So… Are Fighter Pay Discussions Dead Now?

[JPOMMA]

LOL so why are these one dimensional former soviet state fighters suddenly decimating all of these strikers with grappling? Sure doesn't look like these strikers have magically developed excellent takedown defense. Grappler beats striker 9/10 times... but why are all of the grapplers nearly exclusively coming from developing countries where the small UFC purses go much further?

The MMA pioneers fought for the love of fighting... they were not making good money as you stated. However, when the sport blew up in popularity in the mid 2000s, fighters started making pretty decent money... particularly from sponsorship opportunities and cuts from PPV buys. The opportunity at big money + fame + competition = attractive to young athletes so MMA attracted a lot of high level talent... much higher than the pioneer days and much higher quality than now.

However, the UFC eventually became big enough that they virtually stopped turning fighters into stars and just used the UFC Brand itself as the main draw (after getting burned by a lot of their stars jumping ship elsewhere/being difficult to control). This process was gradual but evidently was successful as they can now have a card nearly every weekend somewhere in the world with absolute piss poor talent on it and fans will still inexplicably watch/buy tickets. With extremely restrictive contracts and no chance at drawing your own sponsorships, why take on the risk of becoming a fighter if you come from an expensive country?

That's not to say that there isn't some great talent from around the world but MMA is an expensive sport to train for that has a very low likelyhood of making a good living at. We are not seeing the best of the best when even guys in the top promotion have to have full time jobs in order to support themselves. As I stated before, poor fighter pay leads to poor quality talent. Why get punched in the face for a living when you have a college degree? Well, many aren't now.

Another dynamic to take into account is that doing sports is disappearing from young people’s lives in the US. In fact, 2019 was the first time in 30 years that participation in high school sports registered a declineLink

If we think of US fighters who got involved in fighting sports young, like Poirier or Masvidal…in today’s world, they’d spending their time on tiktok, twitter and so on. Not out in the gym after school to one day be a UFC fighter.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

Lmao.

In the space of like 20 years we've gone from "American boxing is declining because of the rise of MMA and the NFL/NBA" to a few years later "American MMA is declining because of the NFL/NBA" and now we've apparently reached "Americans suck in their own combat sports league because of Youtube"

well yeah, look who is fighting Mike Tyson and knocked out how many UFC champions now? you act like it's a joke, but this shit is reality. Paige Van Zant made more money on OF then in UFC. OF content creators have made more money than ALL of the NBA COMBINED and it's not even CLOSE. i'm talking BILLIONS MORE. so laugh at the dorks on social media but there are 20 yr old kids right now that you have no idea who the fuck that is who could buy your whole block with that influencer money. it's not just youtube bro, it's EVERYTHING on the internet. 1 video across multiple platforms, every day, millions of views. shit stacks up real quick.

The kind of people you see in a BKFC ring today are the exact kind of people you would have seen in a cage 20 years ago. Tattooed American white dudes with mohawks and shit calling themselves "pitbull" etc etc. It basically proves they still exist, they just dont get very far in MMA now because the competition is too stiff/professional.

yeah 20 years ago, why are you comparing it to 20 years ago? Johny Hendricks, Tyron Woodley, Colby Covington, Kamaru Usman, Jon Jones these guys aren't 20 years ago. these are American wrestlers who some are STILL active and were UFC champions not too long ago or still a UFC champ in Jon's case. you're acting like America has nothing and has been completely blown away for years by Soviets, and it's just not true. Jon Jones alone shits on all the Soviet's accomplishments combined in UFC.

 

[bng]

free market economy 101:
- anyone can make a company offering their goods/services (as long as it doesn't violate the rules of the country in which it happens)
- entertainment company offering people to view its fights
- entertainment company can pay whatever it wants to its contractors and charge how much it wants its clients (until company violates the rules of the country in which it happens)

if you dont like it as a contractor:
a) move to a competitor
b) switch to another job
c) if you think your employer is huge enough to be considered as US strategic industry or Major sports league, you can try declaring a labor/athlete union and from legal grounds demand better conditions from your employer. I would recommend studying Harvard Trade Union Program first, so in the end of the day you wont owe your employer or top9231913213 ranked fighter from Indonesia.

if you are 3rd party:
a) move to a competitor
b) become a competitor

if you think its legit to ask a private company to raise salary on a "you wont get poorer if you do so" basis, then ask ur current boss for a salary raise using the same phrase. Be sure to record a video so we all can have fun seeing how fast you get the reality grip with ur bosses response.

 

[Eric Silva 2.0]

Remember when we used to hear about fighter pay issues all the time? It felt like every other week someone was calling out Dana and the UFC over low pay. But lately… nothing but crickets. Is this because the lawsuit against the UFC fizzled out? Or are people just tired of talking about it, now that it seems like a change may never come?


With Trump back in office, it feels like any legal push for change—like expanding the Ali Act to MMA—is even less likely. The UFC has such a strong grip on the sport and keeps fighters under tight contracts, so it’s like they’ve just accepted the way things are. But that raises a big question for us as fans: are we okay with this? Is everyone just over it, or do we still think fighter pay needs to improve?

It's not only fighter pay but fighters should have health benefits for life and pensions based on years of service. Fighters are dealing with injuries throughout their lives well after their careers are over. The UFC should be responsible since it is from participating in the sport (working for the company). It's crazy how they get away with stuff like this. There aren't any more threads because this has been talked about ad nauseum. The idea that fighters can be classified as 'independent contractors' and told to wear uniforms, locked into long-term contracts, can't fight for other organizations, can't have sponsors etc... is borderline criminal.

I'm an old guy so I remember when an independent contractor was independent. Now it is just a way for companies to protect themselves from having employees. It's basically a scam.

 

[Zanmato]

Everything that could ever be said on the subject has already been said at least 15 times. No one drafting UFC contracts is reading and nothing you say will influence their position

 

[jooohnmatrix]

I am more concerned about teachers and nurses pay, individuals that actually do something worthwhile for society and are paid poorly for it.

Never understood why Americans are so obsessed with money and especially what fighters make, it’s bizarre to me. These guys can look after themselves and your virtue signaling and need for validation and likes on sherdog do nothing for them.

 

[mangokush]

The fighters should actually be paying Dana & the UFC to take part in the opportunity to fight in the cage

Dana & the UFC has done more for MMA than any other fight org, Dana & the UFC were bleeding money when they first started, only when they started making money, people started crying on how "greedy" Dana & the UFC is and how they pay their fighters very little

Dana & the UFC isn't forcing those fighters to fight in the UFC, they can always fight somewhere else

 

[markys00]

NEVER!!

we will pretend to know everything and argue as if our own flesh and blood are fighting is fighting this weekend

 

[ocfightfan]

The science has been settled. Fighters should not be paid. Fighting for scraps off Dana's banquet table is the new way forward.

 

[ocfightfan]

The fighters should actually be paying Dana & the UFC to take part in the opportunity to fight in the cage

Dana & the UFC has done more for MMA than any other fight org, Dana & the UFC were bleeding money when they first started, only when they started making money, people started crying on how "greedy" Dana & the UFC is and how they pay their fighters very little

Dana & the UFC isn't forcing those fighters to fight in the UFC, they can always fight somewhere else

This man gets it.

 

[Bubzeh]

We're all to blame really. The fans that encourage these new 12/12 contracted fighters from all corners of the globe where they're hungry to just send money back to their families in the favelas, while we're also cool with fighters getting cut after 3 fights so the UFC doesn't have to renogitiace to anything higher than 12/12. Also, of course, the fighters themselves for bowing down and accepting the 12/12 opportunities.

That being said, I do not care about fighter pay, just my own pay. So happy to sit back and watch.