If UFC paid fighters the same as the most popular sports teams....

[Ghostoftheville]

I’ve always wondered, what sports in america does the average healthy man go into professionally? Assuming he is 5 foot 10 and 170 pounds. All the football guys are tall and heavy, the basketball guys are super tall. Is it baseball?

In America, that would be major league soccer at that size. The average salary on the lowest paying team in the league, according to Google, is a bit over 300k. League minimum for a rookie is 67k and veterans minimum is 87k.

 

[roganisonly5foot3]

You realize football and basketball have billions of fans and nobody really watches the ufc right. Hell half the members here on sherdog don’t even watch anymore

 

[Ghostoftheville]

Why don't you try looking at the size of other sports teams rosters of ~50 vs the UFC's roster size of 915 and

The UFC can obviously pay better than they do. Continuing to compare them to much, much smaller teams worth billions each team will never not be stupid. No shit they get more pay.

You're doing yourself a disservice with that example.

 

[TGArthur]

Probably because people absurdly compare bush league level fighters of the UFC roster to pro athletes' pay.

Maybe if you compared them to minor league/NBA G league pay, it doesn't look so absurd.

 

[SadBunny]

White belt troll thread..

Either you’ve been banned before, and returned? Or your join date was literally the first time you learned about the UFC?

Either way.. I’m not biting on that bullshit. Go play somewhere else, kid.


View attachment 1037657

You are one confused individual my dude.

But <3 to you anyway.

 

[checktheknuckles]

Athletes love to compete... so why not in the Ultimate Proving Ground

Athletes love money more. Why work for some wife beat like Dana White, who slaps his wife, talks shits about the fans, talks shits about the fighters, and talks shits about anyone else in between? You ever see the president of the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, etc talk shit about its fans? Not to mention the vastly shittier pay for the UFC as well. Dana Trash White bless.

 

[SadBunny]

My guess is, not unless they offer college scholarships for MMA…

But I feel that many athletes who might not be having the pro career they want might be tempted to cross over…

Especially heavyweights.

Fighting -- which is destroying another human's health -- is illegal at its core.

It is not like those other sports.

It must be sanitized, regulated and sanctioned by commissions to create a legal format to be enjoyed by fans.

It's not the same...

Probably not. The obvious reasons it would be a better deal are you can live wherever you want, or wherever you can find a good gym, you only have to show up a few times/year instead of every day for the whole season plus preseason and post season and constant travel, and it's a much smaller talent pool.

The reason they wouldn't is because they don't and couldn't have MMA as a school sport. You can wrestle in school, but you can't knock the crap out of each other and take a bunch of concussions while you're a minor. It's closer to boxing in that way than it is to team sports, because most people know lots of people who play the major sports, but very few young people know any boxers from school.

Fighter pay is extremely overrated in terms of attracting high-end athletes.

Would higher pay attract more wrestlers, kickboxers, and bjj players to mma? Yes. But it wouldn't make a difference in terms of athletes who "choose" to play soccer, basketball, football, baseball, hockey, etc. People in those team sports started playing when they were very young. Children don't start playing basketball because NBA players make a lot of money; generally speaking, they play the sports that are baked into the fabric of the community they're in.

If we're talking about attracting LeBron James to mma, you don't throw a bunch of money at him when he's 18. By that point, he's already firmly established in his sporting trajectory. You have to increase participation by kids from a young age--which is obviously a very hard sell for most parents.

Thing is, combat sports are still combat first, im guessing you are talking about the USA leagues, NBA, NFL and MLB, those are games, not saying this as a tough guy line, you dont play combat sports, sure it might attract more talent with better pay, boxing has a HUGE talent pool, there is a division for anyone, but you still require certain type to be able to compete at the highest level.

i had a few friend who competed in the olympics in track and field

and i can say without asking them, none of them made any real money from their sports
they all had to stop at some point and take a job opportunity that came to them
yes they got some opportunities in workplace, but really mma fighters in the UFC are getting paid

here is a simple example, during the high season everybody is scheduled for the national(qualification for world/Olympics)
and if a promoter organise a road race lets say with 5K price for the winner, you'll have the best runners in the country show up at this race

Rousey was an olympian and was broke before starting mma, and she got paid a fortune in mma

Y'all made some excellent points. I think all of us here want to see MMA transcend the UFC which (imo) is quickly turning MMA into the WWE. Instead of what it could be; a sport with accredited accolades and Athletes recognized for their athletic excellence.

Boxing is a perfect example, a sport which is full of young athletes, who have honed their skills from a young age to achieve the highest honors on a global stage. Then, get the bag($$$) through fun and sports entertainment.

 

[markg171]

You're doing yourself a disservice with that example.

Les Grossman refusing to negotiate with absurd terrorist demands to instead continue making money exploiting his employees seems pretty apropriate here actually.

 

[KarateYeah]

i fought my first amateur fight 2 weeks ago...

it's something different from other sports .... most people wouldn't want that smoke

Yeah right. Most people wouldn't want? Most people DEFINETLY don't want and not ashamed to admit I am one of them lol..congrats on your first fight. How was it?

 

[dc007]

No. You have to be off in the head to want to do this sport. If money was the same and you could play baseball instead, you'd play baseball.

 

[Yellowcrab]

No way would it change. You might get a few extras trying but they'd never get to the UFC level in MMA.

People play sports because they enjoy it and that is what attracts them to any sport first and foremost. Many lose that enjoyment and bail out somewhere along the way.

Fighting in a cage takes very different kind of person than someone trying to kick a ball. Everyone will try to kick a ball, not everyone is lining up to get punched in the face.

MMA pay has literally very little to do with drawing in new blood to the sport.

Sure, they don't care about money, hence why so many MMA fighters want to go in boxing, because they don't care about money