Appreciate the effort you put in putting a balanced argument forward Billy.

However, your issue should be with the Bulldogs, not Will.

Will’s decision to have Sundays off was raised during Will’s contract negotiations and the Bulldogs had full knowledge of this situation when the contract was signed.

The Bulldogs gave Will permission to have Sundays off so any issues should directed at the Bulldogs Head Office.

The potential issue was that Des expected Will to tell his team mates about the situation and it seems like Will was expecting or hoping that the team mates would have found out themselves or that the Bulldogs/Des would have delivered the message to them.

Whether Will wants Sunday’s off because of his religious beliefs or because he wants to play a round of golf doesn’t matter to me. Fact is he will miss games and practice. Is he a good enough player to grant this exemption ? The Bulldogs seem to think so..

Unfortunately no matter who Conor fights there will always be people saying ‘The UFC is protecting Connor from X’

Conor beats Mendes and Aldo then takes on RDA which is absolutely crazy.

After RDA smashed Cowboy, people say there is no way in hell that Conor takes on RDA because that is the worst match up for Conor. All of a sudden the UFC announces McGregor v RDA.

RDA pulls out and Diaz steps in then it’s the UFC is protecting Conor from Cowboy.

So the UFC was protecting Conor from Cowboy by letting him fight the man that absolutely destroyed Cowboy ?

There is no point Conor and Khabib fighting next week. Khabib v Fergusson is going to be a great headliner forUFC on Fox. No point ruining that card by trying to ‘save’ a PPV event that doesn’t need saving. The money maker on that card is still going to turn up.

Makes sense but much prefer this fight. I believe Diaz will genuinely throw down and will go down fighting if he gets beaten.

Cowboy is a world class fighter however I think he chokes under pressure. The way that Cowboy lost against RDA didn’t do him any favours.

I don’t believe these stories about fighters not being in shape. Fighters know that if you’re in the mix for a fight to always stay in shape ‘just in case’.

I agree it wasn’t cowardly but it was cheap.

Tamou is focussed on Galloway. He sees Garrett but doesn’t take much notice of him, then Garrett plants on him. Good shot but it’s easy to pull those off when you get a free hit.

Talking smack isn’t such a biggie to me.

Lets bear in mind that No Ronda = No Women in the UFC.

Rondas lack of graciousness is the reason I’m not a fan of hers. I respect her work ethic and talent though which she has in bucket loads.

Also this whole thing with her going after Mayweather because of his domestic violence but she wasn’t shy about writing in her book how she did the same thing to her ex boyfriend (abit of context here.. the ex was a creep though – but, no excuse for it). Then her current partner Travis Browne is accused of domestic violence as well. Makes for a complicated situation that could be seen as quite hypocritical.

The filming got pushed back.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the movie falls through.

Roadhouse starring the Baddest Chick on the Planet has a good ring to it.

Roadhouse starring the 2nd Baddest Check who got dominated…not so much..

Conor wants to fight 4 times a year.

Logic would assume that if he win against RDA he would have 2 fights at FW & LW. I think strangely this would be easier than fighting 3 times at FW.

Conor would structure it so that he each fight he had would be at the different weight class.

So all things going according to plan I think Conor’s schedule would look like this :

Jan – FW, Mar – LW, Jun – FW, Sep – LW

Word is at the weigh ins for his fight against Aldo, Conor was in alot of pain backstage but he put on a show for the crowd.

Alternating between weight classes would be much easier on the body for Conor and probably lengthen his career..unless he gets KO’d..

McGregor has said many times that he wants to be as active as possible, make as much money as he can then ‘bounce’.

Word is he and Dana don’t see eye to eye on how Conor wants to pick his fights. With Conor being the most powerful man in MMA right now I think Conor will get his way and be able to pick his fights. He’s worth too much money to the UFC to not be active and everyone at the table knows it.

So with that in mind fighting Aldo again doesn’t quite fit that bill right now.

All things going well (Cowboy beats RDA) I think McGregor is thinking more in terms of :

1. Cowboy
2. Edgar
3. Pettis
4. Aldo
5. Fergusson
6. Mendes/Faber
7. RDA

Thats about 2 years worth of fights if Conor can stay healthy and the chips fall in place.

If he gets through that then maybe Conor will make good on his statement and bounce..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wvIHk_shAg

Cyborg ? She’s got to be able to make 135 first.

And that ain’t happening any time soon..

UFC is covering all bases by making sure Edgar, Mendes & Faber are in fighting condition in case Aldo pulls out..

Hi Justin,

I can sympathise with the fighters. Some used to get plenty of cash based on their own personal brand and now they are lumped in all together and ‘sorted’ based solely on their tenure with the UFC.

However I understand what the UFC is trying to do and I think in the long term it will benefit the sport.

In terms of the Reebok deal I don’t think the fighters are operating in a free sponsorship market to begin with.

The fighters were promoting their sponsors in a market that the UFC created. The UFC pays all the bills with production, rent etc so you can’t just come from the side and bring promote your sponsor. You need to go through the people who created the platform that the sponsors are advertising on.

That would be like NFL or NBA players wearing their own team uniform with their personal sponsors on it.

As I understand it the UFC doesn’t stop any fighter getting their own sponsors outside of the promotion. The fighters just can’t promote them in UFC related events.

From what I hear the sponsorship is good if you’re new to the UFC but not so good if you’re already an established ‘brand’. So the UFC spreading the money across the board so that all fighters get something.

Getting rid of the banners before that the fighters used to roll out during the introductions plus ‘normalising’ the apparel will give the UFC a professional look like the major leagues.

The issues with the execution are just teething problems in my opinion which will be worked out.

If the UFC is trying take the sport mainstream I think this strategy is a step in the right direction.

Half a Dozen Sucker Punches ?.. Please watch the video. Holly threw 3 punches after the head kick and only 2 landed,..but I get your point and disagree with it.

In the head trauma space nothing compares to boxing/kick boxing

In MMA a flash KO and the fight is basically stopped because the follow up punches end it right there.

In boxing a fighter can be knocked down multiple times, ref gives them the 8 count then they bravely continue and they receive more punishment.

About 10 people die each year due to injuries caused by Boxing. http://bit.ly/1WVthM9

MMA is a young sport so since 93′ – ’13 about 20 years there has been 8 deaths. http://bit.ly/1H4lk05

As the ole’ saying goes “Boxing is hard on the head, MMA is hard on the joints”

NB

I agree with your sentiments.

On the handling error for SBW if thats the pass that Retallick delivered in the replay it looked like Folau got a hand on it after it was passed. Does that still count as an error ?

Not quite like that Ra,

You’ll be surprised how considerate Kent is on everyone in the book. Some sad stories in there as well and I thought it was nice of Kent to give someone like Solomon Haumono some ‘air time’.

It’s a great read Lano. Took me about 5 hours to read so it’s easy to finish over a weekend..

I see your point OB, and that can be true in some circumstances however in this one (regarding the walkout) I’m not sure it is.

If we really strip everything back the only thing that puts a question on SBW’s integrity is walking out on the Bullldogs.

The one year deals, code hoping etc has no ‘moral’ expense really.

On the walkout issue the events that lead to it have ‘names’ to each story. The person who best puts the whole thing into perspective is Willie Tonga. Tonga has no need to go ‘off the record’. As pointed out in the book he is that close to SBW that their friendship is past that point where he feels that he needs to ‘cover’ for SBW and can speak freely without fear of what they (Reni Matua, Willie Tonga and SBW) really thought and felt about things at that particular time.

As I mentioned in the article Kent presents a surprisingly balanced book. There are plenty of places where he could have stuck the boot into SBW & Mundine (as plenty of people have) but he didn’t. On issues he presents both sides. He writes why SBW was upset at certain things which is not in doubt as SBW has said been quoted on the issue. He then presents the Bulldogs side as well.

I would buy an ‘authorised’ biography as well as it would tell the things from SBW perspective but it wouldn’t be as good IMO as almost all of his views on things are already know. Why he walked out, why he was upset at the AB’s during the 2011 RWC etc.

I’d be very interested to know why he stayed with the NRL in 2014 and what the REAL money numbers were although. I doubt we will see any mention of money in his book. He had never spoken about it since he left the Bulldogs and it doesn’t seem to be something that he would do after he hangs up the boots. It’s not the done thing in his circle of peers.

Then again with SBW you never know..

Thats a fair call OB and Kent has stressed this many times.

However much of the input is from the people that were involved and have no benefit in making up stories. Personally I would lend more credence to this book than an ‘authorised’ one where Camp SBW can rewrite history if they wanted (especially during his walkout).

I’m a huge fan and supporter of SBW, however like us he’s not perfect and makes mistakes. That just makes him human. I have a new appreciation of the things that SBW was going through before he walked out. Not that it excuses what he did. It just sheds a new light on that period of his career.

HIs league exploits speak for themselves.

As for his Union career, he hasn’t been as dominant as he was in league. However when he left the All Blacks he was the first choice 12. It is true that Nonu was ahead of him during the 2011 RWC but in 2012 SBW finished ahead of him.

Right now Nonu is ahead of SBW however we need to remember that SBW has hardly played any rugby this year.

He probably has left his run alittle late but who knows what the next few months will bring ?

I personally don’t think there are any other 12’s out there that bring more to the table than SBW. The only 2 I can think of right now are Nonu & Damian de Allende.

There is still plenty of rugby to be played before we can really see how SBW went in his second stint at Union..

Hi Guys,

If you’re basing your judgement of SBW on the interview he gave Danny Weidler after he gave out then you’re missing alot of the story. That was done when emotion was high and things were crazy.

The best interviews that SBW gives are to non sports programs. This interview was given in Jun 2009 when SBW came back for the Barbarian game.

http://www.abc.net.au/sundayprofile/stories/2595580.htm

It’s really good because Monica Attard doesn’t go easy on him like some other journos do.

Then this is another one he gave in 2013.

They are 4 years apart yet SBW still seems like the same person.

I don’t really want to reveal all the good bits in Sonny Ball but his walkout was not just about money (even though that was a big factor). The book details all the little sub plots that combined that eventually led to him walking out.

You’ll also see that SBW was far from thinking he was gods gift. The way he conducted himself in the Bulldog Jersey Flegg plus his transition to being a superstar you find little anecdotes that are far from the publics perception of him.

And this is from an author who is no fan of the man. Paul Kent has never been a fan of SBW’s methods but even he acknowledges that SBW is nowhere as up him himself as people think.

Also despite what most think there was never any ‘crafting of the brand’ from SBW. They never bothered to go that path.

Thanks KK

I first thought the title was a play on ‘Money Ball’ however Paul Kent has said the reason for the title, as you will see, is that is is not so much a play on Money Ball, although that attracted the publishers, but also the fact that if you go back through the history of the game this kind of talk occasionally popped up. For example, when Warren Ryan coached the Bulldogs in the 1980s they called the style “Wazza Ball”. So Kent is calling SBW’s way of getting the best deal for himself etc ‘Sonny Ball’.

I have a slightly different take on players writing books themselves as I believe they would present any controversies in a very biased way.

To Paul Kent’s credit every chance he has gotten to speak about the book he has always said that this is his version on the story. He tried to get SBW’s side but he did not respond. The conversation the Paul Kent has with Khoder Nasser at the end in is very interesting and one of my favourite parts not so much for the actual content but because of the history between Nasser & Kent.

And thats why I think this book is a great read. The author is respectful of his subject and everyone (even the ones he has a strained history with) in it but is not a clear fanboy that he will lightly gloss over the controversies. I also really enjoy his style of writing.

She’s no way near Mike Tyson.

Don’t get me wrong, she is very very dominant in that division. The only one that looks like they can give her a run for her money is Cyborg. And I would take Cyborg over Ronda. Cyborg truly fights like a man (and in this context that is a compliment and yes, I do get the irony)

Comparing her to Tyson is crazy. Boxing is generations old. There were so many fighters old & new to truly say that Tyson was terrifying. Mainstream (if it even is mainstream) Women’s MMA is still very very young. There is not enough women competing in MMA to make that comparison. Ronda is the best of a small bunch where as Tyson (in his prime) was the best of a huge bunch.

I see what you mean Dave,

You’re not really talking about the actual money that is paid. I gather you mean a fighters basic identity is given up once they sign up with the UFC.

This is similar to the drama that ATT had when Cain, Fitch etc were all banned/cut because ATT had issues their fighters images/names in the UFC video game. I remember Dana was like “F**k ATT, we want to build something big and they are just keep fighting us”. Thankfully for the fans and ATT everything was sorted out…or was it ?. Tim Sylvia also had issues with this as well when he got cut/left. I remember him saying something like the UFC wants his identity for the games for free and that if he were a rookie fighter he may have considered it but he was a UFC Vet and former HW Champ and that he deserves more respect than that.

This particular issue I think is where we share the same view. However I still think the UFC will ‘win’ this in the courts (not morally but because they will have better lawyers) but I think they will have to yield on the ‘in perpetuity’ point.

Here’s my take on this point :

Fighters : We should be able to make money out of our personality/looks/IP. The UFC needs to pay us for this (like Football/NBA/Rugby Union players).

UFC : Without our platform and strong brand, UFC Fighters would be nobodies and no one would care about them. Sponsors only care about them because they become famous on the UFC platform. We spent alot of effort and money creating the platform for these fighter to shine on so we should control all the conditions that come from it.

I think this will be the UFC’s default position for every fighter and the more famous (Lesnar/CM Punk) the fighter the more leverage they would have to change the conditions.

MMA definitely needs a Fighters Union but I can’t see this happening anytime soon. The Union will need the big names to support it but I can’t see them willing to sacrifice their UFC career’s so that future Fighters get a better deal..

Thanks David,

I think the lawsuit will be THE biggest story in MMA for some time. It will have the biggest impact on how the UFC does it’s business which in turn will dramatically shape how Fighter contracts are structured.

Personally I’m sort of torn between the Fighters and the UFC.

In a very small way I know how the fighters feel. I used to be an exclusive contractor (had equipment, staff and we couldn’t work for anyone else) for many years for a global company so I know first hand how this set up works and how it’s all business. I also know what it feels like to be pushed out after 10 years of service. I made the mistake of being honest and forthright with my future plans and gave them 8 months notice so as not to disrupt the company too much and found myself out within a month. Wasn’t a good time.

The thing for me is the UFC has bought MMA to the mainstream and has made plenty of cash in that time. They have also burned plenty of cash as well. They have spent plenty of cash lobbying to open up cities, states and even countries to UFC events. Smaller promotions can and will ride off the back of the UFC’s work in this area when they eventually are big enough to do shows in those locations.

New York and Melbourne are good examples of the effort that the UFC is putting in to try and open them up. Despite the amount of resources the UFC has put into New York they still haven’t been successful. I think they eventually will be successful and when they are Bellator and everyone else will walk right in as well. Melbourne looks really exciting and I believe it will be huge but it could be like the UK when despite bumper crowds and massive buzz the UFC was losing money on those events (that was a couple years ago, not sure bout now)

After buying the UFC, Dana White & the Ferttitta Brothers have built it into a global superpower. It took alot of cash, hard word and luck. They’ve created a fighting platform for the sport. Fighters can perform on that platform but they have to play by the UFC rules.

Unfortunately for the fighters there isn’t another promotion that can compete with the UFC so they basically have a monopoly. I know the UFC got past a monopoly case technically but the UFC is a monopoly IMO. And despite popular thought monopolies are not illegal.

While I sympathise with the fighters I have an issue with them trying to legally force the UFC to pay them more. The Fighters will point to the huge numbers that the UFC makes and say that they should get a bigger share and that the UFC restricts their earning potential, and I can understand that point of view however I don’t agree with it.

The UFC restricts the fighters earning potential within the UFC world. Just like a company would restrict our earning potential within their world. I can’t go and work for and promote another competitor of my employer. I would have my employment rightfully terminated. If its allowed in my contract then thats a different story.

Almost every MMA fighter wants to fight in the UFC. Just like every league player wants to play in the NRL. However if you can’t or don’t like to fight/play in the UFC/NRL you can go and fight for Bellator, Titan, One FC or play in the UK Super League. There is nothing stopping a fighter or player from doing that.

That is why I don’t think the ‘restricting earning potential’ will hold any water. The UFC sets a fighters earnings within their organisation if a fighter doesn’t like it they can go to another promotion.

Ironically I think the presence of Bellator and the other promotions will help the UFC in this case because it will show that fighters will be able to earn a wage within their field (MMA) for companies other than the UFC.

Will be interesting to see how it pans out..

In theory a Union sounds good however I wonder if it will be in reality.

The UFC own the game so fighters hoping to start a Union will have to hope that the higher paid fighters of today are willing to risk their own careers so that other fighters later on will have it better..maybe a couple will but I can’t enough fighters taking that risk and I understand their position..

Thin cards ?

The way the fighters train should be addressed with the amount of injuries the PPV’s have had this year..