How did promoter Novotný react to the million-dollar demands of RFA stars? You can’t ask for that kind of money if you can’t sell out a 2,000-seat arena

Ondřej Novotný was reacting to the recent press conference after the RFA 7 tournament, where the stars of the organization, Vasek Sivák and Tadeáš Růžička, demanded more than one million Czech crowns for their match.

Millions were flying at the RFA press conference

Before Christmas, the last RFA tournament of the year took place, with the organisation staging its first ever title duel. It featured Vasek Sivák, who clearly defeated Patrik Záderja on points.

The tournament also featured the young Tadeáš Růžička, who impressively stopped the Polish Makowski in the first round.

At the post-match press conference both fighters expressed their views on a possible clash and more or less agreed on one thing. Both will gladly accept the fight, but the promoters of the organization will have to empty their wallets.

Ruzicka responded by saying that he wants a payday of one million CZK for a fight with Sivak. Sivak said he would agree to the fight if the organization would throw in an extra half a million CZK.

Oktagon promoter Ondrej Novotny also responded to the RFA stars’ demands

The press conference once again stirred up discussions about the organization overpaying its fighters and the economy being rather in the red. The promoter of rival Oktagon Ondřej Novotný also commented on the press conference.

“I had a lot of fun seeing the various announcements, and with all due respect to Sivak, Ruzicka and whoever else was involved in the tournament,” Novotny said on MMA Flight Around the World. ” I really respect the fighters and I say they are my heroes, but if you want to do business, you have to have real numbers.”

“And this tournament showed again how unrealistic those numbers actually are. This tournament was held in a hall that has a little over two thousand in the set-up it was in and it wasn’t even close to selling out,” he recalled, saying that fans could see empty seats in the Royal Hall where the tournament was held.

Let everyone get what they deserve, but you have to deliver too!

“But again, I’m rooting for these guys the moment they are able to deliver what they want or what they want to pay for, and that’s a sold-out arena. But then if you can’t sell it out, you can’t ask for this money.

Because if you do the math, even a sold-out arena wouldn’t actually pay for the game, because the ticket would have to cost more than a thousand CZK on average, and if you subtract the taxes, the fee on Ticketportal, you’re going to send thirty percent of it down the drain,” he said.

“It’s fine if everyone wants money, I support it, let everyone get what they deserve, but you have to deliver too. And if you’re not able to sell out such a small hall, there’s a fault somewhere,” he added.

Source: MMA Around the World, RFA