Approximately two months from now, Raphael Assuncao will be headlining UFC Fight Night 144 when he takes on Marlon Moraes. It is not the fight Assuncao necessarily wanted or believes he deserves after being on a four-fight winning streak, but he has made his peace with the situation.
Sadly, Assuncao believes that there is something else preventing him from getting a title shot than just the opponent that will stand across from him in February, and it is something that he has far less control over:
“There are some factors that shouldn’t be pivotal for them not to give me a title shot,” Assuncao told Combate. “A certain number of followers is an example. I don’t think that should define who deserves it, who will be the next challenger. I’m no Tiririca (a famous Brazilian comedian), let’s put it that way. I don’t have a ‘X’ number of followers, so I can’t warrant a title shot. That’s not cool. But it’s what the boss said, so let’s move on”
“I’m a pretty down-to-earth guy,” Assuncao continued. “My followers are people who follow me for real, I reply to them. You have two million followers, do you know who they are? You have no idea, sometimes it’s not even a legit follower, they can be bought, Unfortunately, that makes a difference when selling a fight.”
Do you agree with Raphael Assuncao? Do things like social media followers have too much influence on who receives title shots?
