Paul Hughes signs with PFL

[skylolow]

They offered 20K/20K to Doumbe who singlehandedly sold out a 20000 seats arena in minutes in PFL, on a thursday night card. PFL pay him 6 figures and make a substantial return on investment.
And on the opposite side of bad business decisions, they were paying Greg fucking Hardy over 150K per fight.

They overpay for old glories and underpay for prospects with big potential. It's a sign of a company who struggles with long term vision, IMHO.

I thought the UFC actually signed Doumbe and then some visa issue or illness issue and then let him go.

No doubt Doumbe would be good addition for the UFC if they were focusing in France or Europe more so than they are. Doumbe holds a higher value in France for PFL needs oppose to the UFC, mainly in selling tickets department. The UFC goes to France with a solid card they can sell tickets just fine without Doumbe. Greg Hardy held some value in the US. When he was first signed. You had various sports media talking about it that normally don't talk much MMA. People did tune in to see him. He did have some buzz around him. Turned out in the end he was more of bust but at 150K a fight the UFC probably got the value out of him. Plus HW's seem to always get treated better than most weight classes when starting out.

Personally, I'm not sure why the UFC dicks around with some of the free agents but then others they signed seem happy with the terms. I do think the talent scouts in the UFC could do a much better job at convincing the brass to put out better offers to key guys. Then again maybe we just assume they are out their hitting the streets looking for the best talent. When they may do very little of that and sit back thinking we are the UFC and if you're good enough to be here we'll hear about you.

 

[Momentosis]

Yeah they didn't just offer Doumbe 20/20, they signed him for 20/20.

Doumbe wasn't worth 200k for PFL until the UFC signed him.

 

[spinup]

Yeah they didn't just offer Doumbe 20/20, they signed him for 20/20.

Doumbe wasn't worth 200k for PFL until the UFC signed him.

What did the UFC add as value? They hardly even talked about him, and was never even properly signed, it was a sort pof pre-contract.

He is a kickboxing legend (went on Rogan podcast before doing mma), fluent in english, exceptional entertainer and with sizeable social media following. The value was there from the beginning.
He would probably have signed to the UFC for a bit less than what the PFL offered, but 20/20 at this stage of his career was a joke. The only relative downsides were his age (not that bad) and his weight class which is competitive and wrestlers heavy.

No doubt Doumbe would be good addition for the UFC if they were focusing in France or Europe more so than they are. Doumbe holds a higher value in France for PFL needs oppose to the UFC, mainly in selling tickets department. The UFC goes to France with a solid card they can sell tickets just fine without Doumbe.

That's a fair point, he might be valuable to PFL than to the UFC. But Doumbe sells outside France. He the best english speaker of all french fighters, has a international name from Glory.
And also, it's a competition: if a guy is valuable for PFL, the UFC should take him from them when he is still cheap.

 

[TorontoTO]

PFL is going for the European market as it’s obvious the ufc doesn’t care. Look at them booking UFC 303 in the UK in the middle of the night for locals

 

[HuskySamoan]

I don't think it's worse for hardcore fans. It's worse for UFC marks, they just don't realize/care. Whenever a fighter signs for not the UFC everyone always says how disappointing it is. Why is the prospect of Paul Hughes vs Shabily, Usman, McKee, Wilson, Baranoui, Paranasse, Primus, Collard etc disappointing? To hardcore fans I mean. The ones who know who the people I just named are. Plus with the smaller roster PFL has the chances of these fights actually happening is much greater. The UFC's roster is so big that fighters never fight all of the top contenders in a weight class. Especially 155. Guys get lost in the shuffle, there's so many options that getting ahead requires politicking and the UFC is infamous for playing favorites. If you don't believe me just look at the last 5 years of title fights/scheduled ones. At least a guy like Paul Hughes knows that if he strings together some wins he'll get a chance to fight for the title. There's tons of compelling match ups at 155 that haven't happened yet in PFLlator.

Clay Collard is literally a can and Primus is 40. Is it confirmed Parnasse is signed to PFLellator? And if so, I hope he's at 145 and not 155.

It's disappointing for a few reasons, man. When guys sign to ONE it sucks, they never get fights and the MMA roster is so embarrassingly shallow...yet ONE actually does snap up really elite prospects here and there...just sucks. ACA has so much great talent but it's so regional, somewhat out of necessity because those dudes struggle a ton to get visas and need to be able to fight in a meaningful promotion where they can still make a living but it does bum me out when a prospect like Daniyar signs with them or guys like Kerefov or Vartanyan get turned down by the UFC because those guys are world class and you want to see how the stack up vs global promotions which ACA isn't. PFL kinda sucks, they suck at promoting their brand and their athletes, their commentary sucks, the way they run their shows sucks, the tournament and seasonal structures kinda sucks, the way they try to mirror the UFC sucks, the smart cage and dumb stats suck. I'd be more optimistic about their talent and vision if they ability to showcase it wasn't so awful.

Really, I'd like to see the UFC as the NBA, but it's truly quite far from it. If they had more priority on talent, skill and potential...and paid fighters what they deserved (35-50% of revenue rather than 10-15%) it'd be super cool to a meritocracy more like Olympic sports and Tennis and NFL etc. But so long as they aren't doing that, I am glad to see promotions try to rival, it creates greater worth for prospects and fighters in general. And gives a place for guys who are world class but passed over on or undervalued to go that's still meaningful.
.

 

[SokoudjouFanboy]

Clay Collard is literally a can

I don't know how you can watch any fight he's had in PFL other than I guess the AJ McKee fight and say that. Amazing offensive boxer, he gets a pound of flesh from anybody in any promotion who tries to stand with him. Primus is old but he's got a style that ages well and is still effective. He's still only ever lost to Chandler, Shabily and Usman. Are you picking Paul Hughes over Brent Primus tomorrow? I'm not.

I think your gripes about PFL are valid and I have similar ones but I'm a lot more worried about matchups than the production of the show. Sure, maybe PFL isn't long for the world but in the meantime there's no reason a fighter couldn't put together a legitimate case for being best in the world by beating the best guys outside the UFC. That's not how it'll go, the UFC champ will always be #1 in the world for the majority but for a hardcore fan? I don't really see why not. As long as the UFC is sports entertainment first and a sports league second fighters like Vartanyan, Kerefov and Kerimov will always get shafted. I am more in favor of abolishing promotion owned belts. That way a guy fighting in Russia or PFL can't be denied a chance to prove he's the best just because he won't sign a contract with the UFC.

 

[Momentosis]

What did the UFC add as value? They hardly even talked about him, and was never even properly signed, it was a sort pof pre-contract.

He is a kickboxing legend (went on Rogan podcast before doing mma), fluent in english, exceptional entertainer and with sizeable social media following. The value was there from the beginning.
He would probably have signed to the UFC for a bit less than what the PFL offered, but 20/20 at this stage of his career was a joke. The only relative downsides were his age (not that bad) and his weight class which is competitive and wrestlers heavy.


That's a fair point, he might be valuable to PFL than to the UFC. But Doumbe sells outside France. He the best english speaker of all french fighters, has a international name from Glory.
And also, it's a competition: if a guy is valuable for PFL, the UFC should take him from them when he is still cheap.

UFC added whatever value was enough for the PFL to offer 200k after but not before the UFC got him.

UFC literally had him signed, set for a card, and then the French Commission stepped in and stopped the fight from happening. Thus, the UFC released him since they couldn't realistically give him any fights in France.

 

[spinup]

UFC added whatever value was enough for the PFL to offer 200k after but not before the UFC got him.

UFC literally had him signed, set for a card, and then the French Commission stepped in and stopped the fight from happening. Thus, the UFC released him since they couldn't realistically give him any fights in France.

It's not what happened. He was not really signed, it was a pre contract so he was still free to go anywhere.

He made a videos to ask his fans where he should go, with an online poll that got a load of votes. He tried to use that to show his worth get the better deal with the UFC bellator, PFL and One FC. The UFC offered him apparently 5 to 10 times less than PFL so it was a no brainer.

 

[STAY GOLD]

 

[TorontoTO]

Waste of everyone’s time but to be expected when they announced he would fight this year before entering the stupid tournaments next year

 

[MMAddict21]

Lmao Hughes is going style on King. He is a legitimately terrible fighter.

 

[CC27]

Lame ass fight but expected, its a showcase for the hometown crowd. The last thing you need is him losing before entering a tournament next year.

 

[David Street]

If you want to become big fighter, fight with big fighters. If you want money go PFL?

 

[Momentosis]

If you want to become big fighter, fight with big fighters. If you want money go PFL?

Of course, but only if you win the tournament.