Would UFC fighters perform better if they got paid more?

What kind of athletes would be fighting in the UFC if they were paid nothing?

What kind of athletes would be fighting in the UFC if they were paid one billion dollers per fight?


I bet there would be a difference.
 
chitoortiz said:
That's mostly true.

Although fighters only have a certain window to make money on fighting.
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Yes, but if we are talking about paying fighters more money is going to make them perform better and fight more, then my opinion is no. Unless they are idiots and blow their money like Conor and pretty boy floyd. And yes i understand Conor is investing his money, but he has also been spending it foolishly as well.
 
I actually think combat sports are different.. talent only gets you so far.. you need heart and chin.. even the most defensively orientated, "boring" greats has eaten some fucking bombs.. and that is the point..

in other sports you can excell in other areas and still be a star.. physical damage will be considered a foul..

I'd take a tough motherfucker over an "a level athlete" any day..

I'm not sure we'd get better fights if wanderlei got paid a salery from a league..
 
I din't think so. I'm not a fighter so I can't say for sure but I can imagine that the moment the cage closes money isn't on their mind. Probably honour and not being humiliated plays a bigger factor on fightnight.
 
It wouldn't change the quality of fights in any way. Fighting is these guys passion. When training and in a fight the focus is on the mission at hand.
 
Floyd was the highest paid athlete on the planet.

Also a pretty dang good fighter.

I'll let you do the math.
 
Andrei Orlovski said:
Do you think if fighters didn't have to work at McDonald's to pay the bills they would have better cardio and better skills overall? If they were able to train full time and didn't have to work on the side?
You don't see NFL or NBA players working at KFC, they can focus on their career instead of worrying if they will be able to pay their rent.
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Oh great. This stupid thread again. "Whaaaa!!! Professional Athletes should be paid more!!! Whaaaa!!!"
 
Simple answer, no.

More complex answer......I do think it would help younger fighters get established quicker and allow them to concentrate more on MMA. But many only look at from the UFC level and orgs outside of the UFC just don't have the funds(this might even include the UFC depending on what one thinks is reasonable pay). Every sport you gotta put your time in and a lot of that time in most sports you aren't paid anything or very little. Those athletes when they reach the big time they get paid well, but also most those sports have been around making money much longer than the UFC. Remember before the 80's a lot of pro football players worked in the off season. Now the NFL has billions guaranteed every year so its easy to pay more. As the UFC has grown so has the base pay. It wasn't long ago 3k/3k was the norm and now it's 10k for real newbies. You have any push behind you and they seem to give you a few extra K a fight when starting out. I'm sure if the sport continues to grow 15 years from now it might be 20 or 25K. But to ever think nobodies will make more than 40K to start probably is decades away and revenue probably increasing 10 fold for that to happen.
 
I think they should get paid more, but I don't think that would markedly improve their performance.

Look to other professional sports. Once an athlete gets a big payday their performance often declines with some exceptions.
 
chitoortiz said:
Here's Vin Baker. Made $100 million in his career. Now he works at Starbucks.
It's a shame the NFL and NBA don't help these players ease into the transition to retirement.
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How does anyone need help on how not to blow 100 million dollars? Or does he work there as a hobby?
 
El Fernas said:
How does anyone need help on how not to blow 100 million dollars? Or does he work there as a hobby?
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How do you think?

Educate these men more.

He blew threw $100 million that he made in his playing career. Now he works at starbucks.

Alot of these players have no idea how to live on a budget. They also have no idea that when you stop playing, the money stops as well.
 
I’d love to see the UFC do away with performance bonuses and have a pool of $200,000 per event for finish bonuses, divided amongst the fighters who had a finish...so if there are 2 finishes on a card, each finisher gets 100K, if there are 8 finishes, each fighter gets 25K...the performance bonuses are too subjective, a stoppage is definitive.
 
Fighting is different.
Vertigo, blurry vision, headaches, tinitus is very common for mma fighters. If guys make enough money, they will never fight again. (Enough money is relative)

Nate Diaz is supposedly a badass thet loves to fight... Not when he has enough money..
GSP could afford to retire, and do nothing, so he did.
Cain had many championsjip fights. He doesn't need to fight for a living, so he doesn't.
Rondadidn't need to fight, so she stopped.

Everyone is like this...Maybe not BJ...
 
Wouldn't make a difference for the guys who are in the top 10, making like 50k a fight.

But maybe would make more people interested in the sport if they could be sure they could live off of it.
 
smart.feller said:
I’d love to see the UFC do away with performance bonuses and have a pool of $200,000 per event for finish bonuses, divided amongst the fighters who had a finish...so if there are 2 finishes on a card, each finisher gets 100K, if there are 8 finishes, each fighter gets 25K...the performance bonuses are too subjective, a stoppage is definitive.
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Like this idea to be honest. Thought for a while that UFC should just reward every finish. Instead of giving few fighters 50k just have a pool and give everyone who scores a finish a cut.
 
Super Shotgun said:
I know but you're missing my point, if he had enough time in the day to be a firefighter while also being the HW champ it just looks bad, a sport you can split your time with having another career, you think Messi or Lebron or Ronaldo have time to have another day job even if they wanted to?
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Yes, if they only played three games a year. Most fighter have about three training camps a year not to mention do not train 8 hours a day during those camps. I am sure Messi does not train 8 hours a day either.
 
Super Shotgun said:
Of course, it was so embarrassing when the HW champ was also a firefighter, not because being a firefighter is bad but for the fact that he actually had the time in the day to have another job while being the best fighter in the world. Imagine if Messi was also a full time policeman, the whole thing screamed bush league sport.
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The thing is, it's his choice to be a part time firefighter. He doesn't need it for the money.
 
Getting paid a shit ton of money to fight would change all aspects of said fighter.

There would be more hunger, drive, more encouragement from trainers/coaches/managers/family/friends, better overall training camps, gear, and competition just to start with.

With all of this combined, the sport's skill level would evolve past what it is now. Even the women's division would become far more exciting if they were fighting for more than just peanuts or more than just delusional legacy.

If you think about it, more money would also allow more fighters to be able to afford good PEDs and afford good criminal PED doctors.
 
OmegaRugal said:
Good question.

I think they would fight less.

Once someone is champ and making money, they all slow down and fight less.

Thus they would become worse fighters overall on average imo
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Exactly. Is Nate Diaz a better fighter after getting paid more? Hard to tell since we haven't seen him
 
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