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A shocking post by Lucifer Alpha that deserves its own thread.
Pre-Reebok: 'Bigfoot' Silva gifted $126,000 Maserati Gran Turismo by sponsor after Alistair Overeem knockout win at UFC 156
Reebok: Antonio Silva ($5,000)
Why should you, the MMA fan, care?
If you want MMA to attract the best athletes on earth, you should.
Right now, MMA remains a niche sport where part-time fighters (Carwin) and accountants with 4 years' training (Correia) can become title challengers. We want the best athletes to be able to dedicate their lives to the sport. No young, talented kid is going to take up a sport whose leading organization pays chump change. The kid is going to go do something else.
The greedy UFC is hogging the sponsorship money so that it can make money in the short term, while hurting the sport in the long term. Dana is doing the very thing that he accused boxing promoters of doing.
PS: Lots of UFC sockpuppets have been responding, so I summarize their replies, and my rebuttals, below.
1. But..but...the fighters can still get sponsors, just not for the fight itself!
The fight is the one time that all eyeballs are on a fighter. Do you seriously believe that a sponsor is going to pay real money for a fighter to talk up his product on twitter a few times or get his picture taken on instagram with it?
2. But...but...what about people like Sharapova, who gets sponsored by Tag even if she doesn't wear their watches to court?
Sharapova, Tiger Woods and athletes like them are very special cases because they are popular enough to be mobbed by paparazzi and have the spotlight on them even when they're not competing. There isn't a single UFC fighter that has the same kind of 24/7 media attention on their lives.
3. But..but...the NFL and other leagues have mandatory sponsored uniforms!
In these leagues, the apparel sponsor payouts were negotiated between the player's unions and management. In the UFC's case, the UFC arbitrarily decided to keep the lion's share for themselves and dole out the rest in pittances to the fighters.
4. But..but..the UFC is responsible for growing the sport, they invested all the money to publicize it and bring eyeballs on events. It's only fair that they should get the lion's share!
The fighters make an investment in each event as well - with literally their blood, sweat and tears. The fighters barter away their future well-being. In this "partnership," the UFC contributes money. The fighters contributes the years taken from their lives.
5. It's a free market. The fighters can go do something else if they want.
Right, It's a free market. So a future Jon Jones is going to go to football, not MMA, because this market pays chump change.
A future Rich Franklin is going to remain a math professor because it will pay steadier money, and this market pays chump change.
A future Shogun is going to play soccer instead, because this market pays chump change.
If you are a true fan, you want the greatest athletes in the world doing glorious combat, not being the best at shooting balls through hoops, or wasting their talent in some desk job.
To attract the greatest athletes, the sport has to make it worth their while.
They put themselves through inhumanly grueling training camps that would break 99.99% of human beings. They get their bones broken and their faces shattered. In this sport, the purest sport of all, the fighters embody the greatest virtues of humanity - bravery, courage, grace, and determination. To ask a human being to make that kind of sacrifice, that dedication, that commitment - you should pay him well.
Pre-Reebok: 'Bigfoot' Silva gifted $126,000 Maserati Gran Turismo by sponsor after Alistair Overeem knockout win at UFC 156
Reebok: Antonio Silva ($5,000)
Why should you, the MMA fan, care?
If you want MMA to attract the best athletes on earth, you should.
Right now, MMA remains a niche sport where part-time fighters (Carwin) and accountants with 4 years' training (Correia) can become title challengers. We want the best athletes to be able to dedicate their lives to the sport. No young, talented kid is going to take up a sport whose leading organization pays chump change. The kid is going to go do something else.
The greedy UFC is hogging the sponsorship money so that it can make money in the short term, while hurting the sport in the long term. Dana is doing the very thing that he accused boxing promoters of doing.
PS: Lots of UFC sockpuppets have been responding, so I summarize their replies, and my rebuttals, below.
1. But..but...the fighters can still get sponsors, just not for the fight itself!
The fight is the one time that all eyeballs are on a fighter. Do you seriously believe that a sponsor is going to pay real money for a fighter to talk up his product on twitter a few times or get his picture taken on instagram with it?
2. But...but...what about people like Sharapova, who gets sponsored by Tag even if she doesn't wear their watches to court?
Sharapova, Tiger Woods and athletes like them are very special cases because they are popular enough to be mobbed by paparazzi and have the spotlight on them even when they're not competing. There isn't a single UFC fighter that has the same kind of 24/7 media attention on their lives.
3. But..but...the NFL and other leagues have mandatory sponsored uniforms!
In these leagues, the apparel sponsor payouts were negotiated between the player's unions and management. In the UFC's case, the UFC arbitrarily decided to keep the lion's share for themselves and dole out the rest in pittances to the fighters.
4. But..but..the UFC is responsible for growing the sport, they invested all the money to publicize it and bring eyeballs on events. It's only fair that they should get the lion's share!
The fighters make an investment in each event as well - with literally their blood, sweat and tears. The fighters barter away their future well-being. In this "partnership," the UFC contributes money. The fighters contributes the years taken from their lives.
5. It's a free market. The fighters can go do something else if they want.
Right, It's a free market. So a future Jon Jones is going to go to football, not MMA, because this market pays chump change.
A future Rich Franklin is going to remain a math professor because it will pay steadier money, and this market pays chump change.
A future Shogun is going to play soccer instead, because this market pays chump change.
If you are a true fan, you want the greatest athletes in the world doing glorious combat, not being the best at shooting balls through hoops, or wasting their talent in some desk job.
To attract the greatest athletes, the sport has to make it worth their while.
They put themselves through inhumanly grueling training camps that would break 99.99% of human beings. They get their bones broken and their faces shattered. In this sport, the purest sport of all, the fighters embody the greatest virtues of humanity - bravery, courage, grace, and determination. To ask a human being to make that kind of sacrifice, that dedication, that commitment - you should pay him well.
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