These kinds of negotiations happen behind the scenes all the time. The truth is that some of these fighters act like they deserve a lifetime pension because they’ve fought for a company for a couple of years. That is unrealistic and just not feasible. When guys have been fighting for the organization as long as Liddell has, then it might work to be hardball with the negotiations. No one at AKA even comes close to having that kind of clout. I don’t blame anyone at AKA for trying to hold out for a better deal; but the truth is that the UFC was justified in sticking to their guns on this one.

No one should feel sorry for a 30-year-old non-champion who just made $170,000 (that we know of) for his last fight. Fitch is doing OK and will have more opportunities to keep making a good living.

Damn Grape, you are attacking me left and right today!

Trust me, I know how big-business people are. I was just going after Lester for his “I am better than you” attitude over his actual opinion on this matter. If we were talking about boxing, and I interjected my stance with “As a talented boxer myself…” wouldn’t you and other people attack me for a comment like this? I would totally deserve it!

Cyph;
About an MMA game with Frank Shamrock, Robbie Lawler, et al. The thing is if that game would turn out good. I think most of us would buy it if it was good, over if it had our favorite fighters in it. If you check out game reviews for an EA MMA game, then you check out reviews for the upcoming UFC game, and you see the EA game gets mostly eights and nines out of ten, and the UFC game gets mostly five and sixes out of ten, would you still get the UFC game, only because of the brand name? Sure it would sell better, but would that make it a better game? FUCK NO!!!!!!!

As Dave2 was saying, the Fire Pro Wrestling games are the GREATEST wrestling games ever, and they are in 2D and no licensed wrestlers (real guys but their names changed to avoid copyright bullshit). It’s all about quality, or at least it should be…

Our society has the right to regulate their activities, just as they do ours, through laws. And I’m pretty darn positive that if you took a UFC contract to court, this clause and some others would be shot down. What the “don’t cross dana” crowd is suggesting is that the whistle blowers in the blogosphere and media just shut up and not bring attention to these things, which could lead to the government getting involved. Though a lot of Pro-Zuffa fans tend to be Gung Ho Ayn Randian types so it doesn’t surprise me that many take the “shut up, how dare you go against Dana” approach. Unless of course we’re talking about Pro Elite. Then government intervention is all fine and dandy then in the eyes of these people.

Yeah, I call bullshit on this one. You really think any of us are impressed with whatever bullshit you are trying to spew to us?

Chuck, whether or not Lester is a “successful business man” or not, your immediately discounting his valid points just show how naive you are.

Do you really think Steve Jobs and Bill Gates became enormously successful because they overpaid their employees and treated their employees like cuddly little teddy bears?

Ruthless is a word commonly used to describe most successful businessmen.

If you say yes, then either you have a lot of money or your hate for the UFC has clouded your judgment.

An EA-developed MMA game I don’t think will be any worse than the THQ game. EA’s Fight Night series is very arcadey but the same can be said about THQ’s Smackdown! series and the PRIDE FC video game. I hate it when EA and THQ don’t strive for realism in their games. In a boxing/MMA game, I want the fighting mechanics to be realistic and I want the career mode to be realistic as well. The career mode sucked in Fight Night Round 3 and in all the MMA games up until now.

Not even EA (who are even more of a dastardly monopoly than Dana White or Vince McMahon can EVER dream of being) aren’t immune to cranking out mediocre games. Just play “Facebreaker” and I DARE you to find more than about three decent things to say about that game!

That’s a bad example because so many prospective buyers knew that Legends of Wrestling was going to be the horrible game that it was. The buzz on that game was very bad even from the early previews. Anyone who picked up a video game magazine or read a video game web site, even before the game was released, was likely to know how much that game sucked.

That is very unlikely to the case with an EA-developed MMA game, although of course you never know.

Also, there is a high-profile sports agency in the sport now, representing Georges St. Pierre, and the UFC promptly clarified what it thinks about this by saying in an interview with the Canadian Press that “all of these guys [agents] are pukes.”