What should the UFC do with Ngannou's contract situation?

[BEATDOWNS]

Sell it to Fury throw and in a hotdog brander or 2 to sweeten the pot.

 

[StonedLemur]

They really gonna hardball their Heavyweight champion and force him to sit out 2 years because they don't want to pay him more than $600k?

I feel there's an avenue to 1) pay the man. He should be making at least 1.5 mil per UFC fight as base pay. They have the money, they paid a whopping 2 million dollars in total fighter salary on the card (California AC makes them release fighter pay). That is covered by a measly 26,667 PPV buys at $75 a piece. Plus the ads everywhere and TV deals in non-ppv countries.

And 2) instead of paying hardball, Tyson Fury really wants to fight Ngannou in a boxing ring. UFC needs to enter the negotiations of what it would take to do a cross-promotion like they did with Connor vs Floyd. Rather than making it Ngannou vs UFC to get the boxing match, UFC can work with it and make some cash as well. Loan out Ngannou for like 30% of his boxing purse or something, or 50% of the profit from the event if they promote it too .

Ngannou gets his boxing match and payday, and UFC get their palm greased in the process and a taste of the mega boxing PPV revenue. And then their HW champ comes back to the octagon afterwards and we're not left with 3 years of what feels like an interim champ of whoever holds the strap while Francis is on the out.

A union is really the only way this shit gets rectified sir.
UFC has followed Vince Mcmahons blueprint to a T.
First they bought all the competition, leaving the fighters with less and less places to fight, and get paid.

Then they started doing a show a week, and 1 PPV a month.
All done on shit contracts, because they know they're the only big game in town.

If fighters don't unite, this will continue in one form or another in perpetuity.

 

[Goober stoober]

they'll resign him, give him the jones fight and we'll all forget this was an issue.

 

[Goober stoober]

If I’m Dana,

Freeze him out. Let him walk.

It’s actually a no brainer - from Dana’s and from a business perspective - and fans who are conflicted about this aren’t looking at it very clearly IMO.

And for the record, I am pro fighter, pro higher pay, and hope the UFC is forced by an outside entity to increase pay (cuz they sure have little incentive to do it themselves).

But the question isn’t “what would SFF do”….

dana so far has never let anyone that mattered leave. he won't cut jon jones for god sakes lol

he's gonna look dumb if he lets francis go earn millions elsewhere after being the one who signed him and gave him a platform. he's going to have more and more resistance from fighters and their managers going forward as well.

there's zero chance the ufc lets francis walk. he will fight for the ufc next and it will be jon jones.

 

[skylolow]

Here's a big picture for you.

(Source: Bloody Elbow)

I'm just gonna start posting this graph to every UFC shill on here, so y'all be prepared to be seeing a lot more of the above.

Not sticking up for the UFC, but there is more to the story than just a graph.

UFC is around 15 years into this company even making money. There is a reason why the major sports all went through a period of time in forming an association/union for the players. They were doing this also. As revenue increased the players felt they weren't being increased at a fast enough rate and even after being unionized they still have issues to this day. Some of the major sports were around for decades upon decades before they got representation at the table. The UFC's time will come there is no doubt about it and I guarantee you UFC brass knows that day is coming.


P.S.: Let's just say the UFC was giving 40% to the fighters. Do you really think that solves the problems for each individual fighter. They will always have fighters who think they deserve more of that 40%.

 

[CrocodileJoe]

We are all overlooking the fact that the UFC is owned by Endeavor, a major media company. The best thing to do, is show Ngannou that being the UFC champion comes with the perks of being employed by Endeavor, and broadcast on a platform owned by Disney. We should start seeing the UFC champs in marvel movies, tv series and anything else they can put them in. This would allow the fighter to make more money without hurting the ufc percentages and expose the champs to new people who are not current Mma fans. This could be win win.

 

[StonedLemur]

Not sticking up for the UFC, but there is more to the story than just a graph.

UFC is around 15 years into this company even making money. There is a reason why the major sports all went through a period of time in forming an association/union for the players. They were doing this also. As revenue increased the players felt they weren't being increased at a fast enough rate and even after being unionized they still have issues to this day. Some of the major sports were around for decades upon decades before they got representation at the table. The UFC's time will come there is no doubt about it and I guarantee you UFC brass knows that day is coming.


P.S.: Let's just say the UFC was giving 40% to the fighters. Do you really think that solves the problems for each individual fighter. They will always have fighters who think they deserve more of that 40%.

Sir, you are vastly over simplifying the matter.
If they were getting a 40% split then the base pay for the little guys would be enough where the wouldn't need to work a full-time job, and could train properly.

Thus giving consistently good performances.
Do you know another major sport where guys are working at furniture stores etc?
Me either.

The UFC has taken away almost every avenue these people had to make money, only to fuck them over with contracts that they can barely pay their gym fees with.

Im not sure that I can get on the same page with you.
Comparing them to the NFL, NHL, MLB is not even close to the right comparison.

There's only 600 fighters in the UFC and they're worth billions of dollars.
They had a record year last year during a global pandemic ffs.

They have enough to pay the fighters a fair wage...the fighters...you know the people that carry this greedy fuckin company.

 

[SeattleFightFan]

dana so far has never let anyone that mattered leave. he won't cut jon jones for god sakes lol

he's gonna look dumb if he lets francis go earn millions elsewhere after being the one who signed him and gave him a platform. he's going to have more and more resistance from fighters and their managers going forward as well.

there's zero chance the ufc lets francis walk. he will fight for the ufc next and it will be jon jones.

He won’t cut Jones because he has no incentive to.

If Ngannou can walk and is asking for $20m to not walk, let him walk. Or sue.

I just made a big assumption there. And many others have logically countered with “why would he want $20m? He’d take 5!” Neither they, you, or I know the numbers.

But between the lines, I think a) CAA thinks he can walk in a year and b) has convinced him he’s worth $20m+ in or outside the UFC, so c) if UFC doesn’t pony up, find it elsewhere.

I could be wrong.

But if true (again big if), I say Dana let him walk, wish him luck. E.g. not pay him $20m.

You say it would be embarrassing. I say Dana is already over it.

Lastly, if I’m wrong and he does negotiate for a moderate pay increase and he stays for, oh I don’t know, $5m per fight, I will gladly admit I read all the hints currently available, wrong.

TLDR: UFC is bigger than Conor and Jones, let alone Ngannou. And if he indeed can walk or ask for a huge number, he’s not worth the big number.

 

[StonedLemur]

He won’t cut Jones because he has no incentive to.

If Ngannou can walk and is asking for $20m to not walk, let him walk. Or sue.

I just made a big assumption there. And many others have logically countered with “why would he want $20m? He’d take 5!” Neither they, you, or I know the numbers.

But between the lines, I think a) CAA thinks he can walk in a year and b) has convinced him he’s worth $20m+ in or outside the UFC, so c) if UFC doesn’t pony up, find it elsewhere.

I could be wrong.

But if true (again big if), I say Dana let him walk, wish him luck. E.g. not pay him $20m.

You say it would be embarrassing. I say Dana is already over it.

TLDR: UFC is bigger than Conor and Jones, let alone Ngannou. And if he indeed can walk or ask for a huge number, he’s not worth the big number.

No incentive?
Oh he has shit loads of incentive sir, but what he don't want is Jones making money somewhere else.

 

[SeattleFightFan]

No incentive?
Oh he has shit loads of incentive sir, but what he don't want is Jones making money somewhere else.

What incentive does Dana have to cut Jon?

We both agree Dana prefers Jon not fighting to Jon fighting elsewhere, right?

 

[StonedLemur]

What incentive does Dana have to cut Jon?

I meant to right reasons, not incentives, but I can't edit because I have dubz.

 

[Draxton]

They really gonna hardball their Heavyweight champion and force him to sit out 2 years because they don't want to pay him more than $600k?

I feel there's an avenue to 1) pay the man. He should be making at least 1.5 mil per UFC fight as base pay. They have the money, they paid a whopping 2 million dollars in total fighter salary on the card (California AC makes them release fighter pay). That is covered by a measly 26,667 PPV buys at $75 a piece. Plus the ads everywhere and TV deals in non-ppv countries.

And 2) instead of paying hardball, Tyson Fury really wants to fight Ngannou in a boxing ring. UFC needs to enter the negotiations of what it would take to do a cross-promotion like they did with Connor vs Floyd. Rather than making it Ngannou vs UFC to get the boxing match, UFC can work with it and make some cash as well. Loan out Ngannou for like 30% of his boxing purse or something, or 50% of the profit from the event if they promote it too .

Ngannou gets his boxing match and payday, and UFC get their palm greased in the process and a taste of the mega boxing PPV revenue. And then their HW champ comes back to the octagon afterwards and we're not left with 3 years of what feels like an interim champ of whoever holds the strap while Francis is on the out.

Do you really think the UFC keeps 100% of each $75 PPV purchase?

 

[Horriblehim]

They should give him a contract with favorable terms which would put an end to the current contracts being handed out. That's why dana is shitting bricks, he knows once they offer that first contract, it's over. I hope Francis stands his ground on this

 

[skylolow]

Sir, you are vastly over simplifying the matter.
If they were getting a 40% split then the base pay for the little guys would be enough where the wouldn't need to work a full-time job, and could train properly.

Thus giving consistently good performances.
Do you know another major sport where guys are working at furniture stores etc?
Me either.

The UFC has taken away almost every avenue these people had to make money, only to fuck them over with contracts that they can barely pay their gym fees with.

Im not sure that I can get on the same page with you.
Comparing them to the NFL, NHL, MLB is not even close to the right comparison.

There's only 600 fighters in the UFC and they're worth billions of dollars.
They had a record year last year during a global pandemic ffs.

They have enough to pay the fighters a fair wage...the fighters...you know the people that carry this greedy fuckin company.

Actually, in the NFL in 70's many players had jobs in the off season. In the 50' and 60's almost all did. This is true in a lot of the major sports when looking back 60 to 75 years ago.

Billion dollars of revenue in sports is nice now days but it isn't a homerun either. NFL is going over 20 Billion a year when the new media deals signed kicks in, NBA is approaching 10 Billion a year, MLB over 10 billion. The UFC is just approaching a Billion and through out most of the 2010's hung around 500 Million area. The Endeavor era is when the UFC's media deals really got boosted and allowed the UFC to approach or pass 1 billion in Revenue.

Also I hate using other sports in any of these comparisons. We are talkin about sports with that are 60 to over 100 years old and trying to compare to MMA and outside of the UFC has had a horrible track record on the business side. These other sports have multi year media deals worth more then the UFC's revenue for years added up, multiple sponsor ship deals that pay more than the UFC made 10 years ago, the list just goes on and on. All these sports took advantage of the athletes for decades until they got a seat at the table. Even with that seat they still have issues and always will.

Once again, no doubt the fighters deserve more.

 

[StonedLemur]

Actually, in the NFL in 70's many players had jobs in the off season. In the 50' and 60's almost all did. This is true in a lot of the major sports when looking back 60 to 75 years ago.

Billion dollars of revenue in sports is nice now days but it isn't a homerun either. NFL is going over 20 Billion a year when the new media deals signed kicks in, NBA is approaching 10 Billion a year, MLB over 10 billion. The UFC is just approaching a Billion and through out most of the 2010's hung around 500 Million area. The Endeavor era is when the UFC's media deals really got boosted and allowed the UFC to approach or pass 1 billion in Revenue.

Also I hate using other sports in any of these comparisons. We are talkin about sports with that are 60 to over 100 years old and trying to compare to MMA and outside of the UFC has had a horrible track record on the business side. These other sports have multi year media deals worth more then the UFC's revenue for years added up, multiple sponsor ship deals that pay more than the UFC made 10 years ago, the list just goes on and on. All these sports took advantage of the athletes for decades until they got a seat at the table. Even with that seat they still have issues and always will.

Once again, no doubt the fighters deserve more.

Fair enough sir.

 

[Goutfather]

personally, id be okay with just letting him go. we’ve seen enough of him to know that he’s good but not great. he wasn’t going to last long as champ (barely scraped by on saturday) which is just as well because he doesn’t want to be an mma fighter anyway. on to the next.

 

[Goutfather]

dana so far has never let anyone that mattered leave. he won't cut jon jones for god sakes lol

he's gonna look dumb if he lets francis go earn millions elsewhere after being the one who signed him and gave him a platform. he's going to have more and more resistance from fighters and their managers going forward as well.

there's zero chance the ufc lets francis walk. he will fight for the ufc next and it will be jon jones.

probably true. still wouldn’t care if they let him go. they should just force him to stay for a year. if he wants to sit out, fine.

 

[djacobox372]

Let him box as part of is contract.

I see no reason why they would let Conor box and not Francis.

 

[capnlarge]

UFC should keep him. HW division is already atrocious. Can't afford to lose the champion

 

[Worthmore]

personally, id be okay with just letting him go. we’ve seen enough of him to know that he’s good but not great. he wasn’t going to last long as champ (barely scraped by on saturday) which is just as well because he doesn’t want to be an mma fighter anyway. on to the next.

He has evolved every fight though