cut Werdum's pay a lot, i've heard the number was somewhere around half of what he was previously getting payed, Strikeforce offered him more than the UFC, Werdum left.

 

[kflo]

His contract wasnt "over".
The UFC has a contract clause stating that they reserve the right to renegotiate the contract after a loss.
They gave him a new number that was ridiculously low , compared to his just paid fee , and he said " F ---- that !" and walked.

he couldn't just walk.

 

[cluegoo**]

He made a good decision he couldn't be bothered after not getting his title shot and didn't train vs the nobody they put him against, his profile is much higher after he fought better fighters outside the ufc.

 

[kflo]

He made a good decision he couldn't be bothered after not getting his title shot and didn't train vs the nobody they put him against, his profile is much higher after he fought better fighters outside the ufc.

so, he made the decision to get knocked out so he could get cut and fight fedor in sf?

 

[kflo]

From what I remember it was basically like this, Werdum was about to fight for the title before he fought JDS, no one knew who JDS was, Werdum came to the fight in the worst shape of his life, Werdum got KOed. After the fight the UFC wanted to cut Werdum's pay a lot, i've heard the number was somewhere around half of what he was previously getting payed, Strikeforce offered him more than the UFC, Werdum left.

werdum didn't leave, and he wasn't negotiating with sf while under contract with the ufc. he didn't want to accept a pay cut, and the ufc cut him.

it worked out for both parties in the end.

 

[DeathByBeer]

He got tooled by the best heavyweight in the world.

Unfortunately for Werdum, nobody knew this at the time.

JDS was kind of considerd a single dimensional gimme for Werdum, so being embarrassed quickly kind of hurt his stock.

 

[LongTermLurker]

He believed he had a five fight extension but was wrong.

"Vai Cavalo" perhaps spoke prematurely (or something was lost in translation) when he declared that he had inked a five-fight contract extension back in July that included a guaranteed title shot with a win over "Cigano."

It appears that the offer may have been merely discussed and/or was contingent on a win in the "Windy City." He also could have ruffled some feathers when he voiced his displeasure about being excluded from the mini heavyweight tournament put together to declare an undisputed division champion.

http://www.mmamania.com/2008/11/10/fabricio-werdum-out-of-ufc/

 

[Fuzzybread]

Yes, it is accurate. From what I recall, his current contract was up and he was offered another that involved a pay cut. So he left.

To say he was cut implies he had no say in the decision. He MADE the decision to leave, he did not have to.

That's the way I remember it too. I also recall him demanding a fee from Affliction so high that a company that gave Tim Sylvia 800k laughed him out the door

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

werdum didn't leave, and he wasn't negotiating with sf while under contract with the ufc. he didn't want to accept a pay cut, and the ufc cut him.

it worked out for both parties in the end.

Yes he did, he had 4 fights in Strikeforce and his contract with the UFC was not up, the UFC wanted to substantially cut his pay, Werdum said no and chose to go elsewhere, if Werdum took the pay cut he wouldn't have left the UFC so ultimately Werdum decided to leave the UFC for more money.

How do you know that, I remember Werdum saying that he was negotiating with Strikeforce around the same time the UFC wanted to cut his pay.

 

[kflo]

UFC hires according to how many people come to see said fighter. Werdum was elite, but didn't have a lot of star power.
He leaves the UFC and people considered him irrelevant on here. Mocking Fedor for fighting him. Now he is back in the UFC and he is 'elite' again. You see, most mma fans can't separate ability from star power.

they pay according to how many people come to see said fighter. werdum's "star power" was reduced after showing up out of shape and getting ko'd.

 

[kflo]

Yes he did, he had 4 fights in Strikeforce and his contract with the UFC was not up, the UFC wanted to substantially cut his pay, Werdum said no and chose to go elsewhere, if Werdum took the pay cut he wouldn't have left the UFC so ultimately Werdum decided to leave the UFC for more money.

How do you know that, I remember Werdum saying that he was negotiating with Strikeforce around the same time the UFC wanted to cut his pay.

he didn't decide to leave the ufc for more money. he didn't want to take the pay cut offered and later found out he was no longer a ufc fighter.

he made 25/25 for his first sf fight.