Lyoto Machida explains why he asked for "Anderson Silva money"
Posted on July 15, 2011, 06:51 PM by Joey Santosus
“I wanted a guarantee to fight [Evans at UFC 133]. My manager, ‘Joinha’ [Jorge Guimaraes], called me and I said at first that I was excited to be in the lineup. But, after meeting with my team, we saw that it wouldn’t be a good idea, especially because Dana White wanted me to travel to the U.S. immediately to have my training camp there. Many of the members of my corner don’t have visas right now. Then, I said, ‘If you want me to fight, pay me as a champion. Pay me like you pay Anderson Silva.’… A man approaches you wanting to buy your house, but you don’t want to sell it. So then, you ask for a higher price. You want it? Then pay what I’m asking. I can’t put my career at risk with a bad showing. I think I’d have more to lose than to win in that fight. I have a name in the company. I don’t fight without being prepared, even when I lose. I can’t step in and take the chance of having a bad fight. Today, you have to be extremely prepared… Joinha called me, saying they’ve offered me the fight, and then called back later saying it wouldn’t be necessary anymore because Phil Davis got cleared to fight. Then, I traveled to the beach with my family and the negotiations reopened… If I’m requested [to fight] in a different way from now on, OK. It’s not like I can’t train in Belem, but ‘pack your stuff and go to the U.S.,’ that takes money and time. It’s a professional relationship. Everything is business and people need to split things. I hope the UFC won’t harm me. It’s gotta be 100-percent with me and them. I want to respect the promotion, my fans and myself. That was my main cause for turning down that fight.” - Sherdog.com
Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida explained why he was forced to turn down the offer to fight Rashad Evans in the main event of UFC 133 on August 6th. Machida came under heavy fire from the UFC President Dana White, who expressed his disappointment with the Brazilian karateka during last Thursday's media call. Machida nocked out the UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture in his last bout (UFC 129), but will now have to find out the identity of his next opponent, probably the winner of Little Nog - Rich Franklin showdown at UFC 133.
Photo: Francis Specker
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Comments
Sad thing is Lyoto asked to be payed for the interview like they would Anderson.
titos purse is bigger than silvas purse i cant seem to see the logic behind this
maybe he forgot to say brocks purse
He only posted it three minutes ago. Your perception of time is almost worse than ability to socialise. Next time just say hi, or pay attention to me, whatever you're real intentions were.
Lyoto's point make sense about travelling but if he was concerned about not having enough time to prepare for Rashad then he could've just turned down the fight without asking for more money, or he could've just asked Dana to cover those expenses. Dana probably shouldn't be as angry about this as he seems but Lyoto probably could have handled in better.
And just being completely honest, people who write "first" are making more useful posts than that one.
now that's funny!....
i'm a sinner
i actually have sinner tattooed on my back
This is a martial arts website and your profile pick is a neo-nazi looking mofu with a gun?! Not what this site is about...
You sir are a total dipshi+.
First of all Neo nazi's are shaved bald.
Second Neo-nazi's are white, I'm of Filipino decent.
Third I'm clearly holding a toy Tommy gun and was photoshopped all in good fun.
Can I be your friend?
i mean the guy deserves Anderson Silva's money, it's a big surprise that he's not making that kind of money yet, he is one of the greatest fighter the ufc has, it's a shame. Anderson is making a lot of money in the ufc, but compare to a boxer, Anderson Silva is getting cheat out of his money, the ufc have to understand the ufc fighters works and trains hard, before a fight, some times they work so hard, they hurt themselves, and that's how you pay them, by giving low money, and i am not mad the fact that he's asking for Anderson Silva's type of money, the guy is not going to be a fighter for the rest of his life
dont get me wrong i respect the hard work that fighters put in but a lot of people work much harder at far more dangerous jobs and get paid far less. 500k( if you think their base salary come even close to reflecting their actual incomes your crazy) for three months of work is nothing to cry about. also i would like to add 30 million dollar fights have pretty much ruined boxing i would hate to see it do the same to mma
Sorry but he does not deserve AS money. He has not come nearly as close to AS achievements to get his money. He is a great fighter and I respect him, but he has not earned anything at the AS level.
Can we really put a price on these things? I mean Brock Lesnar doesn't deserve what he makes either but I don't mind if he makes a good living. Dana chooses who gets what wether they deserve it or not. How many times have we seen the winner of a fight earn 1/5th of the opponent they defeat. Carwin vs Brock was 80000.00 if carwin won and 40000.00 if he lost while Brock was 400000.00 win, lose or draw. Dana feels he is the only person with the right to bargain or else he gets mad. All Dana has to do is deny the money or pay it and respect that he has Brock who makes more than AS and contributed about 1/100th the pleasure to MMA or relative fighting value.
Rashad didn't smash Tito the first time they fought. In fact, he didn't even win. Rashad and a lot of other people are acting like he is going to walk through Tito, but it isn't going to be an easy fight by any means. Rashad will probably win by keeping the fight standing and using his speed advantage, but there will be no "smashing."
If it weren't for the point deduction for grabbing the fence Tito would have beat Rashad instead of it ending in a draw.
All of Ortiz's losses were close,but it was a convenient excuse for the haters to mouth off.
Rashad may win the fight but it won't be easy.
Ortiz by decision.
Losses to Couture, Machida and Liddell were not close...
I was referring to his recent losing streak. Couture and Liddell were before that and he definitely got beat decisively in those fights. He gave Machida a good fight and almost submitted him once. I think at that point in time he was the only UFC fighter to go the distance with Machida.
I don't think he has the stand up skills to ever be champ again, but he is still a tough fight for anyone at lhw.
The joke etiquette BUT also lacked passion, therefore he deserved a "weak".
Well f*ckin eh....I can't believe Dana White would try to spin the story to make Machida look bad.
er... Dana's a saint, don't you watch his interviews?
get sarcasm
I'm not trying to take a stance, because both sides have a legit argument. But, it does seem like people are forgetting that Dana explained the situation and stated that Machida had accepted the fight nearly a week before coming out with the whole "Anderson Silva money" stuff. He waited until the final moment when he was approached to sign the bout agreement and then dropped the more money bomb. To be honest, it almost sounds like he purposely waited until closer to the fight in hopes of putting the UFC in a position where they would have no one else to turn to and therefore have to pay the money.... That is IF that is really how things transpired.
Or it could be some of what happened was lost in translation. personally I think DW overreacted in this instance, and even if a request wasmade at the 11th hour, it was not without valid reason and DW should be smarter by now. After all he has been in this from the start.
People really forget what you just mention. All they see is big bad DW being a tyrant again.
Lyoto asked for more cheddar but urine don't come cheap! =0
Machida is right to negotiate more money. The UFC is known to squeeze their fighters. Salaries are also not solely based on the skills of the fighter. They are based on the marketability of the fighters as well. The more pay per views they can sell, the more the fighter earns. Tito was on a 5 year losing streak, but still earned 450k per fight. AS and LM achieved much more in the same period and have to be content with a lot less. Money talks and BS walks..
who cares why he asked for more money
Exactly. He didn't take roids, he didnt poke an eye, he didn't put grease on his skin he asked for more money before signing. Sounds like we have either a bunch of kids here or people living with their parents.
He asked for more money to fight. That's absolutely normal and perfectly justified. Just like Dana can say no.
He didnt back out of a contract it's called negotiation and anyone who does any kind of business knows this is normal. Dana turned into a princess and said f no. When he should have jus said no but I can give you this and if you win this. The guy is the biggest drama queen in business and has a god complex.
Bahahaha! What a joke! This dude is one of the most overrated fighters in all of MMA! Not to mention that he is a freaking crybaby! Give him the boot if he doesn't want to fight when called upon!
Asking for more money is fine... nothing wrong with wanting more pay. But this guy didn't do much as a champion anyways so if he wants more money he needs to take his ass to any fight that is offered until he gets the belt back... However unlikely it may be!