UFC Fighter Pay Blog - Matt Brown perfect representation of performance enhancing pay

Words of warning, this is long.

A lot of people took to fighter pay last year saying it was not just and even fighters like Jacob Volkmann thought the pay was terrible.

There is plenty of money around in Prize Fighting and the better you are, the more popular fighter you are and most importantly the consistency you perform will help your base pay. Let's take a look at Matt Brown, he was on 1-4 stretch between 2010 and 2011 and although I was unable to find the Official Payouts for all those five fights (UFC 111 never got published) it looks as though his pay base was 10,000 Dollars. Obviously this is just the UFC payroll and not whatever sponsorships and money he lost having to pay trainers etc... but it's safe to say during that 5-fight stretch Matt Brown earned a minimum 50K.

Since then Matt Brown has gone 7-0 and is now considered a top contender, with the UFC interested in booking Hector Lombard vs The Dong who knows who Matt Brown's next fight will come against, Tarec Saffiedine? Depending on which winner out of the fights between MacDonald and Woodley/Lawler and Ellenberger gets to fight Hendricks next then he might end up booked with the other respective winner.

Anyway, for the pay, UFC official payout (including fight bonuses), Brown has climbed the base scale in those 7 fights and although it might not look much on paper it all adds up. His first win in his current run was against Cope and netted him 30k let's see this unfold:

beats Cope:15k Base 15k Win = 30k
beats Thompson: 18k Base 18k Win = 36k
beats Ramos: 18k Base 18k Win = 36k
beats Swick: 27k Base 27k Win = 54k
beats Mein: 30k Base 30k Win = 60k + 50k Fight Night Bonus
beats Pyle: 33k Base 33k Win = 66k + 50k KO Bonus
beats Silva: 41k Base 41k Win = 82k + 100K Fight Night & Performance Bonus

So Matt Brown has earned himself a minimum of $564,000 with fighter pay alone in the UFC, he's slowly progressed up the ladder and now finds himself in the UFC Top 10 and although he might not never fight for a Belt or become a Champion he can probably earn $250k-300k in his next 4-5 fight in the UFC.

People say the fighter pay is too low for those starting and why can't the UFC invest more than 8k in a fighter, but let's be realistic, these fighters don't usually do that well in the UFC and having gone 1-2 or 0-2 get cut. Occasionally you get a fighter like Sam Sicilia who hangs around for a few more fights despite his record and yes the argument can be made that his pay isn't great but the UFC were willing to put faith behind him as fighter probably due to his exciting style which could be why is he still getting fights, though he could probably find himself a better deal elsewhere in my opinion:

beats Marcello: 8k Base 8k Win Bonus
loses to Jason: 8k Base
loses to Blanco: 8k Base
beats Castro: 8k Base 8k Win Bonus
loses to Miller: 10k Base
Totals around $58,000 in a span of 2 years and 4 months work. But Matt Brown was once in a similar position to that and if Sicilia was to get a Performance of the Night bonus and maybe strung together 2 or 3 wins, even if they don't improve his position within the UFC (e.g. fights to get him near Top 20) he could earn himself, three wins at current base/win contract: 20k + 20k + 20k plus 50k Bonus = $110,000.

It's clear that the UFC rewards it's fighters well and if they perform well, if they don't then normally they get cut and can find themselves a better contract elsewhere: see Shields and Fitch for getting a better deal for themselves after not being re-signed by UFC.

I'm sure that if Fitch and Shields were to rack up 4 impressive victories outside the UFC then they would return but why would the UFC invest in two fighters that may have been Top 10 fighters for the last 5 or so years but don't perform well against the Top 5 in the division? If the UFC had kept both Fitch and Shields for 2 more fights each then the UFC would have had to have paid roughly (based on their last couple fights pay scales) around over $280,000 (0.0279% of UFC estimate value lol) just for Fitch and Shields "Show" money and would they have won those next two fights? Possibly not, well Fitch and Shields would probably beat any unranked UFC welterweight but that wouldn't gain Fitch or Shields anything, they both lost their last fight in the UFC and would need to have fought someone in the Top 10 in their next fight and could you say that Fitch beats Lombard or Shields beats Lawler from there most recent performances? It's very risky for the UFC to make that investment.

Sorry for long post and going off slightly near the end but my point is, if you aren't a UFC fighter then you can't really moan or complain about fighter pay, it's not even relevant, it's Prize Fighting and Business at the end of the day. The fighters know what they are getting themselves into and at the end of the day if they can't compete at the highest levels then they can't expect to get a pay rise can they?

I'd be very happy walking into the UFC after 4 fights and getting paid 6k to show and 6k to win, especially considering I only earn 20k a year in my job as it is. UFC has lot's of ways for the fighters to earn extra money and gives out incentives as much as any company would to encourage fighters. Many will argue that a company worth a billion dollars or whatever should pay their fighters more but I don't think they understand the model behind the UFC, the UFC is a product and follows more of a business reward model than a sports model in terms of salaries.

Heck, the company I work for in the UK has a estimated Revenue of

 

The UFC is more than fair when it comes to fighter pay.

The funny thing is the same people whining about fighter pay are saying:

1) "The UFC is losing popularity massively"

2) "Streaming of events is great. Dana should just deal wid it"

Irony at its best!

 

Tl;dr?

 

Fighters should look at UFC as a regular job but with great commission rates. Simple. Plus I can't see how a fighter goes into a fight not considering the fact that the only reason they get any money is because most people pay for the tickets to see KOs and sub...

 

Spoiler

EDIT: Pic was bigger than I thought it was going to be so I put it in a spoiler.

 

There is no doubt that if you win in the UFC and you have a reputation for being exciting and interesting, you will make some money over time. They probably have one of the most incentivized business models of any sport. UFC has done the hard work of building the dominant brand, and thus they are now in favorable position. Fighters have nowhere else to go but to a lesser promotion.


The issues that seem to bother people are:

---Entry level fighters have to scrape by and are barely at a middle class level - and that's only if they are fortunate enough to get enough fights. Many work other jobs. This contrasts the perception that when you reach the highest sports league, you should be making above average money - enough that you can focus 100% on training while being able to support a family.

---Boxing's stars usually make more money as they are getting a larger portion of the pie. In what's considered a major UFC PPV event, you can have one main event fighter actually only have a five figure guarantee. For big PPV's in boxing, even the challenger is usually getting a seven figure guarantee.

 

Someone with "Total Posts 2,561" who enters a thread and delivers unnecessary hate, certainly sounds like you also sit on your "ass" all day doing shit :icon_lol:

My job required a 2:1 Degree in Computer Science which might not be the most challenging thing in the world but it certainly questions "most literate people".

You can argue your point is valid when regarding the Sports Top Fighters such as Jon Jones and Renan Barao but I can't see how you can state: "Not only it requires natural talent, but it requires extreme dedication to continue improving technique and fitness level"

Spoiler

that's just a poor statement for anyone to make. Sure I'm no athlete, I don't train UFC, I just sit on my arse all day like you breh so quit hating on others and try and improve yourself, maybe get yourself a personal trainer?

 

This.

 

You are grossly overstating the barrier of entry to the UFC.

 

you and TS are forgetting all the costs that are a part of "being an MMA fighter". They should be paid more, its that simple. Not everyone deserves a LOT more, but when 1 boxer is making more in a year than the ENTIRE UFC ROSTER put together, that's definitely not a good thing. Yes, the GSP's may make a ton, but the guys at the bottom make next to nothing and they take the same risk of entering the cage as he does.