In what is beginning to be the norm in the world of Zuffa, another fighter must pull out of a main event due to an injury. This time its Frank Mir as he was set to face Daniel Cormier in a Strikeforce event that was set for Oklahoma City in November.
MMA Junkie reports that Mir may have knee injury which caused him to pull out. The spate of recent injuries has caused Zuffa to scramble and book events on the fly. With about 6 weeks out, Strikeforce still has time to find a replacement for Mir.
Payout Perspective:
Another injury, another replacement must be found. Mir was going to be the first UFC crossover to Strikeforce but we will see if Mir’s replacement will be another UFC Heavyweight. At least with the latest main event injury, there is time to find a suitable replacement from either UFC or Strikeforce.
Another long shot finds a way to avoid the fight and keep his 200,000 pay days alive. Now we will never know if someones injury was legit or not. BUt we do know most of them are just an excuse to avoid a bad fight and Dana White himself said this a few days ago. I have been saying it forever. No sport has “injuries like this. MMA has never had injuries like this until the last couple years when money has been to great for people to take fights they cant win. “Injuries” is how UFC fighters duck and cherry pick fights.
The Reem vs Cormier
I like the sound of that.
aintitthetruth,
They’ll have to fight in Texas since Overeem is still suspended.
BS,
“BUt we do know most of them are just an excuse to avoid a bad fight and Dana White himself said this a few days ago…money has been to great for people to take fights they cant win. “Injuries” is how UFC fighters duck and cherry pick fights.”
That may be true for a few fighters, but I doubt it’s true for most. Bottom line – if they don’t fight they don’t get paid. Whatever Mir was getting to fight Cormier, it’s more than he’s getting not to fight Cormier. I don’t see why he would fake an injury to pull out of this fight. Those $200k paydays are only good if you actually step into the cage.
I assume Rampage and Aldo are also ducking their opponents? And Henderson decided at the last minute that he would rather not fight for the 205 title (the same guy who fought Big Nog twice back when Big Nog was a top HW)? And that makes GSP the king of ducking fighters – he’s been doing it for a year now.
I don’t think pulling out of a fight equals ducking your opponent. I do think that with more on the line, guys are reluctant to get in the cage at less than 100% (or 90% since no one is ever 100%). Mir tried to rush back after his motorcycle accident and had some horrifically bad performances. It’s understandable that if he doesn’t feel he can get himself ready for this fight he’s not going to go in and repeat one of those past performances (Pe de Pano anyone?) Yes he’s avoiding having a bad fight, but that’s not the same as protecting his record and ducking a dangerous opponent. No matter what Dana says.
You are using false logic. Mir has plenty of money so he can’t wait to get paid. He never loses money by pulling out. He still has the same number of fights for the same pay. Pulling out doesn’t effect him at all. What does effect his pay is getting his ass kicked and getting a bad contract when it rolls around.
By your logic fighters would be fighting 6 times a year or more like they do before they are stars. If they don’t fight they don’t get paid the. Mir should be in the cage every month. 4 fights a year is easy yet almost no one dOes it because they dOnt need the money.
Now I’m not fOr sure who is faking and who isn’t. No way to know. But as a whole it is obvious that most of them are avoiding the fight.
Diego: I meant Valentijne. He subbed Couture like a boss!
“Now I’m not fOr sure who is faking and who isn’t. No way to know. But as a whole it is obvious that most of them are avoiding the fight.”
You’re not sure, there’s no way to know, and yet it’s obvious most are avoiding the fight? That’s false logic. You’re contradicting yourself.
My point is that most (like Rampage, Henderson, Aldo) pull out because they have to. There’s no way to know for sure and it’s far from obvious that “as a whole…most of them are avoiding the fight” and in many circumstances it doesn’t make sense that they would do so (e.g. Henderson and Aldo – one had a title shot the other was defending his title at home). I’m just sowing some seeds of doubt in your argument of unreasonable certainty.
BS = pure garbage.
Most fighters earn the majority of their annual earnings from fighting. FACT
Diego
There is nothing contradicting about what i said. If your wallet is stolen and there is only 5 people in the room. Everyone claims they didnt do it. You cant point the finger at any one person and say they are lying but you know someone in the group is lying. There is no way that fighters get hurt to the point of having to pull out at the rate they are pulling out. There is 17 years of UFC history to show at what rate they get hurt and cant fight and it isnt even close to what it is now for any sport. training hasnt changed. I have seen the way they train and nothing is different. Also why arent the injuries random? Most of the time it is a fighter who was a huge underdog or being tested for the first time. There was no way Rampage was ever going to beat Glover. He knew it. HE also isnt the same Rampage he used to be. Old Rampage would never have admited he couldnt beat wrestlers. That was someone crying to avoid losing to keep relevent and those checks coming in. NOw in his last UFC fight he gets imo the hardest fight for him. A fight he not only lsoes but very likely gets smashed and stopped by a better more well rounded version of himself. Thats my guess like i said. There is no way to know who could have fought and who couldnt. BUt you list all the guys who have pulled out and i believe more than half of them like Dana White said “Just doesnt want to get punched in the face”.
I guess you believe all the guys on TRT are legit too right? Experts say it is impossible for that many to have that condition naturally in MMA. NFL has has only a couple cases in over 30 years. It is a fact that most of those guys are lying and cheating. BUt that isnt enough to accuse any single person. Teh same applies to the injuries. To many are hurt (most undisclosed injuries or pulls or sprains that dont show up on X-rays and the Dr has to take their word for it which ironically is how the guys got TRT by telling the Dr they are tired and weak) for them to be legit.
We know athletes will do anything to get an advantage. The predictable steroid testing is a exploitable loophole. Many fighters beat it every fight and a very small % are caught. Weight cutting itself is now accepted but it started as a loophole to gain an unfair advantage. We have seen fighters fake eye pokes and low blows to gain advantage. TRT is allowed because of a loophole. Even you must admit that claiming an injury to avoid a very bad match up is a very exploitable loophole. How can you honestly think no one is using it when all the other loopholes are being used across the board.
You seem to think fighters dont know when they have their hands full with an opponent. With so much riding on a UFC career and each fight. What incentive does a fighter have to follow through with a fight he likely cant win?