Now this seems like a rediculous statement. However after stumbling across the fighter payments issued for UFC 84, i have come to the conclusion that King is a generous and honest individual that puts the welfare of his fighters above all else. UFC 84 generated close to 4 million at the gate and is expected to reach PPV buys of around 500,000. This should translate to revenue of around 30 million for the UFC. Sean Sherk was in the main event. Much of the interest in this event was generated from the excellent promotion from the two main event fighters. Its safe to assume that their use of the media to promote their supposed hatred for each other contributed to far greater PPV numbers than they could have otherwise expected. Sean Sherk got paid $35,000. Boxing has long been known for crooked promoters not least of all Don King. However even King has never managed to get away with paying one of his fighters 35 gs in a title fight that generated 30 million dollars to the best of my knowledge. The UFC has pulled off a masive feat to make this scumbag look good in comparison.
I don't think Tim Witherspoon would call him a saint...........and I can think of about 10-15 others who would kill King if they caught him in a dimly lit room........ But on the other hand........there are fighters out there who claim that Don did more than just alright by them......Tony Lopez comes to mind first........So who knows ? From what I've read from other posts.........The UFC compensates folks off of the books and out of pocket.....probably for tax purposes. Just because a fighter is listed on contract at 10k per fight.......doesn't mean he is getting 10k. At least that's what I've read. Only the fighters know what goes on before the curtain is yanked.......But on paper, their pay scales leave lots of room for improvement.
The UFC's pay scale has been in the news again lately as part of the Tito Ortiz-Dana White feud. At the UFC 84 post-fight press conference Ortiz went so far as to say that "fighters are treated like slaves" by the UFC. MMAPayout.com has compiled the total disclosed payrolls from the last five UFC events for which payroll figures were made public as well as estimates of the gross revenue (pay-per-view plus live gate) generated by each event: EVENT________PAYROLL_________ REVENUE ______ FIGHTERS' SHARE UFC 76_______ $1,074,000_______$11,388,125_______ 9.4% UFC 77_______ $812,000 _______ $8,991,875 _______ 9.0% UFC 79_______ $1,399,000_______ $16,885,000_______ 8.3% UFC 81_______ $1,132,000_______ $15,885,000_______ 7.1% UFC 82_______ $1,112,000_______ $9,504,375 ________ 11.7% TOTAL________$5,529,000_______ $62,654,375_______ 8.8% NOTE: Gross revenue estimates are based on reported live gates and preliminary buy rates (assuming a 50/50 split of pay-per-view revenue between Zuffa and cable and satellite operators). Payroll figures are based on officially reported payouts as well as disclosed bonuses. The most immediate qualifier that must be offered concerning these figures is that the UFC regularly pays substantial undisclosed bonuses in the form of contractually specified pay-per-view bonuses and discretionary performance bonuses. Some of the contracts for the company's top stars also reportedly include downside guarantees that significantly exceed their disclosed payouts. However, it is also important to consider the other revenue streams not included in the above revenue estimates, including: closed circuit television, DVDs, video games, television rights fees, sponsorships, advertising, on-demand new media purchases, and other merchandising. Many of these revenue sources rely on the infamous ancillary rights clause found in the company's standard contract. Per the clause, fighters essentially sign away the rights to their likeness and are not entitled to any compensation when it is used. The clause has been a source of contention in the company's disputes with Randy Couture and Ortiz. As a rough comparison to boxing, last year's HBO Boxing event featuring Oscar De La Hoya v. Floyd Mayweather produced $165 million in total gross revenue. De La Hoya and Mayweather combined to take home $73 million for 44.2% of the gross revenue generated. However, it should be noted that De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions was also the promoter of the event. For the sake of comparison, in a testament to the power of collective bargaining, the percentage share of gross revenue player's receive in other major sports: 59% in the NFL, 57% in the NBA, 55.6% in the NHL, and 53% in MLB. Ortiz has indicated that he believes that 30-40% of gross revenues for fighters would be fair. MMAPayout.com: The Business of MMA: Underpaid?: Revenue Sharing in the UFC UFC hires Washington Lobbying Firm While the UFC has been highly active on a state by state basis in trying to shape the regulation of mixed martial arts, the UFC entered the fray on a national level recently by hiring Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck to lobby on Capitol Hill.
this is so old and SO stupid. everyone knows each ufc fighter makes 6 figures from sponsorships and the top guys are billionaires, and it doesn't even account for all the bonuses given out. give it a rest, geeeeeeezzzzzzzzz
What the hell do sponsors have to do with anything? Boxers get sponssorships to, its the fact that the UFC PROMOTORS are not forking over any cash. Who the fuck is a billionaire? ODLH isnt even one, yet.
I would guess am is being sarcastic, because I can't think of one UFC Fighter who has a billion dollars at his disposal.
Guys, be forewarned, because Don King might be looking in, and if he is, expect your post counts to be cut by about 20% just because he doesn't expect this thread to get as much views as he previously expected. Also, if you do plan to post in this thread, expect King to take another 25% off your post count for, what he deems it, "advisory services", which is a practice he often did. After you see your post count reduced by nearly 50% from those two things, from there expect King to play hardball with you and get you to sign a 50/50 deal of your new post count with his son, Carl, even though the standard (and legal limit in some/most jurisdictions) manager/poster deal is at 33.3%, which comes off the gross post count, by the way, and not the net (or after expenses), which is the standard. Carl gets his 50% before expenses and you see your post count go from 1000 to about 275, but then he'll charge you for the expenses such as typing on the keyboard, which he'll add an extra zero to the end in the hopes you're not looking, so that expense of 10 posts now suddenly becomes 100. If you had to go to the library to post, that's another expense he'll charge you for that's listed under "travel expenses", and considering his normal ratio, that's going to be about another 20 to 25 posts off your new (low) total. Oh, I almost forgot, if you practiced posted on another site, King is going to charge you for "sparring expenses" which is quite hefty, and given his ratio, that's going to be about another 40 to 50 or so. Etc.,Etc., Etc., with some other expenses maybe totaling another 20 posts, you've suddenly seen your post count go from 1000 to, oh, about 75 or thereabouts. It's Don King and his "trickeration" at it's finest.
I have very mixed feelings about King. Yes, he made a lot of great fights, but also brings ill repute to the game due to his bullshit.
I'm with you on this one. He's made a lot of great fights, but all of the crap he's pulled just about negates all of the good he's done.
Yeah, he did. The first one was back in the mid 50's when, as the story goes, he shot a guy in the back and killed him when the guy was said to be robbing one of King's numbers houses. King got off on that one because it was deemed "justfied". The second one was the infamous Sam Garrett incident in the mid 60's, when Garrett, who was working for King as an assistant, was said to have been attempting to cheat King out of a few hundred bucks, and when King confronted him a fist fight ensued and the result was Garrett ended up banging his head on the concrete (or King slammed his head there...*shugs). Garrett ended up dying about a week later after the incident, and King was convicted of second degree murder (later changed to manslaughter) and sentenced to ten years in prison, which he served only a few of thse years.
Or even Ohio's lame duck governors who, while in their last week of office, can give guys like King full pardons.
