Why hasn’t anyone stood up to the UFC and its business

[Bearknuckle]

Seems like every thinks the UFC is bad. Pays fighters bad and needs to be changed. Why hasn’t anyone come along and taken them down yet? And what would YOU DO, if you had billions to “reinvent” the sport of mixed martial arts.
Go.

 

[Unfinished]

You dont hear Conor crying about the pay. Fighters need to learn how to promote themselves and stop whining.

 

[bleeder]

If I had billions to reinvent the sport, I'd make the sport a lot more similar to wrestling in how people qualify for top level competition, i.e. more region based rankings. Also would push hard for fighters to be considered independent contractors.

 

[BEATDOWNS]

 

[ryun253]

It would take someone like Conor have it trending in public but he's getting paid so it doesn't make sense to. Jones could do it, but people are calling him scared of Francis, everyone who brings it up is automatically dismissed.

 

[Reign009]

I'd bring back the UFC hotdog brander.

 

[tech99]

You dont hear Conor crying about the pay. Fighters need to learn how to promote themselves and stop whining.

It’s their performance inside the cage too. Most of these fights look like sparring matches. Be exciting and finish your opponents and people will want to watch you fight. These guys are only fighting a couple times a year and they still put on piss poor performances and that’s why they get paid what they do.

 

[2004 account]

Sadly, if the ufc were almost untouchable when owned by the mafioso fertittas, now that they are owned by Disney, they are government level untouchable. They posses too much money power and influence to be dethroned as mma's tyrannical and unethical monopoly now. Especially in the corrupt and backwards world this has transformed into today.




If someone had the money power and influence to take them over they would need to start with getting rid of Dana and reforming everything. Someone like Scott Coker has had good intentions and fighter relations to do it but not the right strategy. You need to fight fire with fire and aggressively attack the ufc , pointing out their malpractices in the media, taking them to court constantly over any breach of ethics, and educating the masses of cashew fans into accepting other brands not named ufc. A huge cultural shift is needed, I doubt an American org like Bellator would be able to pull it off. Only something like pride had the power to do it but they were subverted into selling out unfortunately.

 

[chitoortiz]

If the Ali act ever gets passed in MMA, everything will change.

as a fan, I’m not sure if I really think this is a good thing. I want to see the best vs best matchups. That can only really happen in the UFC.

 

[TempleoftheDog]

The WHOLE roster needs to act as one if they are truly interested in change. If they were to walk out and refuse to fight. The UFC just couldn’t go out and hire 600-700 scrubs to replace them. Nobody would pay to watch that. It’s really that simple. But the top guys are generally happy with their pay. And the bottom guys might think it too risky. Until the fighters actually act as one. There is very little hope for change.

Sad but true.

Barring actual legislation, of course.

Hasn’t every major North American pro sport had strikes, or lockouts? That’s how unions work. You strike until you feel you are being treated fairly. And though these leagues have even tried to hire scabs. It’s never worked for the owners in the long run.

 

[surrealworlds]

You would have to be a billionaire first with a taste for high risk.
Then you would have to start a MMA fighting organization that is transparent with it's finances, pays a big portion to the fighters, puts out high quality productions, and can continuously do that until you have a cable/streaming deal that will get your product to the masses.
IF you do all that AND get extremely lucky you have a small chance of overtaking the UFC before going broke.

 

[mb23100]

 

[Kb7]

Until they realized Bjork was only doing it for his self fish beef with Dana and didn't care too much about the fighters.

 

[rjmbrd]

You dont hear Conor crying about the pay. Fighters need to learn how to promote themselves and stop whining.

You have no idea what you're talking about. He's literally publicly stated he's "retired" over bad negotiations with the UFC... TWICE.

 

[DoctorDeelon]

Seems like every thinks the UFC is bad. Pays fighters bad and needs to be changed. Why hasn’t anyone come along and taken them down yet? And what would YOU DO, if you had billions to “reinvent” the sport of mixed martial arts.
Go.

Because when people stand up they get knocked to the canvas quicker than Askren.

And none of the people with any power had the sack to stand up, and now they're suffering for it because they're getting a small fraction of what they're generating!

 

[linvillegorge]

You dont hear Conor crying about the pay. Fighters need to learn how to promote themselves and stop whining.

They're called "promotions" for a reason. They're supposed to be promoting. In reality, fight promoters are some of the laziest, scummiest, leachingest motherfuckers on the planet. They're not promoters, they're organizers. They organize events. The fighters are pretty much left to promote themselves and outside of a few elite, the rest are making slave wages. Fighters really need to unionize.

 

[bubbleboyjones]

Seems like every thinks the UFC is bad. Pays fighters bad and needs to be changed. Why hasn’t anyone come along and taken them down yet? And what would YOU DO, if you had billions to “reinvent” the sport of mixed martial arts.
Go.

I would buy the UFC and pay them even less.

 

[greatsantini]

You dont hear Conor crying about the pay. Fighters need to learn how to promote themselves and stop whining.

Uh, he's "retired" to hold out for more money. He's asked for equity. he's complained he isn't paid to promote. That he has to share PPV points with other fighters on his card. People assume he's isn't complaining because he is also exaggerating how much he is making because that's his gimmick.

 

[Lee_]

I'd file an antitrust lawsuit against the UFC. Oh wait.....

 

[avenue94]

You dont hear Conor crying about the pay. Fighters need to learn how to promote themselves and stop whining.

You don't see him having to nudge and threaten the UFC into letting him box as a cry for pay?

I love that it's Bjorn of all people. Pot meet kettle.

If the Ali act ever gets passed in MMA, everything will change.

as a fan, I’m not sure if I really think this is a good thing. I want to see the best vs best matchups. That can only really happen in the UFC.

Which part of the Ali Act worries you?

They're supposed to be promoting. In reality, fight promoters are some of the laziest, scummiest, leachingest motherfuckers on the planet.

Don King described the mindset of a promoter perfectly: ""My philosophy is that all fighters are two-dollar whores. Never fall in love with your fighter. My rule is to fuck the fighter before the fighter can fuck you. Never let the fighter become bigger than the promoter." "
People fail to see that it's a systemic problem in combat sports, not an individual one. It's just an industry more prone to abuse of employees than most.