Media Former UFC veteran says putting fighters first and paying them what they demand will ruin MMA (look at PFL and Francis)

[koa pomaikai]

Matt Brown explains why ‘fighter first’ promotions like PFL and GFL are likely destined to fail

Matt Brown says he just doesn’t see how promotions like these so-called "fighter first" leagues PFL or GFL find any longterm success, especially compared to the UFC.

www.mmafighting.com

Matt Browns says Dana White’s UFC has been the only business model that is successful in mma, and that is done by lowballing fighters rather than putting them first.

I agree, organizations like PFL that pays stupid amounts of money to people like Francis Ngannou, won’t survive. They are screwed.

“There’s only been one truly successful fight promotion in history — the UFC… they did not build it by helping fighters. I think that’s where they’re all kind of f*cking up.

I say that as a former fighter, I want to see everybody get paid and do well but the UFC built their business lowballing fighters and still almost went out of business.”

I think Brown is right especially when it came to UFC, PFL and Ngannou.

UFC did not give up their business model and held strong against Ngannou’s demands for more money. Ngannou goes to PFL to score huge paydays but can’t draw a crowd or fans to care and cost them a fortune.

Brown is right and Ngannou is the best example to show this.

Ngannou vs. Ferreira Flops On PPV | MMA News

Francis Ngannou's fight with Renan Ferreira reportedly sold a dismal 10,000 buys on PPV. The news will not be positive for the PFL. Learn more at boxingnews.com

boxingnews.com

Can anyone objectively say PFL didn’t make a massive mistake giving into Francis’s demands to sign him?

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Remember earlier this year when Matt Brown said the fault of low fighter pay was the fighters? Bright guy

 

[koa pomaikai]

Remember earlier this year when Matt Brown said the fault of low fighter pay was the fighters? Bright guy

Is what he is saying here wrong?

He is spitting facts.

Fact 1) ufc has been the only successful business model in mma.

Fact 2) UFC’s model is to lowball fighters

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Is what he is saying here wrong?

He is spitting facts.

Fact 1) ufc has been the only successful business model in mma.

Fact 2) UFC’s model is to lowball fighters

Pride's downfall had nothing to do with how well they paid fighters.

 

[azerty]

even if we says he right, i think there is a huge amount of middle ground between paying fighters whatever they ask for and giving 15% of the revenue while making record profit every year

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Lower Pay = More Profit

Welcome to business 101

 

[g*r*b]

What problems PFL has are more likely to be due to acquiring Bellator than the one-off of signing Francis. A common downfall of businesses is expanding too big too fast, and their model of a regular "season" and bracket playoffs simply doesn't scale up well. It's true enough that a promotion just starting out and paying big $$$$$ for talent inevitably tanks (Affliction etc.); when you're putting yourself on the thinner margin of profits you don't have the reserves to ride out the loss of a big fight or an adverse outcome that is inevitable in the fight biz. But I think PFL had been stable enough to absorb one big name loss leader if that was all they had to deal with.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

Matt Brown is an imbecile. I’ve tried listening to “Fighter vs Writer” several times when I’m desperate for content, and I just can’t do it. Sadly, his idiocy is exacerbated by his CTE.

 

[FreddieRoachsVoice]

Oh wow... so if one extreme doesn't work, surely the other extreme is the correct choice by default, isn't it? Even a 3 year old having Goldilocks read to them understands that this is illogical.

UFC fighters can absolutely receive reasonable rate of pay so that they can afford to fully dedicate themselves to the sport. This would lead to higher quality fights (and more revenue for the UFC) because many potentially great fighters are not going to risk their livelihood to pursue a career with an extremely low likelihood of success. Even the tippy top MMA fighters make peanuts compared to other sports so why risk it? There's a reason we're not seeing college wrestlers dominate the UFC anymore and it's not a cliche like "the sport has evolved"... it's because you can make a better living using your degree than you can taking a shot at being a D level pro athlete.

It is very hard to believe the hype that we're seeing "the very best fighters of the world" when the majority of the fighters in the top promotion still have full time jobs outside of MMA. However, since the UFC has convinced everyone that they still showcase high quality talent, they can continue underpaying athletes plucked from developing countries and most people won't know the difference.

If you actually need any convincing that the UFC doesn't care about their fighters, remember that they prevent fighters from obtaining lucrative sponsorships of their own and instead, force them to represent sponsorship deals where they are paid pennies on the dollar while the UFC makes hundreds of millions of dollars. Mighty Mouse losing his X Box money so the UFC can shill the horrible Reebok uniforms was next level scum bag behavior and a deliberately malicious move to control fighters. They didn't have to pay a CENT extra to fighters to allow them to get sponsors... they just took money right off of their plates.

Monopolies are never a good thing... but Matt Brown got kicked in the fact for a living so I wouldn't expect him to say anything intelligent

 

[Morris88]

even if we says he right, i think there is a huge amount of middle ground between paying fighters whatever they ask for and giving 15% of the revenue while making record profit every year

Exactly this. It's a false dichotomy...

 

[HoiceNJuicy]

Matt Brown is an imbecile. I’ve tried listening to “Fighter vs Writer” several times when I’m desperate for content, and I just can’t do it. Sadly, his idiocy is exacerbated by his CTE.

Not helped by the guy who interviews him slurping him and repeating himself ad nauseam whenever he tries to make a point.

 

[Söze Aldo]

It's still greed and greed will hold back an organization long term. Nobody is saying the NFL or NBA are unsuccessful organizations because they revenue share ~50% with their players, as opposed to 15%.

They attract all the best athletic talent doing that. The UFC model is to have every fighter be a Dana White contender who's just happy to not have to drive for Uber Eats anymore. The talent will noticeably go down hill, which will suck for the fans.

 

[mjoln]

"former ufc veteran"...why sherbros do this shit. Just say his name ffs. Matt Brown.

 

[ferrisjso]

The PFL has massive issues that have nothing to do with payscale. Their format is fan repellent and they don't have the years of credibility Bellator built up. Bellator was winning(in terms of survival) it was just a long burn and Viacom didn't give af they wanted money not to build a viable number 2 MMA promotion.

This comes off as reactionary propaganda.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

Not helped by the guy who interviews him slurping him and repeating himself ad nauseam whenever he tries to make a point.

Yea Damon Martin is insufferable in that context. He’s actually pretty good on MMA Fighting when he’s not glazing MB.

 

[The-AxeMurderer]

Yeah hes right.

Paying NFL and NBA players what they want destroyed them.......wait.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

This comes off as reactionary propaganda.

Welcome to a @koa pomaikai thread

 

[Goatenstein]

How do you become a former UFC veteran? He is a former active UFC fighter and will always be a veteran.

 

[MEAN357]

How do you become a former UFC veteran? He is a former active UFC fighter and will always be a veteran.

He retired from being a UFC veteran

 

[NoSmilez]

I think at this point people are paying to see the UFC product.