Babalu is out of the UFC

[Ablate]

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=4605&zoneid=1

Renato “Babalu” Sobral has been released from his UFC contract after his behavior in the recent fight with David Heath as confirmed by UFC president Dana White during a media conference call earlier today.

[Timestretch]

Theyre also holding back his win bonus of 25k.

This is a really interesting breakdown of what every fighter made that night. MMAWeekly has obtained the fighter salary information for UFC 74, which took place on August 25 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The following figures are based on the fighter salary information that Zuffa is required by law to submit to the state athletic commissions, including the winners' bonuses.

Although MMA fighters do not have collective bargaining or a union, the fighters' salaries are still public record, just as with every other major sport in the United States. Any undisclosed bonuses that Zuffa also pays its fighters, but does not disclose to the athletic commissions (specifically, pay-per-view bonuses for the top pay-per-view main event fighters), are not included in the figures below.

In the listings below, "Title Match & Main Event Fighters" are defined as fighters who compete in the main event of a show and/or compete in a title fight on a show. "Main Card Fighters" are defined as fighters whose fights appear on the main card, but not in title fights or in the main event. "Preliminary Match Fighters" are defined as fighters whose matches take place before the live broadcast goes on the air, regardless of whether or not those matches end up airing on the PPV broadcast.

Also, please note that $25,000 is currently being withheld from the purse of Renato "Babalu" Sobral due to his refusal to release the winning submission hold when he defeated David Heath.

In addition, next to each fighter's name is the number of UFC fights that he has had, not counting fights that took place during Ultimate Fighter seasons because those fights are officially classified as exhibitions.


TITLE MATCH & MAIN EVENT FIGHTERS

-Randy Couture: $250,000 (18th fight in UFC; defeated Gabriel Gonzaga; win bonus was $0)

-Gabriel Gonzaga: $45,000 (5th fight in UFC; lost to Randy Couture; win bonus would have been $45,000)


MAIN CARD FIGHTERS

-Georges St. Pierre: $140,000 (10th fight in UFC; defeated Josh Koscheck; includes $70,000 win bonus)

-Roger Huerta: $34,000 (5th fight in UFC; defeated Alberto Crane; includes $17,000 win bonus)

-Joe Stevenson: $32,000 (6th fight in UFC; defeated Kurt Pellegrino; includes $16,000 win bonus)

-Patrick Cote: $24,000 (6th fight in UFC, defeated Kendall Grove; includes $12,000 win bonus)

-Kendall Grove: $12,000 (4th fight in UFC; lost to Patrick Cote; win bonus would have been $12,000)

-Josh Koscheck: $10,000 (9th fight in UFC; lost to Georges St. Pierre; win bonus would have been $10,000)

-Kurt Pellegrino: $8,000 (4th fight in UFC; lost to Joe Stevenson; win bonus would have been $8,000)

-Alberto Crane: $4,000 (1st fight in UFC; lost to Roger Huerta; win bonus would have been $4,000)


PRELIMINARY MATCH FIGHTERS

-Frank Mir: $66,000 (11th fight in UFC; defeated Antoni Hardonk; includes win bonus of $30,000)

-Marcus Aurelio: $30,000 (1st fight in UFC after 6 fights in Pride; lost to Clay Guida; win bonus would have been $30,000)

-Renato "Babalu" Sobral: $25,000 (10th fight in UFC; defeated David Heath; Sobral would have also received a $25,000 win bonus, but it is currently being withheld due to his actions pending a hearing before the Nevada State Athletic Commission)

-Thales Leites: $18,000 (4th fight in UFC; defeated Ryan Jensen; includes $9,000 win bonus)

-Clay Guida: $14,000 (4th fight in UFC; defeated Marcus Aurelio; includes $7,000 win bonus)

-Antoni Hardonk: $8,000 (3rd fight in UFC; lost to Frank Mir; win bonus would have been $8,000)

-David Heath: $6,000 (4th fight in UFC; lost to Renato "Babalu" Sobral; win bonus would have been $6,000)

-Ryan Jensen: $4,000 (1st fight in UFC; lost to Thales Leites; win bonus would have been $4,000)

DISCLOSED FIGHTER PAYROLL: $730,000

[Timestretch]

Koscheck needs to fire his manager.

[Vaildez]

thats fucking retarded in my opinion... Penn didnt get kicked out for purposely holding the submission longer...

[Ablate]

Wasn't Koscheck a winner of some TUF season? If so I doubt he had a lot of choice and afaik they sign like a 9 fight contract.

[Vaildez]

anyhow babalu has a pretty big fan base.. my guess is he will be rehired eventually.

[Whisper]

The only downside to Zuffa's re-imagining of the UFC and MMA in general is that quite a bit of "pro" wrestling styled drama has interjected itself into the mix. I kind of miss the days where Royce Gracie entered the octagon wearing his Gi and dominated. It feels like the explosion of popularity has watered MMA down a bit. The TV show hasn't helped all that much either.

When the UFC first began, there was no publicized smack talking to speak of, no behind the scenes drama and no outrageous posturing before or after fights. It seems that the old school days took it a bit more seriously. There were more Martial Arts in MMA and things were run like a true competition, re: Sabaki Challenge, rather than the very popular business it has become.

I appreciate what Dana and Zuffa have done for the popularity of the sport, but I have to wonder if the sport itself is suffering a bit from failing to avoid the drama-laden growing pains it seems to be going through.

Maybe the comparison to wrestling is too harsh. No matter what is said, what kind of posturing is done, the end result is still what happens in the octagon. That is MMA's saving grace imo. While wrestling has a schedule and script around who wins and who is champ based on market popularity at any given time, UFC champs will always be the ones that kicked the fuck out of their competition come fight time. Thank god for that.

[Ablate]

I think you're spot on Whisper, especially when you consider that Brock Lesnar (of WWE Fame) has signed a deal with the UFC, and that Dana White is actively pursuing Kurt Angle still. Yes the ultimate end result is what happens in any given fight, but you can already see the way Dana is protecting his more marketable fighters, by delaying matchups against fighters that almost certainly would defeat his favorite guys.

Couture comes out of retirement, having not fought at HW for years (retiring on a string of losses), and gets an immediate title shot? Guys like Minotauro come in, and we're subjected to mind numbing shit like Nogueira vs Herring III (like the first 2 weren't indicators of the outcome of number 3?). They're talking about making him fight the winner of Kongo/CroCop before he even gets a shot at the old man. I wouldn't be surprised if we see Fedor vs Eddie fucking Sanchez for his first UFC fight.

But marketable guys like Dan Henderson are getting immediate title matches. Wanderlei is gonna fight some asshat, Shogun is fighting someone far below him. Sokoudjou has stated he couldn't care less what he was getting paid, as long as he didn't have to fight cans out of the gate (he asked for Bisping, and they laughed, asking if he was on crack).

[Whisper]

Ya, how fights are being scheduled seems sketchy at times. As long as the best fighter wins, the rest is easy enough to ignore I guess. Just kind of annoying.

Might sound retarded, but one of the reasons I really like GSP is that he still bows to his opponent and the ref when he enters the octagon, reminding everyone how this all started in a small but important way.

[Vaildez]

I think you're spot on Whisper, especially when you consider that Brock Lesnar (of WWE Fame) has signed a deal with the UFC, and that Dana White is actively pursuing Kurt Angle still. Yes the ultimate end result is what happens in any given fight, but you can already see the way Dana is protecting his more marketable fighters, by delaying matchups against fighters that almost certainly would defeat his favorite guys.

Couture comes out of retirement, having not fought at HW for years (retiring on a string of losses), and gets an immediate title shot? Guys like Minotauro come in, and we're subjected to mind numbing shit like Nogueira vs Herring III (like the first 2 weren't indicators of the outcome of number 3?). They're talking about making him fight the winner of Kongo/CroCop before he even gets a shot at the old man. I wouldn't be surprised if we see Fedor vs Eddie fucking Sanchez for his first UFC fight.

But marketable guys like Dan Henderson are getting immediate title matches. Wanderlei is gonna fight some asshat, Shogun is fighting someone far below him. Sokoudjou has stated he couldn't care less what he was getting paid, as long as he didn't have to fight cans out of the gate (he asked for Bisping, and they laughed, asking if he was on crack).

wanderlei will fight lidell

[Shokar]

I like GSP. He's a really respectful fighter, if you ever get a chance to hear him talk. I hate that he took the belt from Matt Hughes tho.

[Ablate]

Fuck Matt Hughes imo.

[Vaildez]

http://chokehimout.com/index.cfm/get/feature/id/1

[Mutt]

The TV show hasn't helped all that much eitherMy gf thinks theres more drama and bitching on that show than on americas next top model

[sema]

I like UFC alot better now than the first 10-12 Championships. In the beginning it was just like a big bar brawl. Alot of low skill brawlers trying to win by brawn and heart (or sheer folishness). No weightclasses, no rules. Sigh.

You have to remember that it was the Graceis that organized the first UFC mainly as a PR platform for their own MA skill set. They handpicked who were allowed to fight in UFC and who wasnt. They later sold UFC.


In its original form UFC were getting outlawed by state after state. They had to clean up UFC or there would have been no UFC at all today.

Today we have skilled athletes that are versed in all parts of MMA, fighting on equal footing in weight classes.


Personally I dont care about the behind sceenes talk, I usually fast forward past it. They need it to make cash, and if its what it takes its fine. I rather see some commercial exploitations of the sport rather than having to rely on mob money or pay the fighters pauper fees (like UFC did not too long ago).

We have a MA competition that in all 3 levels that is safe enough to be practitioned without serious injures and still allows a large degree of freedom (compared to say kickboxing which is only 1 level).

Im glad that UFC isnt some freak show death match where Kunta the Cheiftan from jungles fights Rob the redneck truck driver.

[sema]

I think you're spot on Whisper, especially when you consider that Brock Lesnar (of WWE Fame) has signed a deal with the UFC, and that Dana White is actively pursuing Kurt Angle still. Yes the ultimate end result is what happens in any given fight, but you can already see the way Dana is protecting his more marketable fighters, by delaying matchups against fighters that almost certainly would defeat his favorite guys.

Couture comes out of retirement, having not fought at HW for years (retiring on a string of losses), and gets an immediate title shot? Guys like Minotauro come in, and we're subjected to mind numbing shit like Nogueira vs Herring III (like the first 2 weren't indicators of the outcome of number 3?). They're talking about making him fight the winner of Kongo/CroCop before he even gets a shot at the old man. I wouldn't be surprised if we see Fedor vs Eddie fucking Sanchez for his first UFC fight.

But marketable guys like Dan Henderson are getting immediate title matches. Wanderlei is gonna fight some asshat, Shogun is fighting someone far below him. Sokoudjou has stated he couldn't care less what he was getting paid, as long as he didn't have to fight cans out of the gate (he asked for Bisping, and they laughed, asking if he was on crack).

They just bought up Pride. The number of high rating fighters just tripled in the UFC. I think we all have to wait a bit till all the fighters find their way into a proper ranking ladder. That will take atleast a year, maybe 2 or 3. Even then there is no proper way to do the match makings. We cant have everyone fight everyone at the same time. Someone has to get the titleshot first.

Then we also have to realize that UFC has grown rapidity in US, which would indicate that there are a lot of new fans. I'm guessing al ot of these people haven't researched every Pride and UFC game the last 2-3 years to get to know each fighter. There needs to be some continuity for the new fans.

Ceterum censeo TUF esse delendam.

[Shib]

here's the video -> http://youtube.com/watch?v=vvbVU9RWmq4

he held on for like... 2 seconds... who cares imo.

[Harrison]

Gay

[Mutt]

here's the video -> http://youtube.com/watch?v=vvbVU9RWmq4

he held on for like... 2 seconds... who cares imo.Probably the dead brain cells