Should all UFC fighters make $30000/year + their fight money?

Maybe if they aren't making enough money they should get a side job. Chris Lytle was a full time fire fighter his entire career. Would you say this 40ish hour a week job made him a bad fighter? Could he have become GSP level if he put 40 more hours a week in?

Too many people in society want something for doing nothing. You don't like your financial situation? Change something to make more money
 
j18lee said:
Didn't read the rest of your post, but just want you to know that many boxers get paid yearly stipends as well. They can and do have that written into contracts.

Just saying, you don't know what you're talking about.
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That's a negotiated part of their contract, not a "all fighters under contract make a yearly salary of _____________". That's where the problem lies.
 
No... just no. Fighters know they are entering a risky profession before they start. It's not the company's responsibility to overpay guys who quite frankly aren't worth it. In the words of Mickey, "I'm running a business, not a damn soup kitchen"
 
Oblivian said:
That's a negotiated part of their contract, not a "all fighters under contract make a yearly salary of _____________". That's where the problem lies.
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My problem was with you saying "Boxing and MMA have been based under a prizefighting concept for a reason. It's designed that you are actually paid for your performances."

I'm just saying this part of your statement is incorrect. Don't assume yearly stipends do not exist, negotiated or not. So no, in boxing at the least, their earnings are not solely for paid performances.
 
I don't think fighters should be paid for not fighting. If we are working with the ufc spending that kind of money...up show money minimums.
 
Oblivian said:
I mean why would they want to do this vs. just upping show + win bonus? It's a logistic nightmare. All fighters under contract get this $30k? A guy on the shelf for an entire year gets a $30k base while someone who fights 3 times that year has the same base? A fighter could literally just collect his $30k and claim he is too injured to fight while making money on the side coaching or in another job. They obviously want to pay based off of work being performed for reasons like this.
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It's not a bad idea and not too difficult to write into a contract.

$30k base, paid in monthly installments. Eliminate show money, keep win bonuses. Make number of fights per year mandatory so that you can cut people who aren't meeting that number and you think they're cheating.

And the reason you do it is that a stipend allows the fighter to focus on training without splitting attention. You can still cut him/her for all the usual reasons. And if he/she never wins, you're only paying out the same as 3 fights worth of show money.
 
Lovetap said:
I see a BIG reason why an injured fighter should still get paid:

Usually it's a JOB RELATED injury. For example training or from a previous fight. In most jobs the employer even has to pay the worker during this time. That the UFC doesn't goes back to the whole employee versus IC fiasco. That people think the UFC shouldn't have to pay anything when a fighter gets injured while training to do their job just shows how ridiculous things have become. It's almost to the point where we are watching slaves fight.
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They are not paying them to train though, they are paying them to fight. How often, how little , where, when, how, those are all up to the fighter. You want UFC to pay for trainging, you better believe they'll control where and how, etc of their training, say good bye to many of these training camps then.
 
no this isn't welfare.

puts some asses in the seats bitch and stop looking for a handout
 
Oblivian said:
Again, you are just giving an argument for higher pay and not really saying why salary would be attractive to Zuffa. Zuffa is now responsible for sending out payroll weekly or monthly? Expense. If the idea is that you want the minimum pay to be X, why not just raise the show money to be 1/3 of X? Basically, a fighter who gets in 3 fights a year will make the minimum. The money is still there and it's up to the fighter to manage it.
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Your "perfect world" way of thinking isn't realistic. Injuries happen in all sports. You are talking like a guy that's never gotten hurt. If your comeback is going to be "I've been hurt many times" than please think more about what you're saying. On top of that, how many of these new guys have any idea of how to manage $? Most of them have been living off of shit jobs for at least a few years. Don't you think their pay being broken up might also be a good thing for them and their financial well being.
I did make 2 points about why salary seems like the right thing to do. I will never argue why something is more attractive to owners without also thinking about why it makes more sense for the fighters. Big corps can argue for themselves, they don't need your help... but the fighters sure do. Less injuries and more time for training to help create a much more consistent product seems like it should be enough. The UFC is really pushing their luck with this Reebok deal. Don't you think it would be smart to do something that actually benefits the fighters for a change and not just themselves? Good publicity goes a long way. Nevermind the fact that a base salary would bring new fighters into the sport. There are probably many top athletes out there who would like to fight but just can't risk it because of family etc
 
If they're looking to change their structure it could work. It would involve hiring guys with a minimum fight 'no cut' contract over a period of time, something like three fights over one year. It would certainly invest in their roster and fostering new talent.

That's not really prize fighting though. They have regional shows for guys to cut their teeth and they sign guys giving them the platform to not only demonstrate their skills, but sell their product (ie themselves). Not ever guy uses that platform to the fullest extent and it can be argued that not every guy is given a fair shake.

It's not a terrible idea, but it's not one that's enticing to the organization. Their current structure seems to be working fine for them.
 
Forever Young said:
i'm not sure, actually. I was angrily typing as my boss was talking about some stupid shit and just kind of overreacted. Sorry bout that.
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Sounds like you should be more concerned with your job than anyone else's. I have long suspected many of these fighter pay threads are just manifestations of personal unhappiness in their own professional situations.

Edit: Yes, yes I'm a heartless asshole.
 
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TruckHunter said:
Better trained athletes, more people wanting a UFC job / to train MMA.
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Ufc already has well trained athletes and every fighter wants to be in the ufc(even the ones that claim they dont).
 
panamaican said:
It's not a bad idea and not too difficult to write into a contract.

$30k base, paid in monthly installments. Eliminate show money, keep win bonuses. Make number of fights per year mandatory so that you can cut people who aren't meeting that number and you think they're cheating.

And the reason you do it is that a stipend allows the fighter to focus on training without splitting attention. You can still cut him/her for all the usual reasons. And if he/she never wins, you're only paying out the same as 3 fights worth of show money.
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Again, what do you do with guys who are legitimately injured? So you have someone who only gets in one fight for the year and loses. He sits on the shelf the rest of the year and brings in $30k. You then have another guy who fights three times that year with three losses and he only gets $30k?

Davelh said:
Your "perfect world" way of thinking isn't realistic. Injuries happen in all sports. You are talking like a guy that's never gotten hurt. If your comeback is going to be "I've been hurt many times" than please think more about what you're saying. On top of that, how many of these new guys have any idea of how to manage $? Most of them have been living off of shit jobs for at least a few years. Don't you think their pay being broken up might also be a good thing for them and their financial well being.
I did make 2 points about why salary seems like the right thing to do. I will never argue why something is more attractive to owners without also thinking about why it makes more sense for the fighters. Big corps can argue for themselves, they don't need your help... but the fighters sure do. Less injuries and more time for training to help create a much more consistent product seems like it should be enough. The UFC is really pushing their luck with this Reebok deal. Don't you think it would be smart to do something that actually benefits the fighters for a change and not just themselves? Good publicity goes a long way. Nevermind the fact that a base salary would bring new fighters into the sport. There are probably many top athletes out there who would like to fight but just can't risk it because of family etc
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Your argument in what I originally quoted is really the same as an argument for increasing pay. There is nothing in that previous quote that wouldn't apply to just increasing base pay + bonus pay. Your argument is essentially "pay more" which didn't explain why salary would make more sense.

In this quote above, you ramble on a lot about increasing pay with only one point about why salary would help. Basically stating they do not know how to manage money. Strong argument there.
 
So no win bonuses, just straight pay?

Because it appears that the lowest pay in the UFC now is $10k show, $10k to win.

So if a fighter fights twice a year and wins, they'll be taking a pay cut with your plan at $30k/year.
 
I'm in favor of fighters being adults and negotiating for their pay and signing on to make that amount.

Then when they win and show that they are worth more, negotiate for more.

Why is that so horrible?
 
i think a better incentive would be if they had a contract option for people who don't get high base show money and who don't get points where they would be given $10k when they signed for a fight. so you'd have people who were on a 10/10/10 deal. 10 to sign the fight, 10 to show, 10 to win.

They could use the signing pay to help cover the cost of training or to take a leave of absence from their job so they could train full time. It also avoids the potential problem of disincentivizing fighters which paying them regardless of if they fight might cause.

I'd also be tempted to put a condition in the contract that requires them to reimburse the UFC for that advanced money if they fail to show for the fight. That could be a little harsh on fighters though and would encourage them to hide injuries they shouldn't be fighting with. It also gives the UFC a lot of leverage over fighters once they've signed to a fight, so overall it's probably better for the UFC to just eat the loss and if a guy does it consistently, just cut him.
 
hell freaking no

first of all all 600 fighters don't fight every year. I would say 400 of them is more realistic.

second why should guys that aren't putting in 40hrs a week in the gym or asses in the seats make more than hard working americans.

an average fighter should be considered lucky to pull in 40k a year fighting twice. thats only 2 3 month camps.
 
Oblivian said:
Again, what do you do with guys who are legitimately injured? So you have someone who only gets in one fight for the year and loses. He sits on the shelf the rest of the year and brings in $30k. You then have another guy who fights three times that year with three losses and he only gets $30k?
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So what? Life's not fair and they'll both get cut.
 
panamaican said:
So what? Life's not fair
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You can use that same argument for the current fighter pay situation.

But the current fighter pay situation is better because the pay is EARNED.

Apparently, that is lost on so many people in this day and age of everyone getting a trophy just for participating.

People forget that many things have to be earned, rather than just given to them.
 
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