Interesting. This makes me wonder if that exclusivity would also prevent those athletes from competing in ADCC. That would be extremely disappointing.
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I'm sure there has to be more to this story, for these two reasons:
- What could Metamoris possibly offer Mafra? He's just building some momentum as a competitor and needs maximum exposure. A little bit of money now wouldn't be worth it to sideline himself from a live streaming event.
- It makes no business sense. Metamoris and EBI aren't competitors at this point; they occur months apart. The only conceivable effect that the two promotions could have on each other is to increase total viewership. In terms of "market share", they probably have nearly the same audience, and exciting events will enlarge the total market size.
I'm guessing that there are some interpersonal conflicts of some unknown kind among Ralek, Eddie, and Mafra.
It's dumb fucking business to try to monopolize the market when it's just you and one other show in town. Ralek being scared of competition is inevitably what is going to staunch the overall growth of the Metamoris product. He offers good money and probably a lot more than other independent grappling shows but it's not like Metamoris is the UFC or WWE of grappling, least not yet. Just like MMA and Pro wrestling there are independent promotions where talent can go and compete and gain exposure and carve out their livelihoods, but the difference with those companies (WWE/UFC) is that they can afford and provide enough exposure for their talent for them to remain exclusive. Competition helped those companies become something far greater than what they were. WWE needed WE just like the UFC needed Pride, why? Because it provided overall exposure for the product and brought in new fans. Moral of the story: Ralek is a dipshit.
*wcw
The true moral of the story is Metamoris and EBI right now need Each other. Ralek pulling talent shows that he acknowledges that he knows their is something better about the EBI format than Metamoris. Loyalty is a most admirable quality and Garry showed it in spades.
I wouldn't go as far as saying it's "dumb" business. Trying to corner the market on talent is conceivably what a company that wants to be the premier grappling organization would do. I'm not so sure it's necessary, but it basically guarantees guys like Kron or any other guy that signed an exclusive offer that people would have to watch metamoris to see them go at it. Let's be clear; if anything it's dumb business on the athletes part to sign an exclusivity agreement, unless they were getting PAID. It's a tough call because professional jiu jitsu is still in it's infancy. There just isn't that much money out there today for athletes to be 100% autonomous. Mafra probably got scared at the prospect of getting burned later and jumped at Raleks offer, which I'd have to believe would be pennies on the dollar compared to what he could make in the long run. Is it smart business on Raleks part? Yes, if not a bit unnecessary. As far as the douchery factor, let's just hope that EBI takes off to such a level that any fool that signed exclusive looks back and sees what coulda been.
The Underground has your back Eddie! I think EBI gained even more fans due to this move by Metamoris!
http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/thre...ntracts/?pc=65
When listening to this story first hand at first it was just a humorous story. The fact is that was douchbaggery at its finest.