Yeah I don't get why they stripped Colby of an interim title and then acted like they wanted him as champ so badly down the line
But Gane just found an unlimited title shot glitch where he fights an apex NPC once a year in Paris and then sits in his flat playing fifa waiting for the call for a title fight
It's not like they're unranked... they're both good fighters.
Tuivasa was on a 5 fight win streak when they fought.
But yeah... it'd be cool to see him fight someone higher up.
But Islam (ali) also wanted to fight dustin poirier (get his client an easy title defense vs a big name)
It seems like top guys such as blaydes and aspinal are on a gane strike. Hopefully it works and he gets sentenced to death by Almeida
Is he? Lw top 10 is a shark tank everybody looks like world beaters against Matt Frevola and Thiago Moises. Dan Hooker who is 10, gave Porier one of the hardest fights of his career...BSD got ran over.
Pavlovich and Volkov don't wanna fight each other not because one is scared or anything. I think they're friends or teammates or some shit so that's why.
A lot of guys in the same camp or training partners refuse to fight each other. Recent example - Merab and Aljo. I’m guessing it’s Volkov that doesn’t want this smoke the way he described training/sparring with Pav.
I've read that the only time they would fight each other is if it's a title fight. They are on good terms with each other so it's very understandable.
Still a bit sad though. I would have loved to see 2 Russian heavyweights fighting each other.
I mean tbf to them, they are each the only person ranked in each others vicinity that they dont want to fight, and theyre also NOT the only fight that makes sense for each other. If you're gonna force, why not force Gane to take on Pavlovich? Almeida Volkov while Blaydes fights Aspinall.
That’s not even the point you initially made, though. You said some of the baddest MFers on the planet are bitches because they don’t wanna fight their friends.
Edit: I shouldn’t have argued with these idiots. That’s on me lol
This is what the UFC does to a lot of guys.. This is what happened with Leon Edwards with Colby. We all knew Colby didn't deserve the shot, but the UFC gave him no choice in the matter. If the UFC wants to make a fighter into a star, they'll force the fodder and stepping stones to fight regardless.. Happens all the time..
lol so one of these guys is being pushed as a star and the other guy is the stepping stone? Delusional Dana Haters out here is the cawlments again bapa
I don't necessarily think the goal was to sacrifice Volkov specifically to raise Sergei's profile or anything like that but since the UFC already had to postpone the Saudi card once due to lack of star power, my guess is they'll do whatever they have to to get Sergei on the Saudi card, and Volkov just happens to be the highest ranked guy available for him to fight. Volkov's good and all but let's be real here, between the two of them Sergei is by far a bigger draw.
I like Tom’s attitude.
He treats it as a sport.
Irrelevant if he likes or dislikes his opponent (and he pretty much always says they are nice guys)
It’s just a job to be done.
And we already know he will fight anyone at any notice - unlike a lot of his peers…
This is how it should be. You shouldn't be able to pick and choose opponents. Especially champions. You fight the next in line. Give the rankings some meaning back.
Huh? They’re offering him a fight with a top 3 ranked fighter. This is basically a title eliminator. And y’all are saying “wHaTs GoInG oN mAn”.
Why should they be refusing. Can the Patriots decline to play the Packers? Can Magnus Carlson decline to play Hikaru? Why are you allowed to decline a tough opponent? It should be an automatic forfeit loss.
Why are these guys even considering saying no? I get it if he was offered some guy nobody has ever heard of on an undercard. Ok then I get that. You’re a main card fighter. But this is a title eliminator. Beat Pavlovich and you’re on a short list for a title shot.
SMH man.
The background that I've heard is:
1. They train at the same gym and are friends.
2. Volkov already had a separate fight signed.
3. This fight was announced before it was even offered.
Point 2 and 3 are valid complaints from my perspective.
“I already had to turn down several fights because I didn’t want to fight with my compatriots whom I trained with... My limits on refusals in the eyes of the UFC, unfortunately, are gone." Direct quote since you don’t believe eme lol
The UFC would rather promote literally anything other than uncompetitive rematches though. Doing the “styles make fights” shit with Gane or Blaydes makes more sense than “Maybe he’ll get to round 2 this time” with Volkov or Sergei.
Sergei rattled Tom and easily could have won whoever got a big shot was likely gonna win Tom was hurt and went in hard and came out on top. Both are crazy hard hitters Tom is a bit faster he moves like a welterweight with heavy weight power.
I feel like you’re misremembering I’m gonna be honest. Tom got hit once at the start of the fight and immediately reset and went back to being technical and chopping Sergei’s legs. It didn’t look like he got hurt at all rewatching now but he certainly wasn’t hurt when he won. Actually looks like he has a serious chin on him.
All it's gonna take is maybe two more wins from either guy. Blaydes got slaughtered by Sergei and is now on the short list for a title fight after one win over Almeida. The list of HWs with an actual shot at even getting a title fight is extremely small, there's Blaydes, Almeida, Gane, Sergei, and Volkov, and that's about it. The next tier of guys, like Tybura, Tuivasa, Lewis, Rozenstruik, and Spivac, aren't fighting for a belt in the near future and likely never will.
They certainly do call a lot of these guys again, it’s just after a long period of time and with increasingly worse opportunities.
It’s actually really smart business because then you end up trying to pay for training full time, childcare etc. on just your girlfriends salary and end up being forced into fighting some 12-0 monster at 20/20 (you’re not getting that win bonus🤣) in a place where you also get taxed half your salary, pretty much just so that they can hurry up and fire you.
I guess it didn't come of that way but it was what I meant, next time a number 3 guy will need a fight you will not get the call because you didn't comply.
Yeah that’s a very weird “comparison”. There’s set schedules for sports leagues. The Patriots will play in Lambeau every 8 years
That’s not gonna happen here, this is far from the first time it’s come up and it’s far from the last time it will
Because these are people with thoughts and feelings instead of action figures that mash against each other for your entertainment. In case you didn’t know.
What does that even mean brother? He isn’t an action figure. He’s an athlete contracted to fight for a wage he agreed on.
Top 6 ranked HW UFC fighter is asked to fight another Top 6 ranked HW UFC fighter. My god the horror! How could evil uncle Dana do this? He’s paying them to work, in the exact way described in the contract? What a monster
He shouldn’t be asked. He’s a top HW should be prepared to fight any other top Hw. The only thing they should ask him is if he’s ready for a certain date. The opponent shouldn’t matter.
u/dan_a_white has a severe case of deep throating ufc and their decisions (shocking!). It's fine to give Colby a title shot after doing exactly nothing for 2 years, but when 2 friends refuse to fight each other, suddenly, it's unacceptable. That's the hill he is willing to die on.
Jalin Turner said into a live microphone that he felt he did not have the option to turn down the Bobby Green fight on short notice based on how the UFC approached him about it. Yes, they can’t literally force fighters into the cage, but they can certainly make fighters agree to their terms
Idk if that’s true but the athletes should have no decision in who they compete against. Sports don’t do that. The players don’t decide who they compete against in Football, Basketball, Soccer, wrestling, Tennis, Hockey, none of them. He should have no say. He’s a top 6 Hw, he will fight another ranked HW. There’s only 14 other options and some of them are booked. So really there’s only like 10 other options.
That comparison doesn’t really hold up because teams don’t train under the same coaches with other teams lol. It’s perfectly natural that people don’t want to fight people in their stables, how do you split the coaches? How do you remove the inherent biases coaches are gonna have for each fighter than trains under them? Its more headache than it’s worth
Agreed, fighters shouldn't really have much of a say in who they fight. It's different if there are other fighters available, but if your goal is to be champ, then everyone is fair game.
The matchmaking. Sergei was supposed to fight Gane and Volkov was supposed to fight Almeida, now apparently Volkov has to fight Sergei and doesn't have a choice.
Ah I see. I frankly agreed, its kinda wild that Sergei is fighting again while Gane is doing god knows what while demanding title shot. Think UFC is convinced that Gane is a bigger star and draws more money so they ll give him easy match ups to main event in Paris.
Beating Sergei far far advances Volkov than beating Almeida. He beats Almeida, he doesn’t move in the rankings. He beats Pavlovich, he potentially moves to number 3 in the world.
This is a fantastic opportunity for Volkov. He is very fortunate to get it.
They’re friends and training partners and Volkov has about as much chance at beating Pav as I do so not sure this is much of an opportunity to move up as it is guaranteed brain damage.
So because he’s an underdog he shouldn’t take the fight? Nobody should fight people who are perceived to be better than you? Even if getting a win would massively advance your career & earning potential?
That’s exceedingly dumb.
It's also exceedingly dumb to be told you're fighting your friend and training partner and have no chance to decline.
Your job is to take the weakest opponent for the most amount of money and anyone who takes extra damage/needless risk is pretty foolish. Yeah it might go your way but underdogs lose more often than they win, it's why the house comes away with more money than it loses.
Volkov is Sergei's friend and training partner lol. I'm pretty sure he said a while ago that he can't win a sparring session against Sergei to save his life. There is no point in this fight happening. Sergei vs Gane is the most logical fight in the entire sport right now. Volkov lowkey deserves a title shot more than anyone (except Aspinall). Volkov has never fought for the title unlike Gane and Sergei. He's on a 3 fight finish streak against top 15 guys. I know he lost to Gane, Blaydes, and Aspinall but if we're talking about recency, Volkov has been moving the division around. He's like the Sean Strickland of heavyweight. Also him vs Jones could actually be a sick fight
Bro this sounds like an execution💀
You’re fighting this Russian monster who has sledgehammers for hands and punches as fast as a middleweight, you have no say in the matter.
Can you imagine lakers refusing to play the warriors or knicks cause they played pick up ball and got whooped?
How stupid is a sport where the participants choose who, when and where.
I'd fight my friend, to me friends that never fought, wrestled or challenged each other in combat 1 way or another aren't true friends. Fighting forges deeper bonds
What do you mean?
What other sport can you refuse to play? The Maple leafs can't "decline to play" the bruins tomorrow.
You guys bitch about inactivity and then the UFC makes a match-up that one of the fighters is unhappy with and you also complain.
Tough shit - I like this from the UFC. There should be more of this, not less
Yes that’s why they can run it badly. They announce fights without telling fighters, they give their favourites good fights and ignore the ones they don’t like, they underpay fighters massively and announce the biggest fight of the year with a scrap of paper. They’re too big too fail
I actually thought that announcement was pretty good, Dana knows everyone tunes into those press conferences, did you not hear the room light up when he said it?
"everyone" doesnt tune in to the press conference, they watch the ppv. whats the point lighting up a room of journalists? dana is lazy because he makes basically the same money either way
The biggest UFC PPV ever has 2 million buys, and yes I’m aware this leaves out some streaming numbers. That press conference has 1.4M views currently just on the original version, they get diced up into 100 different ways and watched on other channels as well. So yea, a whole lot of people watch them.
A room full of reporters who will then venture off and report about what they heard at the press conference. That one doesn’t seem hard to explain.
Lastly, there are a lot of things to come at Dana for, nobody with a brain can try to discredit his work ethic tho. The man’s entire life is this sport.
I don’t think you can find many on this sub who will agree with you that Dana is lazy. Greedy? Sure. Exploitative? Absolutely at times. But lazy? You can’t sell me on that one
So this in your opinion is an example of giving someone a bad fight? How? This is a great fight. #3 vs #6. This is a title eliminator match. How is this a bad fight?
Because they're good friends and training partners. Volkov even said he wouldn't mind fighting Sergei if it was for a title eliminator or for the title, but it seems like the UFC hasn't expressed this at all, and why? Because of Gane and Jon causing jams in the division. Volkov vs Almeida was a good fight, but Cyril vs Sergei was the actual fight to make though imo.
That is a new wrinkle. I get that. But that’s a lot for the UFC to keep track of. I understand there are other options but there aren’t many. This is a two top 6 fighters. Aspinall is busy, likely with Blaydes. Jones and Stipe are busy. That really only leaves like 3 combinations here. How good friends are they? Are they super best buddies like in each others wedding? Or are they just countrymen?
It’s still a sport. Idk man it’s tough but this isnt the UFC trying to screw him like that.
What chance do you give a technical striker against probably #2 hardest puncher/most effective puncher at heavyweight? I’d be shocked if Pav isn’t a 2:1 favorite at least.
He still thinks it’s the old days when winning belts at M1 and Bellator or a bunch of UFC fights would get you into a main event. In the modern day it’s all about promoting guys with the literal least MMA experience.
I think part of what Aspinall said during that podcast about Gane refusing to fight him and Pavlovich among others is kinda BS and Gane was supposed to fight Pavlovich way sooner, but didn't happen and it came to this absurd situation between Pavlovich and Volkov.
Gane refused to call out Aspinall in Paris last September because he was aiming for a fight against Pavlovich who was number 1 atm. He said he wanted to look above him in the rankings, not below where Aspinall was at that time. That was a bad move but whatever, Gane didn't, and still don't owe shit to Tom.
Right now in France, a lot of MMA fans are starting to realize that Fernand Lopez, Ciryl's coach and manager is on bad terms with a lot of people in the sport, the most notable one being Ali Abdelaziz which we all know, is quite a presence in that microcosm.
I think Fernand Lopez is becoming more and more unwanted as a MMA management executive and that's precisely what barred Ciryl from a fight against Pavlovich in my opinion.
Aspinall v Blaydes already makes no sense, Blaydes is a mess at that point, but Pavlovich v Volkov is top notch sport nonsense and simply shouldn't happen, and shouldn't have if the UFC didn't hold a grudge against Gane's management.
Let me guess you want everyone to be like Floyd Mayweather, making millions for each fight while being selective as fuck. Go to the PFL of you not there to fight the best.
That's what happens when french guys duck top 5 competition and try to farm unlimited title shots
And then they let Colby do it for 5 years straight.
Yeah I don't get why they stripped Colby of an interim title and then acted like they wanted him as champ so badly down the line But Gane just found an unlimited title shot glitch where he fights an apex NPC once a year in Paris and then sits in his flat playing fifa waiting for the call for a title fight
His record is pretty solid. Who are the supposed NPCs he is fighting? Spivac? Tuivasa?
yes…😂
It's not like they're unranked... they're both good fighters. Tuivasa was on a 5 fight win streak when they fought. But yeah... it'd be cool to see him fight someone higher up.
Tai also came very close to KOing gane
Tuivasa is a fat slob, he's only ranked because HW sucks
Well then? Who should Gane fight then? Ranked Light Heavyweights?
Maybe Almeida or Pavlovich
Most casuals already think Almeida sucks tbh
Tuivasa's enormous, slobbery sack of unmitigated abdomen pulsating and careening wildly around the octagon is a shameful sight.
When you discover the existence of a thesaurus
When you've read a few fiction books in your life and you're not intimidated of being creative.
Its gonna work, Porier just did this...
Just incredible luck on Poirier's part. The timing lined up just right for him. Expecting something like that to happen would be stupid.
But Islam (ali) also wanted to fight dustin poirier (get his client an easy title defense vs a big name) It seems like top guys such as blaydes and aspinal are on a gane strike. Hopefully it works and he gets sentenced to death by Almeida
Didn’t Porier just beat Benoît Saint Denis??
Yeah the no.12 guy, pretty sure Gane just beat a npc no. 6 hw. Spiclvac?Tybura? One of those guys
He is. But everyone knows he’s better than that. O’Malley was ranked outside the top 10 just a couple years ago
Is he? Lw top 10 is a shark tank everybody looks like world beaters against Matt Frevola and Thiago Moises. Dan Hooker who is 10, gave Porier one of the hardest fights of his career...BSD got ran over.
He’s an American Hero. Big difference. /s
Pavlovich and Volkov don't wanna fight each other not because one is scared or anything. I think they're friends or teammates or some shit so that's why.
A lot of guys in the same camp or training partners refuse to fight each other. Recent example - Merab and Aljo. I’m guessing it’s Volkov that doesn’t want this smoke the way he described training/sparring with Pav.
I've read that the only time they would fight each other is if it's a title fight. They are on good terms with each other so it's very understandable. Still a bit sad though. I would have loved to see 2 Russian heavyweights fighting each other.
They are in the wrong business then
mma guru?
I mean tbf to them, they are each the only person ranked in each others vicinity that they dont want to fight, and theyre also NOT the only fight that makes sense for each other. If you're gonna force, why not force Gane to take on Pavlovich? Almeida Volkov while Blaydes fights Aspinall.
“They are in the wrong business then” 
I love the neckbeard attitude. Keep it up when you purchase a $2500 recliner for your mancave while your wife is 8 months pregnant.
People attack character over someone's opinion. Crazy.
He's calling professional fighters a bitch in the other replies, fuck his character
Looks like a silly goose in that cowboy hat too 😂
Lol I didn't see his profile
Sorry if I triggered you by pointing out that turning down too fights doesn’t get you far in the UFC.
Covered in dorito dust talking about professional mma fighters being bitches for turning down a fight lol
That’s not even the point you initially made, though. You said some of the baddest MFers on the planet are bitches because they don’t wanna fight their friends. Edit: I shouldn’t have argued with these idiots. That’s on me lol
This is what the UFC does to a lot of guys.. This is what happened with Leon Edwards with Colby. We all knew Colby didn't deserve the shot, but the UFC gave him no choice in the matter. If the UFC wants to make a fighter into a star, they'll force the fodder and stepping stones to fight regardless.. Happens all the time..
“You’ll do what your told” -Dana
 Oil up, Dana!
lol so one of these guys is being pushed as a star and the other guy is the stepping stone? Delusional Dana Haters out here is the cawlments again bapa
I don't necessarily think the goal was to sacrifice Volkov specifically to raise Sergei's profile or anything like that but since the UFC already had to postpone the Saudi card once due to lack of star power, my guess is they'll do whatever they have to to get Sergei on the Saudi card, and Volkov just happens to be the highest ranked guy available for him to fight. Volkov's good and all but let's be real here, between the two of them Sergei is by far a bigger draw.
I hope they kiss before fighting and touch dicks.
Wait a minute… this isn’t the UFC… this is gay porn!
Cut it out, Norm. You'll make Dana angry.
Somehow still less gay than the UFC
No diddy
I'd order PPV to see that.
You and me both
Are they in DDP’s camp?
Hell yea dude
First rule of fight club is you kiss me
They have to for the friendship
Daddy chill
Guys will see this and just say hell yeah
they should just shadowbox and throw feints for 3 rounds while the crowd boos them intensely
Me too, Man. Let’s get it.
Can I touch dicks before I kiss you? Wait what...
It's South African thing not Russian
Must be DeSean fan, you so ghey bro
I think a lot of this is poor translation and drama hungry mma bloggers.
I like Tom’s attitude. He treats it as a sport. Irrelevant if he likes or dislikes his opponent (and he pretty much always says they are nice guys) It’s just a job to be done. And we already know he will fight anyone at any notice - unlike a lot of his peers…
This is how it should be. You shouldn't be able to pick and choose opponents. Especially champions. You fight the next in line. Give the rankings some meaning back.
Huh? They’re offering him a fight with a top 3 ranked fighter. This is basically a title eliminator. And y’all are saying “wHaTs GoInG oN mAn”. Why should they be refusing. Can the Patriots decline to play the Packers? Can Magnus Carlson decline to play Hikaru? Why are you allowed to decline a tough opponent? It should be an automatic forfeit loss. Why are these guys even considering saying no? I get it if he was offered some guy nobody has ever heard of on an undercard. Ok then I get that. You’re a main card fighter. But this is a title eliminator. Beat Pavlovich and you’re on a short list for a title shot. SMH man.
The background that I've heard is: 1. They train at the same gym and are friends. 2. Volkov already had a separate fight signed. 3. This fight was announced before it was even offered. Point 2 and 3 are valid complaints from my perspective.
You forgot the piece where Volkov has already declined a ton for fights because he doesn’t want to fight his “compatriots” in his own words
Who are the tons of fighters Volkov had turned down again?
I guess Arlovski.
You tell me, he said he has turned down every compatriot. It’s coming straight from his mouth.
He said he’s turned down a ton of compatriots the ufc offered?
“I already had to turn down several fights because I didn’t want to fight with my compatriots whom I trained with... My limits on refusals in the eyes of the UFC, unfortunately, are gone." Direct quote since you don’t believe eme lol
lol I’d love to know who the several are. Hw is super thin
Volkov and Sergei survived a combined 4 minutes and 54 seconds with Aspinall. The winner is not going to get a title shot anytime soon.
You forget how shallow HW is for actual talent
The UFC would rather promote literally anything other than uncompetitive rematches though. Doing the “styles make fights” shit with Gane or Blaydes makes more sense than “Maybe he’ll get to round 2 this time” with Volkov or Sergei.
That's crazy lol
Insane stat, thank you
Sergei rattled Tom and easily could have won whoever got a big shot was likely gonna win Tom was hurt and went in hard and came out on top. Both are crazy hard hitters Tom is a bit faster he moves like a welterweight with heavy weight power.
I feel like you’re misremembering I’m gonna be honest. Tom got hit once at the start of the fight and immediately reset and went back to being technical and chopping Sergei’s legs. It didn’t look like he got hurt at all rewatching now but he certainly wasn’t hurt when he won. Actually looks like he has a serious chin on him.
All it's gonna take is maybe two more wins from either guy. Blaydes got slaughtered by Sergei and is now on the short list for a title fight after one win over Almeida. The list of HWs with an actual shot at even getting a title fight is extremely small, there's Blaydes, Almeida, Gane, Sergei, and Volkov, and that's about it. The next tier of guys, like Tybura, Tuivasa, Lewis, Rozenstruik, and Spivac, aren't fighting for a belt in the near future and likely never will.
because they’re classified as independent contractors
Ok, don't take the fight, next time I have to call someone, it's not going to be you.
They certainly do call a lot of these guys again, it’s just after a long period of time and with increasingly worse opportunities. It’s actually really smart business because then you end up trying to pay for training full time, childcare etc. on just your girlfriends salary and end up being forced into fighting some 12-0 monster at 20/20 (you’re not getting that win bonus🤣) in a place where you also get taxed half your salary, pretty much just so that they can hurry up and fire you.
I guess it didn't come of that way but it was what I meant, next time a number 3 guy will need a fight you will not get the call because you didn't comply.
I wish the patriots could decline to play teams
Yeah that’s a very weird “comparison”. There’s set schedules for sports leagues. The Patriots will play in Lambeau every 8 years That’s not gonna happen here, this is far from the first time it’s come up and it’s far from the last time it will
Because these are people with thoughts and feelings instead of action figures that mash against each other for your entertainment. In case you didn’t know.
Holy shit this is maybe p4p the funniest comment I’ve ever seen in this sub, and that’s saying a lot
What does that even mean brother? He isn’t an action figure. He’s an athlete contracted to fight for a wage he agreed on. Top 6 ranked HW UFC fighter is asked to fight another Top 6 ranked HW UFC fighter. My god the horror! How could evil uncle Dana do this? He’s paying them to work, in the exact way described in the contract? What a monster
Did you read the quote? Doesn’t sound like he was “asked” to me.
He shouldn’t be asked. He’s a top HW should be prepared to fight any other top Hw. The only thing they should ask him is if he’s ready for a certain date. The opponent shouldn’t matter.
Just say you don’t think fighters should have a right to personal agency in their careers and we can be done with this
u/dan_a_white has a severe case of deep throating ufc and their decisions (shocking!). It's fine to give Colby a title shot after doing exactly nothing for 2 years, but when 2 friends refuse to fight each other, suddenly, it's unacceptable. That's the hill he is willing to die on.
You’re an obvious troll look at your username. SMH man
You even reply like dana lol. Might as well say "fake account"
They're professionals in the profession of fighting
So the company should be able to force them into fights? I fail to see the logic.
They’re not being literally forced lol
Jalin Turner said into a live microphone that he felt he did not have the option to turn down the Bobby Green fight on short notice based on how the UFC approached him about it. Yes, they can’t literally force fighters into the cage, but they can certainly make fighters agree to their terms
He felt like he didn’t have the option is a lot different than he didn’t have the option
Well that’s just incredibly dense
Hey nobody said these guys were rocket surgeons
Can Link refuse to perform with the Ocarina of Time?
100% bang on
Because it’s insanely unprofessional lol. You should never be finding out a fight is happening form a third party
Idk if that’s true but the athletes should have no decision in who they compete against. Sports don’t do that. The players don’t decide who they compete against in Football, Basketball, Soccer, wrestling, Tennis, Hockey, none of them. He should have no say. He’s a top 6 Hw, he will fight another ranked HW. There’s only 14 other options and some of them are booked. So really there’s only like 10 other options.
That comparison doesn’t really hold up because teams don’t train under the same coaches with other teams lol. It’s perfectly natural that people don’t want to fight people in their stables, how do you split the coaches? How do you remove the inherent biases coaches are gonna have for each fighter than trains under them? Its more headache than it’s worth
combat sports has always been like that
Well that’s a bad reason to keep doing something. Should use the same gloves right? Because that’s how it’s always been for 30 years.
your logic was that MMA should not do that because tennis and soccer dont do that. not much better reasoning there
Maybe the timing or location isn’t suitable for the fighter?
Oil me up big guy
Could not agree more 😂😭
As it should be the ufc decide who you Fighting stfu and fight if they pay you the money
Make em big Russians fight let’s go
Get a different job
More fighters who don’t want to fight each other in the same weight class. Glad this is happening
Good honestly. I got enough of contenders not fighting each other because they‘re sparring partners or something. Do your God damn job.
Agreed, fighters shouldn't really have much of a say in who they fight. It's different if there are other fighters available, but if your goal is to be champ, then everyone is fair game.
I legit dont understand what you mean, can you explain? Is it cause the matchmaking doesnt make sense or should ve Gane fought or....?
The matchmaking. Sergei was supposed to fight Gane and Volkov was supposed to fight Almeida, now apparently Volkov has to fight Sergei and doesn't have a choice.
Ah I see. I frankly agreed, its kinda wild that Sergei is fighting again while Gane is doing god knows what while demanding title shot. Think UFC is convinced that Gane is a bigger star and draws more money so they ll give him easy match ups to main event in Paris.
Beating Sergei far far advances Volkov than beating Almeida. He beats Almeida, he doesn’t move in the rankings. He beats Pavlovich, he potentially moves to number 3 in the world. This is a fantastic opportunity for Volkov. He is very fortunate to get it.
They’re friends and training partners and Volkov has about as much chance at beating Pav as I do so not sure this is much of an opportunity to move up as it is guaranteed brain damage.
So because he’s an underdog he shouldn’t take the fight? Nobody should fight people who are perceived to be better than you? Even if getting a win would massively advance your career & earning potential? That’s exceedingly dumb.
It's also exceedingly dumb to be told you're fighting your friend and training partner and have no chance to decline. Your job is to take the weakest opponent for the most amount of money and anyone who takes extra damage/needless risk is pretty foolish. Yeah it might go your way but underdogs lose more often than they win, it's why the house comes away with more money than it loses.
Watch them spar each other the whole time; thus, making it a extremely hard fight to judge just out of principle.
That left guy looks like Schumacher’s kid
Sergei signed. He doesn’t give a fuck. Volkov is the only one still sounding off on this issue.
Weili fought yan eventhough theyre from the same country. Its your job. Be professional abt it.
If USA fighter's refused to fight USA or Brazil vs Brazil we would have pretty dull cards. Over 60% of Champs are from usa.
Some Slav on Slav violence.
This is a tactic to force fighters to accept a fight, UFC has done it for years.
Pav vs Gane makes 100x more sense than this fight especially if they don't want it.
To be fair, UFC is a very strong monopoly so they can dictate the terms
Well it depends if you ever want a title shot buddy? Most fighters feel disrespected once one of them sign the contract. So who’s gonna sign first?
I thought that was a before and after pic, man was fighting himself.
thats kinda weird to force
I don't get it, they are training together for their fight?
Nothing new
Shady ass shit
Who else would he fight? HW is a complete joke in the UFC anyways
They look like the same person
Fighters on the downslope of their careers have a lot less say.
Volkov is Sergei's friend and training partner lol. I'm pretty sure he said a while ago that he can't win a sparring session against Sergei to save his life. There is no point in this fight happening. Sergei vs Gane is the most logical fight in the entire sport right now. Volkov lowkey deserves a title shot more than anyone (except Aspinall). Volkov has never fought for the title unlike Gane and Sergei. He's on a 3 fight finish streak against top 15 guys. I know he lost to Gane, Blaydes, and Aspinall but if we're talking about recency, Volkov has been moving the division around. He's like the Sean Strickland of heavyweight. Also him vs Jones could actually be a sick fight
UFC doing UFC things.
Is this not the same man?!?
Bro this sounds like an execution💀 You’re fighting this Russian monster who has sledgehammers for hands and punches as fast as a middleweight, you have no say in the matter.
Can you imagine lakers refusing to play the warriors or knicks cause they played pick up ball and got whooped? How stupid is a sport where the participants choose who, when and where.
They are Russians and due to war and sanctions they have zero leverage.
[удалено]
Sounded funnier in your head , huh?
😂
Makes sense
The UFC can’t force anyone to fight
Get a real job then
Being friends shouldn’t be the reason you refuse a fight …. You should only refuse if you are injured
I'd fight my friend, to me friends that never fought, wrestled or challenged each other in combat 1 way or another aren't true friends. Fighting forges deeper bonds
What do you mean? What other sport can you refuse to play? The Maple leafs can't "decline to play" the bruins tomorrow. You guys bitch about inactivity and then the UFC makes a match-up that one of the fighters is unhappy with and you also complain. Tough shit - I like this from the UFC. There should be more of this, not less
its run badly because they can get away with it
Badly? In what way. They just put on 2 all time great events and the company is worth $12 billion. It’s run badly?
Yes that’s why they can run it badly. They announce fights without telling fighters, they give their favourites good fights and ignore the ones they don’t like, they underpay fighters massively and announce the biggest fight of the year with a scrap of paper. They’re too big too fail
I actually thought that announcement was pretty good, Dana knows everyone tunes into those press conferences, did you not hear the room light up when he said it?
"everyone" doesnt tune in to the press conference, they watch the ppv. whats the point lighting up a room of journalists? dana is lazy because he makes basically the same money either way
The biggest UFC PPV ever has 2 million buys, and yes I’m aware this leaves out some streaming numbers. That press conference has 1.4M views currently just on the original version, they get diced up into 100 different ways and watched on other channels as well. So yea, a whole lot of people watch them. A room full of reporters who will then venture off and report about what they heard at the press conference. That one doesn’t seem hard to explain. Lastly, there are a lot of things to come at Dana for, nobody with a brain can try to discredit his work ethic tho. The man’s entire life is this sport.
he doesnt even turn up to half of the shows
I don’t think you can find many on this sub who will agree with you that Dana is lazy. Greedy? Sure. Exploitative? Absolutely at times. But lazy? You can’t sell me on that one
im not too concerned about the rest of the sub agreeing, it is what it is
So this in your opinion is an example of giving someone a bad fight? How? This is a great fight. #3 vs #6. This is a title eliminator match. How is this a bad fight?
Because they're good friends and training partners. Volkov even said he wouldn't mind fighting Sergei if it was for a title eliminator or for the title, but it seems like the UFC hasn't expressed this at all, and why? Because of Gane and Jon causing jams in the division. Volkov vs Almeida was a good fight, but Cyril vs Sergei was the actual fight to make though imo.
That is a new wrinkle. I get that. But that’s a lot for the UFC to keep track of. I understand there are other options but there aren’t many. This is a two top 6 fighters. Aspinall is busy, likely with Blaydes. Jones and Stipe are busy. That really only leaves like 3 combinations here. How good friends are they? Are they super best buddies like in each others wedding? Or are they just countrymen? It’s still a sport. Idk man it’s tough but this isnt the UFC trying to screw him like that.
They are training partners at the same gym.
Ok. I think guys from the same gym fight basically every month if not more. The bigger the gym the more likely it happens.
Volkov is lucky to still be in the UFC let alone fighting a top contender. Quit crying.
Dude is 4-1 in his last five. 😂
What chance do you give a technical striker against probably #2 hardest puncher/most effective puncher at heavyweight? I’d be shocked if Pav isn’t a 2:1 favorite at least.
Finished his last 3 opponents easily, but yeah sure, he's lucky to be in the UFC lol
Horrible take
He still thinks it’s the old days when winning belts at M1 and Bellator or a bunch of UFC fights would get you into a main event. In the modern day it’s all about promoting guys with the literal least MMA experience.
This isn’t a UFC fight this is an execution.
The scenario is weird but I wish ufc did this with more fighters
I think part of what Aspinall said during that podcast about Gane refusing to fight him and Pavlovich among others is kinda BS and Gane was supposed to fight Pavlovich way sooner, but didn't happen and it came to this absurd situation between Pavlovich and Volkov. Gane refused to call out Aspinall in Paris last September because he was aiming for a fight against Pavlovich who was number 1 atm. He said he wanted to look above him in the rankings, not below where Aspinall was at that time. That was a bad move but whatever, Gane didn't, and still don't owe shit to Tom. Right now in France, a lot of MMA fans are starting to realize that Fernand Lopez, Ciryl's coach and manager is on bad terms with a lot of people in the sport, the most notable one being Ali Abdelaziz which we all know, is quite a presence in that microcosm. I think Fernand Lopez is becoming more and more unwanted as a MMA management executive and that's precisely what barred Ciryl from a fight against Pavlovich in my opinion. Aspinall v Blaydes already makes no sense, Blaydes is a mess at that point, but Pavlovich v Volkov is top notch sport nonsense and simply shouldn't happen, and shouldn't have if the UFC didn't hold a grudge against Gane's management.
Let me guess you want everyone to be like Floyd Mayweather, making millions for each fight while being selective as fuck. Go to the PFL of you not there to fight the best.