Under den förra veckan meddelade UFC att man sparkar sin fjäderviktstalang Yair Rodriguez, som omedelbart blir av med sitt kontrakt. Anledningen ska enligt UFC-presidenten Dana White vara att Rodriguez vägrat möta Zabit Magomedsharipov, efter att först ha tackat nej till en fight mot Ricardo Lamas.
”Finns en gammal regel”
Många motsatte sig UFC:s agerande, men enligt UFC-veteranen och numera Bellator-fightern Chael Sonnen hade Dana White och kompani inte något annat val än att avsluta Yairs kontrakt. Detta då det finns en gammal policy som säger att en fighter som tackar nej till två matcher i rad riskerar att få sitt kontrakt avbrutet.
Han förklarar:
”Now, this is the UFC policy. This is not a law of any kind, but this is a policy that is explained to all of the guys on the roster from the beginning. You will be called with an offer to fight. You can say no to the first fight, but you cannot say no to the second fight. So you play that however you want. You can say no once, you can’t say no twice. Former UFC matchmaker Joe Silva put that in place I don’t even know how long ago… a decade? A decade would be a fair guess by me, if not longer,” säger Chael Sonnen i en video på sin Youtubekanal.
“Your second opponent isn’t an offer, that’s who you’re fighting or you’re eligible for release,” fortsätter Sonnen. “Even though we haven’t seen it before, you’re now eligible for release.”
“Dana White has to do that. He has to make sure, maintaining the integrity of his company, that guys are fighting the right guys.
”Har varit ett problem”
“I’m sure — guessing — that this has been a little bit of a problem that’s going on in the back. Somebody has to be publicly be the guy that actually gets his termination papers to let everyone else know ‘hey that policy about you being able to turn one guy down is in place, and it’s going to be followed.’”
