Lyoto says he's making twice more $ with one single sponsor than he did in two UFC bouts with Rebook

[MMAart]

Which is why, say, Rory MacDonald went to Bellator, despite holding a win over the current WW champ in the UFC

How much does Dana give you per post here?

Dana probably gave him those 50% off Reebok coupon per post.

 

[MMAart]

Yeah bro, remember when all those 'weak league' Strikeforce and WEC fighters came over and just got dominated by the UFC guys?

Yeah, I remember that "bum" from Strikeforce HW tournament, what's his name... the chubby guy with the nickname "black Fedor." How is he doing in the UFC? Is he even top 10? <Lmaoo>

 

[MMAart]

So who is the sponsor then? You'd think he would plug them.

Can't believe a single sponsor would pay a guy over $40k for an appearance on show that often gets like 500k viewers only.

That's not how branding works. The company isn't looking for quick sales from the viewers to recuperate the money spent on one appearance. They want to expose the brand / logo to the viewers to make them associate those brands with recognizable athletes, so that after a while, the brand becomes one of the household names in sporting apparels, which would pay for itself down the road.

They do it for long-term gains.

 

[PapaBherd]

This deal was supposed to be good for fighters low on the food chain, fighters in the main event are theoretically getting paid enough, and they have proper sponsors that don't need the fighters modeling their products for cheap on the UFC platform. People always want more, and they always want more than they're getting.

The Reebok uniforms are pretty mediocre and I miss fighters having a unique look, but I don't miss the parade of products in the octagon. It's stupid to assume the fighters are entitled to use the UFC platform. They aren't.

Ten years ago I asked if a certain number would be an acceptable purse for preliminary fighters and even the staunchest supporters of pay increase agreed it would be, because they never expected it to happen. We surpassed that number a long time ago, but of course people are still complaining. Fighter pay for preliminary fighters has increased by an order of magnitude, but of course that isn't enough. That number is still rising, but it will never be enough.

People love to complain.

You argue in a vacuum. Is the UFC making as much money then as it is now?

 

[Danis_champ]

only 3 years of Reebok deal left. This 3 years should go quickly

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

The Reebok deal is easily the biggest and most obvious business mistake the UFC ever made. Such a screwjob for the fighters.

 

[POWER2]

 

[Mixedfights]

The UFC is not the NBA or NFL. Athletes in the NBA / NFL make millions in sponsors money. The UFC take most of the sponsorship money, and the fighters are left with chump change.

It was not a money argument. It was a ditch you after your prime argument.

 

[papajohns]

I believe him. The Reebok shit sucks for fighters.

 

[PAPERCLIP30]

Hmmm. It looks like the Reebok deal was bad for fighters but good for the company. Weird.

 

[El Fernas]

Not surprised, Reebok pays peanuts unless they are in championship fights, and still, not exactly a huge amount for the top MMA promotion and no other brands allowed.

 

[HaulParris]

Venom makes the best looking MMA shorts.

I agree. I have a pair that I go for runs in.

 

[AGEZ909]

And? Unless that company generates 80k in new revenue directly attributed to Lyoto wearing it is a loss. The real reason sponsorship slowed down is because companies realized that a 40-100k investment on someone's ass for a 60 second TV spot was not generating 80-200k in sales. That is why true sponsorship moved to social media with the guys like Cowboy who use sponsors gear in everyday life.

What do you mean by “true sponsors”?

One of the main reasons sponsorships dried up is because ufc was laying down a 100k hurdle that companies had to jump before they could have the privilege of paying an extra 40-100k to slap a sponsor on someone’s ass for 60 seconds.

I’m no business guru, but i feel that increasing the cost of doing business by 100k may dissuade businesses from doing business in that line of business.

 

[Loiosh]

You argue in a vacuum. Is the UFC making as much money then as it is now?

I don't know.

Between the "UFC is dying" guys and you "UFC is keeping all the money" guys it's hard to know which financial geniuses to believe.

One thing's for sure. You're all experts, and the UFC is definitely the bad guy, because "the man" is always the bad guy.

 

[Loiosh]

The Reebok deal is easily the biggest and most obvious business mistake the UFC ever made. Such a screwjob for the fighters.

It's not obvious to me that it's a mistake or even a screwjob.

 

[ClosetVitorFan]

Brendan Schaub was making 100k alone in sponsorships. In fact, once they took away the sponsors and went with Reebok that pretty much made him retire. No doubt he would keep trying to fight if he could get 100k alone in sponsors and maybe another 100k for fighting, on top of promoting his podcast? He would have done it. Joe Rogans "talk" only convinced Schaub to retire because they were offering him peanuts once they took the sponsors away

 

[Deleted member 510653]

Missing a Bony Acai hat, whatever shit that stuff really tasted like..

 

[Jerry48044]

I don't know, they're getting some good fighters...rory is champion now and he has a clear win over tyrone....

Rory gets murdered by Tyrone now

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

It's not obvious to me that it's a mistake or even a screwjob.

I think the reason it is a mistake is that the UFC so greatly undervalued the advertising space of their fighter's uniforms and corners, etc. If a fighter is pulling down 60K from his sponsors, but the UFC is only making a third of that from Reebok, then they made a mistake. The UFC and the fighters both would have made more money had the UFC continued to allow the fighters to handle their own sponsors and taken 40% of what the sponsors paid. To me it is a msitake when a 22 year old muy thai fighter without a degree can extract more money from advertisers than a multi-billion dollar company can.

The screwjob is that it ends up greatly undercutting effective fighter pay. It's the UFC's right to do so, but it certainly screws the fighters to b e very suddenly maken half or less of what they used to per fight.

 

[hot carl]

Venom makes the best looking MMA shorts.

Frankie had some awesome venom shorts.

If only they made them in adult sizes....