Stipe's Inactivity

[Fergelmince]

Stipe's fights:

2015: 1
2016: 3 (2 for the belt)
2017: 1 (for the belt)
2018: 2 (for the belt)
2019: 1 (for the belt)
2020: 1 (for the belt)
2021: 1 (for the belt)

infrequent fighter who held up the belt for way too long. 2 opponents in his last 5 fights. Hopefully he never gets another TS.

So Miocic fought just as many times as ngannou over the last 2 years but didn't duck cormier like ngannou did. Got it.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

They won't pay the fighters shit.. This is why MMA is stagnant.. Top athletes have no interest in the UFC or MMA.. They can make money in other sports..

MMA has never paid well compared to other big sports though, so that can't be the reason why there's less talent than there used to be, they were getting paid even less then than they are now.

 

[Dbreiden83080]

MMA has never paid well compared to other big sports though, so that can't be the reason why there's less talent than there used to be, they were getting paid even less then than they are now.

My point is the sport has stagnated, Especially in the heavyweight division. You have some top 10 guys lucky if they are making 70 or $75,000 per fight. That’s just not enticing for potential stud athletes that have choices. People have been wondering for years when the A level athletes will start coming into the UFC? My answer to the question is basically never.

 

[Dbreiden83080]

UFC has to compete against boxing too. Wilder wanted to be in the NFL or NBA but finished in boxing, not MMA.

But now that MMA is much more popular, some guys might choose MMA instead of boxing.

They may choose MMA over boxing, certainly that is possible. But 99% will never choose MMA over baseball, football, basketball etc. No way. The enticement of those guaranteed contracts/signing bonuses is just too much. And the UFC has done nothing to bridge this pay gap at all. Just more ranting and raving from Dana White about how everything is going just fine. Yeah for you.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

My point is the sport has stagnated, Especially in the heavyweight division. You have some top 10 guys lucky if they are making 70 or $75,000 per fight. That’s just not enticing for potential stud athletes that have choices. People have been wondering for years when the A level athletes will start coming into the UFC? My answer to the question is basically never.

I don't think you could ever entice them tbh. If people don't want to be fighters and have the option of not being punched in the face for a living then they'll take it. You can earn millions at the top of HW boxing and it's not like there's a rush of A level athletes trying to get into that either.

 

[Pepy]

Stipe pulled a Cain

spent 4,5 years fighting only Ngannou and DC


Cain did the same with JDS and Bigfoot

 

[GordonMMARamsey]

Blame DC for his fucking eye pokes. How long did that sideline Stipe for?

 

[Miokink026]

Stipe's fights:

2015: 1
2016: 3 (2 for the belt)
2017: 1 (for the belt)
2018: 2 (for the belt)
2019: 1 (for the belt)
2020: 1 (for the belt)
2021: 1 (for the belt)

infrequent fighter who held up the belt for way too long. 2 opponents in his last 5 fights. Hopefully he never gets another TS.

2018: Stipe fought Ngannou for over five rounds, immediately fought DC 5 months later and got KO'ed.

2019: After DC wouldn't give Stipe a rematch and they finally rematched on August, Stipe KO'ed DC but DC poked him so bad he had to have surgery and started wearing glasses after that.

2020: After surgery and healing his eyes, Stipe and DC rematched in August. They had another war.

2021: 7 months later Stipe lost to Ngannou

Way to leave out all the important information son.

 

[Dbreiden83080]

I don't think you could ever entice them tbh. If people don't want to be fighters and have the option of not being punched in the face for a living then they'll take it. You can earn millions at the top of HW boxing and it's not like there's a rush of A level athletes trying to get into that either.

Being a fighter is different. However you may have cases of the A level athlete that may love mixed martial arts, and been training in mixed martial arts since they were kids. However they have another option like football or basketball. They likely will take that option because of the financial incentive. These constant spats with Dana White over money with champions like Francis doesn’t help matters.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Being a fighter is different. However you may have cases of the A level athlete that may love mixed martial arts, and been training in mixed martial arts since they were kids. However they have another option like football or basketball. They likely will take that option because of the financial incentive. These constant spats with Dana White over money with champions like Francis doesn’t help matters.

I just think it wouldn't make much difference even if fighters got paid more. I'm all for fighters being paid more, but I don't think that's the reason A level athletes in the US choose basketball/football etc.

Although tbh after seeing that ex NBA dude's performance in LFA recently I'm happy to let them stay there lol, that dude was absolutely terrible.

 

[Gamer2k4]

He is past his prime, and doing nothing to earn a rematch.. He maybe should have retired after DC 3.. Losing so badly to Francis in the rematch damaged his legacy..

Losing to Francis did nothing for his legacy, good or bad. Stipe has never been considered some godlike, untouchable figure. He's just a solid all-around fighter who can beat almost everyone and has the most UFC HW title defenses all time. Neither of those things changed when Francis knocked him out, because Francis knocks everyone out.

 

[Mavrilicious]

Stipe sat on the sidelines waiting for a rematch jerking off for a whole year.

He tried to do the same thing now but it obviously didn't work.

It's clear the guy doesn't want to fight anymore.
One or 2 more fight ans he's done

Oh man another guy with an opinion passing it off as fact! Someone get the man a pedestal

 

[Tito Tapped]

He got that championship money for a few fights, he doesn't need to be active. Once you have a top spot like that, there's very little incentive to take fights unless you need the money. Nobody is going to leapfrog you that fast if you all sit at the top and don't fight but you'll drop quickly if you lose a fight. Honestly I don't blame any fighter for sitting out and not fighting, given how shit the UFC is with the contracts.

 

[Tweak896]

He defended earlier than Ngannou will yes, but that doesn't take away that his last stretch of his career he's picking fights slowly. That's like saying Conor is an active fighter because he used to fight so much the first leg of his career, but he slowed down just like Stipe.

 

[cws80us]

I will criticize Nganeau as well for waiting 10 months to defend. It was bad when Stipe did it, and it's still bad now. It's one thing when you are injured or have some other legitimate excuse for not fighting. But as a champion, you have a responsibility to defend the belt. The goal of being a fighter is to become a champion, and if you as the champion are not defending the belt in a timely manner, then you are holding up the division and holding up guy's careers and ability to earn money. It's unacceptable to me that Nganeau has sat around for nearly year while perfectly healthy and able to fight. And, I hated when Stipe and others have done the same thing.

 

[fractal]

UFC has to compete against boxing too. Wilder wanted to be in the NFL or NBA but finished in boxing, not MMA.

But now that MMA is much more popular, some guys might choose MMA instead of boxing.

Only if they have a strong wrestling background or completely suck at other sports. For big athletic guys MMA is like speed walking. It's the last resort.

 

[fractal]

Way to leave out all the important information son.

Omg you sonned him.

 

[BFoe]

Derrick Lewis was on the Helwani show today and said he wants to fight Stipe. Said he wants to fight in February or March. I doubt Stipe will take him up on it though.

If Stipe is going to continue to fight, I think that’s the logical fight to make.

 

[Jackonfire]

If Stipe is going to continue to fight, I think that’s the logical fight to make.

Yeah, that or Blaydes maybe. I do think he only needs one win before getting another shot at the belt.

 

[2004 account]

To put it in greater perspective, every ufc champ has a weak strength of schedule compared to pride days when they were fighting up to 5 times a year. I wish those times would come back.