[astroglide]

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Even if the top rugby/mma guys could be top nfl/boxing guys, no one is going to pay them top dollar right away. They'd have to spend a lot of time proving themselves first at a much reduced income.

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as a 'regular' player, of course they're going to get backed off if they haven't developed the skills yet. i disagree about not getting paid well though, i'm sure an exhibition/ppv match could generate money if it were priced/marketed well. i think you'd have to have some sort of "player allegiance" thing to get either association to pick it up, with mma being much more likely. somebody like wec would probably be willing to do it.

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These athletes have a limited amount of time at the top of their profession and it's likely the risk of being a flop isn't worth the years they may have to spend to equal or exceed their previous earnings.

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lots of mma fighters have full-time jobs. many of them complain about not having discipline in their training when they don't have a fight scheduled. there are often large gaps between fights for recovery and hype. i don't think it would be an impossible mission to have them do a lot of boxing training during their downtime. it's not as if it would be wasted time for them either.