California is the First State to Start MMA Fighter Retirement Fund. Starts in 2024.

[Crash-override]

Who is gonna pay for this?

They say the people won't, but they will end up paying in the long run

 

[Cartiac]

The gall of these mf'ers is appalling. What better way to help people struggling than slapping yet another tax on them.

This has nothing to do with UFC it doesn't impact them at all other than maybe not doing anymore events in CA, but it will put more burden on the local and regional MMA organizations.

 

[Poirierfan]

Who is gonna pay for this?

Tax payers in California I'd assume.

 

[Cartiac]

Yeah it says scheduled rounds, rather than completed rounds

That is what this stupid article says but like all other MMA "journalism" is piss poor, inaccurate, and either out of intetion or incompetence presents a completely false representation of reality. The bill actually states vesting happens "when the participating martial artist has fought in at least 39 scheduled rounds".

 

[Tweak896]

It sounds like one of those good ideas, but not enough. I'm not sure how many UFC fighters have fought 40 rounds in California and they don't collect until 50. Maybe some amateur guys might just play the system like Bob Sapp and fight every weekend in CA and get it, but I'm not sure this solves the fighter issue.

It seems like one of the weakest pension systems you could make. I guess my mentality is you shouldn't pass garbage laws even if they "sound good", go for the real deal. Until fighters get something they can use, then it's whoever is administrator gets the 1$ per ticket.

 

[BreatheSherBro]

Will guys start taking extra fights they have no chance at winning towards the end of the career to boost their retirement? I could see a bunch of dives from washed up guys who need the rounds.

 

[m249viking]

Tax on tickets = less tickets sold = nearby states being more appealing for business.

 

[Siver!]

That is what this stupid article says but like all other MMA "journalism" is piss poor, inaccurate, and either out of intetion or incompetence presents a completely false representation of reality. The bill actually states vesting happens "when the participating martial artist has fought in at least 39 scheduled rounds".

Funnily enough, that sounds like incompetent wording within the bill!

 

[prikoke]

Dana's gonna force them to move states or cut them when they're a round away

Dana's gonna have events in Vegas, Reno or Texas from now on. Maybe one big event in California every two years since he knows nobody will accumulate 39 rounds at that frequency.

 

[ryun253]

Looks like Abu Dhabi will be the fight capital of the world in a few years

 

[usernamee]

Will guys start taking extra fights they have no chance at winning towards the end of the career to boost their retirement? I could see a bunch of dives from washed up guys who need the rounds.

lmao

they'll start adding "CTE Bonus Retirement Package"

after your 12th knockout loss you get an extra 5 g's

 

[Cartiac]

Nothing in what the entitlements actually are?

nope, no surprise they conveniently leave out any definition of the benefits other than "the amount credited to the participating martial artist’s regular account in the MMA Fund "
Why waste time thinking how to write up something they never plan to do and defining the benefits would provide legal grounds for people to try to collect.

They also don't bother to define what the funding requirements that the commission needs to collect to finance this fund probably because that would require actually having some defined benefit criteria.

Even more interesting is when they define the allowable funding sources they specifically limit the ticket fee to a max of $2 which may amount to enough in benefits for a fighter that does qualify to buy a McDouble when they turn 50. They also define the contribution they are allowed to take from martial artists, managers, promoters as "an amount sufficient to finance the MMA Fund." which I'm sure will come out to more than $2 a ticket and fighters will never see any of that money again.

 

[Cartiac]

Funnily enough, that sounds like incompetent wording within the bill!

It does seem that way but the wording is intentional. The language in these bills is crafted by high priced lawyers. It is also likely that they don't bother to waste too much time trying to make these bills sound reasonable because in CA it doesn't matter since there is no legitimate government here to challenge the law, they follow the Russian definition of democracy.

These mf'ers think they have the right to tax income of non-residents that were once CA residents because they think the reason they left CA was because they were sick of being taxed to hell by CA so the natural solution is to make up even more taxes.

It is definitely not incompetence, they know exactly what they are doing and don't even bother to pretend they care anymore because they don't have to.

 

[drphil]

I'll be damned, newsom doing something good.

In other news, dana decreed that ufc will never hold events in California again

 

[Lee_]

It does seem that way but the wording is intentional. The language in these bills is crafted by high priced lawyers. It is also likely that they don't bother to waste too much time trying to make these bills sound reasonable because in CA it doesn't matter since there is no legitimate government here to challenge the law, they follow the Russian definition of democracy.

These mf'ers think they have the right to tax income of non-residents that were once CA residents because they think the reason they left CA was because they were sick of being taxed to hell by CA so the natural solution is to make up even more taxes.

It is definitely not incompetence, they know exactly what they are doing and don't even bother to pretend they care anymore because they don't have to.

 

[Askafan]

Don't know the details of this but the fighters would be better off managing their own money. I guess they'll be expected to contribute and the fund will likely be run for the benefit of the fund managers, that's the usual form.

 

[pātrēärkē]

Ay when you retire make sure to wire me all of your pension. You don’t want that “welfare” I’ll gladly take it.
thanks for your support.

The pension they were forced to pay in to? How exactly is that equal to welfare?

 

[blaseblase]

I imagine the IQ of people who believe in welfare. Every state solution always looks beautiful on paper and low-IQ morons fall for it.

Yeah, imagine a world without welfare

 

[Lee_]

Don't know the details of this but the fighters would be better off managing their own money. I guess they'll be expected to contribute and the fund will likely be run for the benefit of the fund managers, that's the usual form.

1) it isn't a complete pension, it's a safety net to help fighters, they will need to manage their own money anyway. It is not intended to fully support someone in retirement.
2) The fighters aren't paying into it.
3) lol "the benefit of the fund manager" This is a government program, there is no private fund manager that will benefit.
4) It's not a conspiracy, and has nothing to do with anyone's personal politics, which is what this thread has turned into.
5) I don't think many even understand what they read. This is not coming from the general fund, and is therefore not welfare of any kind. It will be based on a 1-2 dollar fee on tickets and other fund building methods (such as sales of merchandise for the fund)

An opportunity to own the libs!!! I'll take it even if politics has nothing to do with it!!! ROFL

Take off your tin foil hat, there is no conspiracy here.

This was a unanimous vote in the CA legislature of ALL Dems AND Reps, so calm down.

The fighters fought for it too:
The bill has been publicly backed by several prominent California-based MMA fighters including former UFC champion Ronda Rousey, former WEC champion Urijah Faber, coach Cesar Gracie, referee Herb Dean, and former UFC and Bellator title challenger Cat Zingano, who gave testimony during a hearing at the state’s capitol in July.

 

[Lee_]

Let me help out with the challenged folks that don't understand:
(b) All contributions to finance the MMA Fund shall be deposited in the State Treasury and credited to the Mixed Martial Arts Retirement Benefit Fund, which is hereby created. Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, all moneys in the MMA Fund are continuously appropriated to be used exclusively for the purposes and administration of the MMA Fund.
(c) Contributions to finance the MMA Fund shall be allocated to each participating martial artist’s regular account on the last day of the MMA Fund year pursuant to both of the following requirements:
(1) Fifty percent of the contributions for the MMA Fund year shall be allocated among the regular accounts of participating martial artists as of the last day of the MMA Fund year in the proportion that each martial artist’s scheduled rounds fought for the MMA Fund year bears to the total scheduled rounds fought in the MMA Fund year.
(2) Fifty percent of the contributions for the MMA Fund year shall be allocated among the regular accounts of participating martial artists as of the last day of the MMA Fund year in the proportion that each martial artist’s total purses for the MMA Fund years bears to the total purses for all fights fought by participating martial artists in the MMA Fund year.
(d) If a participating martial artist fails to become vested in the amount credited to the participating martial artist’s regular account before the participating martial artist’s death, the regular account shall be forfeited and reallocated to each participating martial artist’s regular account on the last day of the MMA Fund year pursuant to both of the following:
(1) Fifty percent of the allocable forfeiture account shall be allocated among all regular accounts as of the last day of the MMA Fund year in the proportion that each regular account bears to the total regular accounts.
(2) Fifty percent of the allocable forfeiture account shall be added to the contributions for the MMA Fund year and shall be allocated among the regular accounts of participating martial artists who have fought in the current MMA Fund year according to the formula prescribed in subdivision (c).