Court Hearing Reveals UFC Financial Records: Fighters Paid 20% (Bellator 45%)

[GueseGuy]

The fighters sign the contracts. This is a different discussion if the fighters were better represented as a whole.

“The fighters sign the contract durrrrrrrr”

 

[KeepItRealist]

Well ya, that was what I was getting at. I haven't found any Lorenzo quotes saying what @KeepItRealist says he said. But I'm still looking.

Regardless of how it all washes out, props to Cung Le for pushing it this far.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/dec/01/ufc-fighters-union-wme-img-better-treatment

That references the claim Lorenzo was making for a decade. MMA isn't front page sports news, it's not easy to find coverage of his claims from years ago. The Guardian isn't a source I'd like to use, but he's claimed or at least implied the UFC paid around 50% as the major sports pay their athletes when he's seldom been asked. The original ESPN interview isn't even cached anymore.

 

[Jean-Claude_Bloodsport]

.

Eww who is that ugly troll

 

[Ken Fresno]

So you think that 45% of Bellators revenue is more than 20% of the UFC's revenue?

And you are calling other people stupid.

The point is that the fighters contribute equally to the gross revenue in both organizations, and one gives their fighters over twice the percentage.

Obviously the UFC does more for the fighter than Bellator, in terms of opportunity. But it's still acting as a monopoly. And 19% is still a good 10 percent below fair.

 

[mcf4]

@FrankieNYC

Man I miss you

 

[Kvothe_the_kingkiller]

The fighters sign the contracts. This is a different discussion if the fighters were better represented as a whole.

That's the point of this. There are multiple ways to get collective bargaining. One way is for fighters to boycott / work stoppage. Another way is federal oversight. Another way is via the courts.

https://www.mmafighting.com/2019/8/...ompany-paid-20-percent-of-revenue-to-fighters
The hearing was about certifying the class of fighters. Boulware said in court that he doesn’t see how the case can proceed if he fails to do so at the end of the hearing.
Plaintiffs expert Dr. Hal Singer argued that in a truly competitive environment that UFC would be paying 47.3 percent of revenue to fighters.​

I could be wrong, but I think they're basically saying that UFC is a monopoly, and monopolies are only illegal if they are established or maintained through improper conduct, such as exclusionary or predatory acts. But if it is proven that the UFC has caused harm through exclusionary or predatory acts, then the plaintiffs can sue as a class (e.g. class action).

AND THEN they can mediate and create a collective bargaining moving forward.

and that concludes my mostly uninformed input

 

[Kvothe_the_kingkiller]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/dec/01/ufc-fighters-union-wme-img-better-treatment

That references the claim Lorenzo was making for a decade. MMA isn't front page sports news, it's not easy to find coverage of his claims from years ago, The Guardian isn't a source I'd like to use, but he's claimed or at least implied the UFC paid around 50% as the major sports pay their athletes many times when he's seldom been asked. The original ESPN interview isn't even cached anymore.

Thank you sir. Including the explanation of (most likely) why I couldn't find it.

 

[Emjay]

“The fighters sign the contract durrrrrrrr”

You missed the other part of my post.

 

[Franklin U.]

It's so mind boggling that big picture isnt realized. These guys should of made a stand against the machine a long long time ago and EVERYBODY would be for the better. There would've been minimal and acceptable collateral damage and those knew going in would be the ones falling on proverbial shields and alright with it.
Continued luck with the watered down cards and the take it or leave it deals for the mid level talent ( a decent % of spine) who still has to disperse their winnings with team
SMH-
UFC SEXTILLIONAIRE S , REALLY ?

 

[KeepItRealist]

Thank you sir. Including the explanation of (most likely) why I couldn't find it.

Zuffa, who are so famously cheap about everything else, never skimped on hiring computer people to search and find every single obscure website that had a UFC gif to threaten to sue them if they didn't delete it. Lots of speculation for years that these employees were the famous Zuffa Zombies who showed up on MMA message boards seemingly just to defend the UFC's business practices.

I wouldn't have put it past Zuffa to have scrubbed the internet of as many lies over the years told by the Fertitta's as possible ala Christine Blasey Ford before she went public.

 

[Pakman]

See I told you guys that buying the UFC hot dog brander wouldn't lead to a wage increase for fighters, but you never listened to me, you all brought it and were stubborn.

Dude best hot dogs of my life. I have it with my can of xyience and finish off with a 3 pack of the p3 sweet and spicy beef jerky/peanuts/sunflower seed combo box.

You’re livin life all wrong

 

[kibz]

In that case 30% Usman was an overachievement.

 

[Final Say]

what?

that 20% of a shit load of revenue is more than 45% of fuck all revenue?

people actually think that 45% is better than 20% in this situation?





we have this thread every week, and every week a bunch of sherdoggers that clearly have not even a basic understanding of finance get all het up and excited.

If bellator can afford 45% and stay afloat then there’s no reason the ufc can’t. No excuse for this.

 

[Post 2 Decision]

20% of a watermelon is still better than 40% of a grape

Bingo

20 percent of the UFC revenue is still more than 40 percent of the Bellator revenue

 

[Ying Li]

The other 80% is being well spent..

 

[ShreddinMMA]

Good guy Strikeforce.

It's incredible how many champs that org produced for the UFC.

 

[dim_]

If bellator can afford 45% and stay afloat then there’s no reason the ufc can’t. No excuse for this.

Do Bellator actually make money or is it just a pit that Viacom just dump money into?
How much are prelim fighters getting paid compared to the UFC?
How much of their medical costs do Bellator cover?
Are Bellator investing in things like the PI's where they can get free training, free food, free medical help, dietician etc?

I would argue Bellator probably cant afford 45%

 

[markys00]

this is why we need the ufc to be ran like a socialist country, not a capitalist one. doesnt matter how many viewers u draw, how popular u are, how good u are... doesnt matter. everyone makes 100k/100k. thats it!

 

[fractal]

What were his claims?

EDIT: maybe you're referring to this?

"We pay way more than anybody else in the space, that's a factor. You do have some fighters that maybe aren't happy with what they get, but at the end of the day, the fighters that achieve great things in this sport and get to the level of actually making a career of it, you don't see many of those athletes complaining. That's the fact of the matter."
"The guys who are rising to the top are making the majority of the money."
​

That's not a lie though. Even at 20% their lowest paid fighter gets more than the lowest paid guy in any other company. Same with the highest. If you see the average, that would probably also be higher for the UFC.

 

[Joseph_McBride]

Am I the only 1 that initially read the headline as "Curt Henning reveals..."?