Does the relative easiness of making it into the UFC result in low fighter pay?

Do you think the entry to becoming a pro fighter being so low is responsible for low pay?

  • Total voters
    41
It they do 500k for Ngannou vs Gane, that's 37 million in revenue..

They paid three guys on the card about 10k to fight..

Stop sticking up for these pigs
 
rex kramer said:
The irony is they could attract more top shelf athletes if they paid better.
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Eh, I don't know if I want UFC to attract that level of top athletes. There's something nice about some average joe being able to make it to the UFC. Although that average Joe probably shouldn't expect some pay checks for doing so.
 
Game_Bred_Irish said:
People will never pay more for something unless they have to. You can arbitrarily demand UFC pay people by passing laws that make them, or you can do it through the market.

Dana pays 10,000 because there's a line of fighters that can all compete on the level that 10,000 fighter can. If 99.99% of the population can't throw a high level hook or shoot a high level double leg, well, I'd bet fighter pay goes up tremendously.
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You are spot on. NFL would pay a QB $50 if they could.....but there are only like 15 really really good ones so can demand $45mil a year. Though of course it's a bit unfair b/c UFC is a bit of a monopoly.

But your point is right. It's supply and demand people. That's what every single job and situation tends to be based on. There are only a handful, handful of people who can make the NFL, NBA, MLB, etc. There are lot of people in a lot of gyms that could make the UFC. Not top 15 of course, but make the UFC.
 
rex kramer said:
The irony is they could attract more top shelf athletes if they paid better.
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And this is spot on too. The athletes are going to go where the money is. Why go to UFC and get beat up for $75k, if you have the ability to make the NFL for example?

Even bottom level practice squad guys do OK.

Rookies and players who have accrued two or fewer seasons in the NFL will make a minimum of $9,200 per week during the season = $165k per year. But players who have accrued at least three seasons will earn a minimum of $14,000 per week, or $252k for the year. If a practice squad player is promoted to the active roster, he earns the prorated minimum salary for a player with his years of experience. So a rookie called up to the active roster would get $36,000 PER WEEK. A player with seven-plus years of experience would earn over $59K PER WEEK.

Regular NFL players salary minimum is $660k
NBA minimum (even hard to get into) for a rookie is $925k per year
NBA miimum for a 10 year vet is $2.6mil

Tell me again why the great athletes are not going into the UFC
 
Dbreiden83080 said:
Some of those players make it because of bad MGT decisions. Scouts/GM's and coaches that have no fucking idea what they are looking at.. And once you hand out those fully guaranteed deals you are stuck with the bum riding the bench getting little to no playing time.

The Pistons once drafted some turd named Darko Milicic 2nd overall.. If you remember him..

Well congrats..
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A radio show here in Boston did something called the Scallenge a few years ago. They had the guys who played college basketball at a fairly high level play against Brian Scallabreni, who was at the end of the Celtics bench. He destroyed all three of them. The worst guy in the NBA is one of the four or five hundred best players in the entire world
 
wildchild88 said:
It they do 500k for Ngannou vs Gane, that's 37 million in revenue..

They paid three guys on the card about 10k to fight..

Stop sticking up for these pigs
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I mean, it just depends on whether you have a belief that is more capitalistic or more socialistic. If you are more of a capitalist, it shouldn't matter how much money is being made by the organization, you are paid what you are worth, and that is regardless of company profits.

If you believe in income distribution based off total revenue generated, do you also believe that if the UFC was losing money, that fighters shouldn't get paid, like how they were bleeding money for 10 years and constantly in the red?
 
Willy Knuckles said:
That's exactly why I don't get fans who "don't give af" about fighter pay lol. It directly effects the quality of the sport
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I think Dana has realized that high level athletes wouldn't necessarily increase viewership if he can market bums to look like the best. I think when it comes to fighting, Dana can stands more to gain profit-wise by convincing people that two bums are the best in the world and paying them pennies, rather than actually paying 2 of the best in the world to fight.

I'm not calling UFC fighters bums by any means, but you get what I mean, he makes more by getting lower level athletes and pretending they are higher.
 
Willy Knuckles said:
Yes. The UFC hires 5-4 plumbers to fill out cards and sell them as top level MMa fighters lmao. Have you not noticed the decreased quality of the UFC over the years?
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Why would a plumber risk lossing a 100k plus a year for a quik $12000
 
Big Tuppy Hole said:
Why would a plumber risk lossing a 100k plus a year for a quik $12000
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1) You can do both, most people fight on the side with a job (also plenty of Plumbers don't make anywhere close to 100k a year).

2) Some people fight for free as a hobby, I've seen backyard mma fights done for free, there are peope who don't think of it as work.

3) Some people don't put much time into training camps, and just want to go fight someone for 15 minutes to make 10k.

4) Also some people would take a quick 12K over a slow 100k.

5) Also, 100K is pretty much the ceiling for a plumber, potentially the ceiling as a MMA fighter is much much higher, even at 500k a fight, that's a much higher ceiling.
 
Game_Bred_Irish said:
I think Dana has realized that high level athletes wouldn't necessarily increase viewership if he can market bums to look like the best. I think when it comes to fighting, Dana can stands more to gain profit-wise by convincing people that two bums are the best in the world and paying them pennies, rather than actually paying 2 of the best in the world to fight.

I'm not calling UFC fighters bums by any means, but you get what I mean, he makes more by getting lower level athletes and pretending they are higher.
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Yeah but he can only keep that up for so long lol. If it were that easy every other major sport would pay their athletes dog shit. Instead they pay their athletes top dollar, and leagues like the NFL have waaaaayyyyyyy more viewership than the UFC
 
rex kramer said:
The irony is they could attract more top shelf athletes if they paid better.
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Part of the irony in that is also... the athletes who want higher pay probably wouldn't ever have made it into the UFC if the UFC paid like the NFL.
 
Game_Bred_Irish said:
I mean, it just depends on whether you have a belief that is more capitalistic or more socialistic. If you are more of a capitalist, it shouldn't matter how much money is being made by the organization, you are paid what you are worth, and that is regardless of company profits.

If you believe in income distribution based off total revenue generated, do you also believe that if the UFC was losing money, that fighters shouldn't get paid, like how they were bleeding money for 10 years and constantly in the red?
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The fighters / their skills are the fundamental source of viewership / value of the product..

As high skilled workers they should be able to receive a high price for their skills, in a market where their skills are highly sought after and rare.. the UFC is actually stifling a free market for fighters with harsh price controls..

That right there is in turn a capitalistic view..
 
Yes.. thats partly why they created the contender series.. Other Orgs/Regional Champs and experienced title-fight veterans from around the world are gonna cost more in the long run.

They have much more leverage to them when offering the first contract then thats not gonna get a lot of more money initially for them, that they got a long row of Contender Series fighters willing step up directly. Its all part of the system of leverage.

Making it "easier" to get into the UFC is all part of the plan.
 
Throwing money quickly at the fighters doesn't fix anything. Look at other sports. They didn't receive high pay immediately. It is a gradual process. NFL guys didn't paid around 800k on average until the 90s. The current UFC pay rate increase is about 1 percent a year. I want to see more benefits or a pension for these fighters.

I don't cry about guys like Francis who makes 5 million plus per fight. I would fight for more pay for guys on the prelims that can't make a living fighting. The minimal purse is going up though at 12k. Bellator is the next biggest promotion and they have prelim fights for 2k to show +2k to win.
 
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