MMA-UFC Reebok deal

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phantom13 said:
Like i said before if Bones was still fighting and still sponsored by Nike this would have been very interesting.
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JDS and Anderson Silva are Nike's "other" big MMA athletes. Will be interested to see what happens when their next fights come around.
 
BradWCE said:
Todd Duffee getting paid some good money to Main Event a UFC event. :rolleyes:
$12,000 to show + $2,500 Reebok sponsorship = $14,500
I forgot about the near-mythical locker room bonus. I'm sure it's a 6 figure amount. I'm sure.
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Fighters in the UFC do get a base contract with an annual salary, too, right?
 
its really hard to get going, and they are sub contractors not employee's there is so much wrong with alot of it, id like to say im not going to watch it in protest but I will. The only way around it if fighters start to move, but we have also seen how much a pain in the ass that can be too. Bellator is the only ones reallly that could put up a fight but the UFC has the stigma of being the best. its a hard nut to crack but so much support for Stitch right now
 

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Damon_3388 said:
JDS and Anderson Silva are Nike's "other" big MMA athletes. Will be interested to see what happens when their next fights come around.
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JDS says he is dropping alot of money. Dont get me wrong there is still other way to cash in they need to get smarter
 
Damon_3388 said:
Fighters in the UFC do get a base contract with an annual salary, too, right?
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No, the contracts they sign are how much they'll make per fight. They sign a 3 fight contract and they're locked in to get that much in their next 3 fights, whether it takes 1 year or 3 years. The only time the UFC contractually have to pay them is when they fight.
 
BradWCE said:
No, the contracts they sign are how much they'll make per fight. They sign a 3 fight contract and they're locked in to get that much in their next 3 fights, whether it takes 1 year or 3 years. The only time the UFC contractually have to pay them is when they fight.
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I was under the impression that they have a base salary, and the contract is for a particular period or number of fights, and the earnings for the fight come on top of that, similar to (for example) a cricket player having a Cricket Australia contract, and then getting a match fee for playing a Test or ODI.

If what you say is correct though, and "central contracts" in a sense don't exist, it kind of makes you wonder how fighters can actually afford to pull out of fights, if so much of their income is tied to actually getting in the cage on the night.
 
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Damon_3388 said:
I was under the impression that they have a base salary, and the contract is for a particular period or number of fights, and the earnings for the fight come on top of that, similar to (for example) a cricket player having a Cricket Australia contract, and then getting a match fee for playing a Test or ODI.

If what you say is correct though, and "central contracts" in a sense don't exist, it kind of makes you wonder how fighters can actually afford to pull out of fights, if so much of their income is tied to actually getting in the cage on the night.
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I wish that was the case lower tier and especially lighter fighter get sweet f all. even Rory only got 65K for that war.
 
MMAPride Scott said:
I wish that was the case lower tier and especially lighter fighter get sweet f all. even Rory only got 65K for that war.
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To be fair, I think most of us would take $65K for 12 weeks' work. A lot of us live on 2/3rds of that annually, and have to go to regular jobs every day to make that money. If I could earn that much each year and only have to fight once to do it, and spend the rest of my time going to the gym and doing whatever, that'd be a dream life for me.

With what the UFC as a company would be earning though, it does stand to reason that the fighters would be making more annually.

One idea may be for the company to trim some lower-level talent, and/or cut some of the events? Make the UFC a more exclusive "pinnacle" of the sport. There seems to be an event every week or every other week now, and I watch all of them, as I love the sport, but I'll be damned if I've even heard of the fighters on the Fight Pass Prelims most of the time. Sure, that'd cut out the exposure and earning potential for the lower level guys, but from a product and fan standpoint, would it really make that much of a difference?

Think of it this way - if you trim back all 10 divisions to the champion plus a top 15 only, that's still 160 fighters on the roster. If they all fight three times per year (as they reasonably should and could, if healthy), that's potentially 240 fights to be had, per year. If you have, say, 10 fights per card (one fight for each division), then you can have 24 events per year, which is still one every two-three weeks. Pay all the fighters a base annual wage or "retainer" of, say, $50-$60K each (it's "only" like $8-$10 million a year total, roughly the equivalent of total player payments for one AFL club), and then have fight payments and bonuses on top of that, and you're on your way to a system that pleases everyone - fighters get enough money, promoters still get to make money and hold enough events, and fans get to see the best of the best often enough but also infrequently enough that it doesn't dilute interest and excitement.
 
Damon_3388 said:
To be fair, I think most of us would take $65K for 12 weeks' work. A lot of us live on 2/3rds of that annually, and have to go to regular jobs every day to make that money. If I could earn that much each year and only have to fight once to do it, and spend the rest of my time going to the gym and doing whatever, that'd be a dream life for me.

With what the UFC as a company would be earning though, it does stand to reason that the fighters would be making more annually.

One idea may be for the company to trim some lower-level talent, and/or cut some of the events? Make the UFC a more exclusive "pinnacle" of the sport. There seems to be an event every week or every other week now, and I watch all of them, as I love the sport, but I'll be damned if I've even heard of the fighters on the Fight Pass Prelims most of the time. Sure, that'd cut out the exposure and earning potential for the lower level guys, but from a product and fan standpoint, would it really make that much of a difference?

Think of it this way - if you trim back all 10 divisions to the champion plus a top 15 only, that's still 160 fighters on the roster. If they all fight three times per year (as they reasonably should and could, if healthy), that's potentially 240 fights to be had, per year. If you have, say, 10 fights per card (one fight for each division), then you can have 24 events per year, which is still one every two-three weeks. Pay all the fighters a base annual wage or "retainer" of, say, $50-$60K each (it's "only" like $8-$10 million a year total, roughly the equivalent of total player payments for one AFL club), and then have fight payments and bonuses on top of that, and you're on your way to a system that pleases everyone - fighters get enough money, promoters still get to make money and hold enough events, and fans get to see the best of the best often enough but also infrequently enough that it doesn't dilute interest and excitement.
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Its not the fight its the beating he took I dont think many would of gone through that for that amount of money. they cant trim it down now its gone global they need shows everywhere. its just not going to happen
 
Damon_3388 said:
To be fair, I think most of us would take $65K for 12 weeks' work. A lot of us live on 2/3rds of that annually, and have to go to regular jobs every day to make that money. If I could earn that much each year and only have to fight once to do it, and spend the rest of my time going to the gym and doing whatever, that'd be a dream life for me.
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MacDonald/Lawler was the type of fight that probably takes years off your life. $65,000 isn't enough for that (with the FOTN bonus he actually got $115,000, which is still not great). You can compare it to regular jobs and say others don't get as much as the fighters and they have to work every day, but I don't think that says much.

You can also compare regular jobs to children, or even adults, having to work in atrocious conditions and getting paid very little in extremely poor regions of the globe. Large corporations make billions of dollars selling the products produced by these extremely poor people. What we consider normal jobs would be a dream life for them, but again I don't think that says much.

It's not really 12 weeks of work either. MacDonald started fighting when he was 16 and would have been earning very little the first 4 years when he was fighting at the regional level. All the work he's put in has got him to this position and he has to work hard to keep himself in far better physical condition outside of those 12 weeks than most of us with regular jobs.

There's not much stopping you from attempting to have your dream life. Basically anyone can be an MMA fighter as there's very few barriers in place to stop someone from participating in the sport. You've just got to work your way up, making stuff all early on and eventually if you're good enough you'll make the big bucks.
 
12 weeks of work.. Followed by a 6 month medical suspension and all the associated life shortening side effects of a virtual car crash. His concussion must be legendary - he probably wakes up multiple times a night disorientated and writhing in pain.
 
Fighters also pay for dieticians, physios, massage therpaists and in some cases sparring partners, gym fees, equipment etc out of their own pocket too. TJ mentioned in the last embedded that he buys his own hand tape.

Long story short their money doesnt go far, the middle and lower end guys make f**k all after you take out all the overheads.
 
Lets just get back to the point that it looks s**t and the intro doesnt get you hyped like the last one.

I see stitch the cutman has been fired for talking about reebok...even the cutmen have sponsors and are now losing out on coin.

Its like the UFC just jumped in bed with the first offer and are now paying for it. The UFC has to do something quick because if Bellator continue to grow like they are, fighters will go where the coin is and it clearly isnt with Dana and co.
 

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phantom13 said:
Fighters also pay for dieticians, physios, massage therpaists and in some cases sparring partners, gym fees, equipment etc out of their own pocket too. TJ mentioned in the last embedded that he buys his own hand tape.

Long story short their money doesnt go far, the middle and lower end guys make f**k all after you take out all the overheads.
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That's why I said if they cut back the number of fighters on the roster (is there any real need to have more than a champion plus a top 15 for each division?), then you can afford to pay the fighters a base wage/have a base contract, which will pay for those essentials and give the fighters some stability and grounding, and well as confirming that the UFC is truly the pinnacle of MMA with the best of the best fighters in the world.
 
Damon_3388 said:
That's why I said if they cut back the number of fighters on the roster (is there any real need to have more than a champion plus a top 15 for each division?), then you can afford to pay the fighters a base wage/have a base contract, which will pay for those essentials and give the fighters some stability and grounding, and well as confirming that the UFC is truly the pinnacle of MMA with the best of the best fighters in the world.
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Not a bad thought but you need a bit of depth and also be able to groom younger fighters.
 
phantom13 said:
Not a bad thought but you need a bit of depth and also be able to groom younger fighters.
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This is also how they turn prospects into a marketable brand they can promote/cash in on.

You see equally talented fighters get a completely different run due to perceived marketability by the UFC. Perhaps a little tin foil hat, but it happens too often to ignore.
 
MMAPride Scott said:
Funny how after we just have a great title fight my fb feed if loaded with articles of Dana slamming stitch. Not bad for just a cut man. Dana won't be there forever


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That was a TERRIBLE look for Dana, how as the President of the UFC has no one ever trained him when to shut up or just give a non committal cliched answer.
 
benchwarmer5 said:
Answer is in the the question.......he his President
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I suspect you are being facetious here but Presidents are supposed to be articulate and measured (all the things Dana is not).

In this instance a simple non committal response "Stitch is a good cutman and i wish him all the best with his future endeavors, we felt at this time it was appropriate for him to move on blah, blah, blah".
 
MMAPride Scott said:
We all seen things about Dana but nothing has legs like this, they will never get rid of him but if rumours be true zuffas days are closer to the end than most think


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what rumours?
 
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