Earlier this year, there were rumours of former WWE star Ryback having negotiations with Bellator MMA for a fight. These talks, however, did not go anywhere and people have been speculating on what could have gone wrong when both the parties had publicly shown interest in working together.
Ryback is a 6-foot-3, 290-pound muscular heavyweight and has been a baseball player at junior college level in his early days. This had led many to believe that he would have been a perfect fit for the world of MMA.
During his interview with Submission Radio, Bellator President Scott Coker was asked about Bellator’s negotiations with the 'Big Guy'. Replying to the question, the Bellator official opened up about the possible reason their talks did not reach a conclusion.
Scott accepted that they had a talk but said that they were not able to put a deal together, he stated:
"Yeah, we talked to him and we just couldn't put the deal together. So if he wanted to come back and his mind... It is easier for him to stay in some type of wrestling and be an entertainer"
When asked about what exactly went wrong, the Bellator President said that he is not exactly sure as he was not the one who talked to the former Intercontinental Champion. But he suggested that the financial negotiations may have been the breaking point of their conversation:
"I'm not exactly sure because they were talking to Rich (Chou), our matchmaker, but I think it was just basically on what the economics were.
Sometimes the fighter or an athlete feels they're valued a certain price, and sometimes we don't feel that way."
Since his WWE departure, Ryback has reportedly been charging as high as $5000 per appearance on the independent circuit which is considered to be on the higher end of the payment scale for an independent wrestler.
Also read: WWE/UFC News: CM Punk’s next UFC fight in 4 to 5 months
With the fact that CM Punk earned a total of $500,000 from his UFC debut despite ending up on the losing side, we can assume that the former Nexus member would have also demanded a high amount upon his MMA debut.
So while we don't really know the reason behind Ryback not signing with Bellator, Coker's suggestion that they were not able to agree on the money seems very plausible.
You can watch the full interview of Scott Coker below:
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