"Who is that guy" "UFC wont attract top talent" fighter pay argument......

[Bend NvR Break]

You could take the best "A" level athletes around but unless they are life long martial artists of some sort, meaning. a college wrestler or kickboxer or bjj, they will not be successful in the ufc. End of story. If you took the biggest baddest football players in the nfl and they tried to do mma. they would get slaughtered in under 30 seconds. They are not fighters and haven't trained as fighters.. This is a sport where guys need to be into a fighting sport since they were kids or they will simply not be successful..

Cowboy started combat sports at 20.

Will Brooks got into the sport at 20 after failing to get a football scholarship after playing junior college football.

Travis Browne got into the sport in his mid 20's after playing college basketball.

There are more examples I can name.

Even a guy like Condit didn't begin training for the sport until he was 17.


Believe or not mma is a sport most people get into in their late teens or early 20's.

 

[bigconan]

LMAO. You are on fucking crack if you believe that (or you just have no idea what you are talking about).

Ian Kennedy signed a contract this offseason for 5 years, $70 million. SEVENTY MILLION FUCKING DOLLARS! That is more than probably every single UFC fighter has ever made in the past 10 years combined. Ian Kennedy has never ever been one of even the top 50 starting pitchers in baseball.

Wei Yen Chen got 5 years $80 million dollars. You think Wei Yen Chen is a household name? lol.

Brock just set a record for highest UFC payout ever at $2.5 million. The average salary in MLB is $4 million. AVERAGE.

Lets examine that for a second. 70 million over a 5 year period. Lets look at conor. Conor, with his ppv points probably makes almost 10 million or so per fight. or pretty dam close. Now, if he fights say 3x per year, that's 30 million bucks. 30 million times 5 is how much?? I'm waiting. That's $150 million. Even if conor only make 5 million per fight. That would come out to 75 million over 5 years. so you really need to rethink it and do that actual math...

 

[Tormund]

There is no possible way you can defend fighter pay, stop trying.

E level athletes shouldn't be paid like A-level athletes

 

[blazerkor]

LMAO. You are on fucking crack if you believe that (or you just have no idea what you are talking about).

Ian Kennedy signed a contract this offseason for 5 years, $70 million. SEVENTY MILLION FUCKING DOLLARS! That is more than probably every single UFC fighter has ever made in the past 10 years combined. Ian Kennedy has never ever been one of even the top 50 starting pitchers in baseball.

Wei Yen Chen got 5 years $80 million dollars. You think Wei Yen Chen is a household name? lol.

Brock just set a record for highest UFC payout ever at $2.5 million. The average salary in MLB is $4 million. AVERAGE.

http://www.forbes.com/athletes/#7527a0006e34

So, the fact is that all ufc income is not reported for these things but you still have Conor with his declared purse... not including PPV points ahead of guys like LaMarcus Aldridge, an all star in the NBA, ahead of Big Papi, I mean this is definitely not the total of Conors earnings and he is beating out A list athletes. If PPV points were made public then we'd have more MMA fighters up there. Oh and if Conor does that for 5 years his disclosed income is 90 million.

 

[GTS]

This makes no sense to me. Most quarterbacks would get knocked out in a fight and most fighters can't throw 50 yards neither makes one a better athlete.

Most quarterbacks would get KOd by Butterbean, does that mean they are the same level?

 

[GTS]

As a working member of a union, I have to say that unions are at least as destructive as they are helpful. My union sucks, not because they don't do enough, but rather because they are overreaching us all out of jobs and standing up unconditionally for employees that have clearly done what is unarguably wrong. When people are part of a union, they all become part of the members collective good and bad. When the union stands up for those that are doing wrong just because their ideology is to fight everything every time, all members suffer, and the union is only looking at not losing that one employees dues. It sucks.

 

[SlicerDM]

E level athletes shouldn't be paid like A-level athletes

There's where you argument falls short. We're not lobbying for that.

We're lobbying for a decent wage to make a living not peanuts buckoo.

 

[CRuck1980]

There is no possible way you can defend fighter pay, stop trying.

There's no reason to defend fighter pay, the fact is, of the fighters had the leverage to get more money, they would. That's the same in every job, so expecting the UFC or any company to empty their pocket books is just unrealistic

 

[Super Grover]

http://www.forbes.com/athletes/#7527a0006e34

So, the fact is that all ufc income is not reported for these things but you still have Conor with his declared purse... not including PPV points ahead of guys like LaMarcus Aldridge, an all star in the NBA, ahead of Big Papi, I mean this is definitely not the total of Conors earnings and he is beating out A list athletes.

Sure the very very highest paid guy in MMA might be able to crack the top 100 for one year if he has a great year. That is in no way remotely similar to people in other sports who will make that money every single year for 20 years . Alex Rodriguez's total contract is 10 years long and worth $275 million dollars. And he had already made $185 million from his previous contract. Not to mention he is at the end of his career. At his peak he was making $32 million a year.There is literally no comparison between the two. To even try is pretty intellectually dishonest.

Oh and if Conor does that for 5 years his disclosed income is 90 million

So basically if he becomes the richest guy in MMA history he would make about the equivalent of a mediocre starting pitcher in MLB.

You realize that proves my point, right?

 

[giusti825]

Dude what Brock made alone is MORE than like 2 FOX cards total payouts combined.

And probably still a drop in the bucket.

 

[TMAN29]

See this might be my biggest problem with the idea of unionizing in a sport that is so individuated. I don't think fighter pay should be up for discussion. I think that revenue share could be, benefits would be, rules and regulations including PEDs but not a fighter pay scale.

The guys who I tune in to watch should get the lions share and the guys who are the curtain jerkers and aren't showing any upward mobility should probably have a day job. I am not so worried about those guys as I am about a guy like GSP who didn't see his fare share of the fortune he brought into the company. So yeah, if there was a revenue split there may be a small uptick for the worst fighters in the organization but hopefully not too much because we shouldn't pay more for mediocrity and we definitely shouldn't pay more for failure.

I understand your thought process. Maybe not a payscale, but just a starting point salary?

 

[Brandon Taylor]

You could take the best "A" level athletes around but unless they are life long martial artists of some sort, meaning. a college wrestler or kickboxer or bjj, they will not be successful in the ufc. End of story. If you took the biggest baddest football players in the nfl and they tried to do mma. they would get slaughtered in under 30 seconds. They are not fighters and haven't trained as fighters.. This is a sport where guys need to be into a fighting sport since they were kids or they will simply not be successful..

I agree. We may see more athletes who have dedicated their lives to MMA in the coming years but the best football players will play football, the best basketball players will always play basketball. It isn't a financial decision for most players, it's a matter of pursuing what they have dedicated their lives to.

 

[TheRassler]

Rich Franklin is the only A level athlete that comes to mind.


I'm talking about pure athlete, not the ones that need PED's to hang.

 

[eiyuu]

GSP started off making $3k/3k per fight and ended making $4.5 million per fight.

Undercard fighters who are worth their salt don't stay at that pay for long. They win. Show that they're worth more. And then renegotiate for more.

It's called EARNING IT.

If you don't win and improve, you aren't cut out for this game.

Sorry, but the truth hurts.

 

[Brandon Taylor]

Cowboy started combat sports at 20.

Will Brooks got into the sport at 20 after failing to get a football scholarship after playing junior college football.

Travis Browne got into the sport in his mid 20's after playing college basketball.

There are more examples I can name.

Even a guy like Condit didn't begin training for the sport until he was 17.


Believe or not mma is a sport most people get into in their late teens or early 20's.

It's a young sport. 15 years from now fighters will have wrestled and done jiu-jitsu most their lives. The first generation to have MMA gyms everywhere still hasn't hit the scene. There will always be a problem building strikers when they are young due to the need to avoid a lifetime of full contact sparring.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

It's a young sport. 15 years from now fighters will have wrestled and done jiu-jitsu most their lives. The first generation to have MMA gyms everywhere still hasn't hit the scene. There will always be a problem building strikers when they are young due to the need to avoid a lifetime of full contact sparring.

You have to keep in mind, that most parents aren't OK with their child doing combat sports. You have to convince the parents. I wanted to do karate when I was younger but my mom wasn't having any of it.

People don't like watching their kids get hurt. Even pee wee football is feeling the backlash of the NFL concussion issue.

That's a big reason why people start in their late tewns or early 20's. Mom and dad can't say no anymore.

Even me, who loves mma, would have a problem with my child taking anything harsher than TMA.

 

[SlicerDM]

There's no reason to defend fighter pay, the fact is, of the fighters had the leverage to get more money, they would. That's the same in every job, so expecting the UFC or any company to empty their pocket books is just unrealistic

The fighters do have the leverage, they just won't work together to use that leverage.

 

[eiyuu]

The fighters do have the leverage, they just won't work together to use that leverage.

The worthwhile ones don't need to.

GSP didn't - http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbad...-pierre-makes-12-million-a-year/#5abc7e7c52d3

Anderson Silva didn't - http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/a...paid-5-1-million-to-fight-at-ufc-200.3294195/

Win. Show that you're worth more. Then negotiate for more.

It's called EARNING IT.

 

[CRuck1980]

There's where you argument falls short. We're not lobbying for that.

We're lobbying for a decent wage to make a living not peanuts buckoo.

The fighters do have the leverage, they just won't work together to use that leverage.

They make a living being pitted against each other, that's why they'll never have leverage

 

[Hoof Hearted]

I love this idea that some people have that if they were better athletes they would just go play soccer or basketball or something and not do MMA. No dummies, they have to play that shit when they were young. Most people do whatever they like when they're young, and plenty of athletic people will never step out on the football field but will go join the wrestling team or do bjj or something being that this is a free country. It's not China where 10 year olds are given aptitude tests and ushered onto the gymnastics team. They can't just go and do football later in life. You guys make it sound like you put your athletic ability down on a job application and take it around until you get picked up by the highest paying sport you can.

Exactly. To be a top footballer (soccer player) you need to actually be very good at it (no surprise),.Being athletic is only one part, but that doesn't mean you'll be any good and play for the best teams. Look at any of the top foootballers (soccer players) and you'll see they were developing their skills at top academies when they about about 12 or 13 years old.