Did Gils new contract shift leverage to the fighters?

[goldentoe]

Gil just got a HUUUUGE contract by playing hardball and refusing to get punked by the UFC. Did it shift more leveraging power to the fighters?

Jones is negotiating a new contract and is worth 10 times what Gilbert is worth on his drawing power alone let alone on the merits of his fighting accomplishments.

 

[countswagula]

Fighters have always had leverage, Gil just used it correctly. If your average mid-card journeyman tried to pull something like that the UFC would gladly oblige him, and he'd probably get paid about the same on Bellator

 

[kkdbeats]

Every seems to be re negotiating their contract and/or looking for more money now, but its a good thing those guys deserve to get paid

 

[jthatdude]

Higher ranked and well established fighters have had leverage before, some just rarely use it. Lets not forget that Hendo got an awesome deal from Strikeforce when he left the UFC. Right now, Jones has more leverage than anyone I can think of other than Fedor and if I am Jones, I want that 5 fight, 30 million plus incentives the UFC supposedly offered Fedor.

 

[BionicCommando]

Jones had leverage long before Gil even got a deal.

 

[NILLI]

Higher ranked and well established fighters have had leverage before, some just rarely use it. Lets not forget that Hendo got an awesome deal from Strikeforce when he left the UFC. Right now, Jones has more leverage than anyone I can think of other than Fedor and if I am Jones, I want that 5 fight, 30 million plus incentives the UFC supposedly offered Fedor.

Fedor LOL
Who is interested seeing him fight? He has zero leverage.

 

[Andre Xiong]

fighters with drawing power always have leverage. Look at UFC not give a hoot about the Diaz bros. refusing to show up. Things fell in place perfectly for Gil, namely that Bellator put up an offer which showed UFC that Gilbert has worth.

 

[bambammccoy]

I would hope so.

I will still never forget the fact that KZ got paid 20,000 for his title fight against Aldo. Its not like it was a complete gimme fight. especially considering he doesnt do anything remotely close to point fighting.

Quite a few payouts bothered me as of recent just cant recall atm.

Maybe they should pay fighters somewhat according to their ranking or stance in the division? Though that might not work with guys like JDS who would end up knocking off contenders for big money.

 

[jthatdude]

Fedor LOL
Who is interested seeing him fight? He has zero leverage.

Now he doesn't but that was supposedly the offer when he was virtually undefeated.

 

[countswagula]

fighters with drawing power always have leverage. Look at UFC not give a hoot about the Diaz bros. refusing to show up. Things fell in place perfectly for Gil, namely that Bellator put up an offer which showed UFC that Gilbert has worth.

The Diaz bros do have drawing power, they just didn't use it properly. Gil started negotiating when his contract was up for renewal and he was a free agent. Nate and Nick signed a contract for a certain number of fights, then decided to renegotiate before meeting those fights. That means they can't fight anywhere else, and thus have very little leverage over the UFC since they basically fight there or not at all.

 

[Deleted member 245586]

^^^They didn't go to school to negotiate contracts

 

[Spiderbite]

Let's hope it gave some leverage and they can change it a little.

We'll see when Barao or Dillishaw Re-up their contracts as it seems right now the male Bantamweight Champ gets paid the equivalent of a slightly used Ford-150 per title fight.

 

[Rayzach]

I believe Gil's situation just re-iterated the UFC views contracts on a case by case basis. Gil's contract negotiation had multiple factors to consider for the UFC:

1. Financial - Gil wanted a huge raise and he isn't the champion
2. Strategic - Allowing Bellator to sign Gil after they strong-armed Eddie Alvarez away from the UFC
3. Perceptive Value - The UFC not wanting to publicly get out-bid for a fighter by Bellator played a factor in how much Zuffa ended up paying Gil

 

[lts5025]

Fighters have always had leverage since Helio invented it in the 1930's.

 

[Boom_Ba_Ye]

With Bellator just doing 100,000+ PPV buys (that's just an early figure), the leverage will now be with the fighters and Bellator will be a seen as place fighters can go and make money and get PPV points. The UFC will have to match anything accordingly if they don't want to strengthen Bellator.