Garry Tonon's official statement about Metamoris

[Logan Cook]

I'm blown away that he's only 23. 23!!!!!!!!!!! It's nuts that he's so good at such an early age, such a good head on his shoulders, and humble. I look forward to his MMA debut.

He is doing MMA? I didn't know that! I'd love to see what his striking is like!

[Craig Murray]

He is doing MMA? I didn't know that! I'd love to see what his striking is like!

well in the JRE he says his striking sucks right now. He made it sound like it might be awhile till we actually see him in a cage.

[Matt Thomas]

Response from Ralek:



Credit to Aiseop for keeping /r/bjj up to date, wouldn't have seen this otherwise.

[Craig Murray]

wow that's a really douchey response... Basically saying Tonon is an idiot and needs a "seasoned manager" to tell him that he's making a mistake. Oh, he's just training so hard he shouldn't have to worry about that stuff, just sign here and we'll take care of you.

What an asshole.

[Greg W]

That response tells me pretty clearly that they just wanted to keep him from EBI. EBI is not part of the "exclusive competition network" or as cool as IBJJF or ADCC.

[NotReady]

You need that seasoning when you got tons of broccoli.

[Matt Thomas]

I could understand having some exclusivity, you wouldn't want a grappler that you are paying 100k+ a year to get injured a few weeks out from a Metamoris, but having complete exclusiveness of a grappler isn't good for jiu jitsu.

[NotReady]

I could understand having some exclusivity, you wouldn't want a grappler that you are paying 100k+ a year to get injured a few weeks out from a Metamoris, but having complete exclusiveness of a grappler isn't good for jiu jitsu.

Well, it wasn't complete - it allowed for ADCC and IBJJF.

That said, I really wonder how they arrived at the 140K figure. Is that a salary, or some combination of sign on bonus, show money, win money, sub money, etc?

[VJ Bella]

That math makes zero sense to me. How the hell can he afford 140K for one athlete (an keep in mind he's signing multiple athletes) and only run 2 shows per year? Just using math if he had 10,000 PPV buys at 15 bucs a piece thats 150K right there and that doesn't include venue costs, production costs etc. Not to mention why...just why? Its not like EBI and Metamoris are on at the exact same day at the exact same time and its a race to get the best guys? From a business perspective I simply don't get it.

[Jack Hanley]

It seems like most people are guessing that the $140k figure far exceeds whatever the guaranteed money was. It could have even been calculated based on Tonon receiving points on the pay-per-views. I guess it's impossible for us to know what a realistic projection of his earnings would have been.