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

[eiyuu]

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.

I tried explaining that to an "A-level Athlete/Fighter Pay" poster here . . .

http://forums.sherdog.com/posts/118465173/

. . . best he could come back with was "We will have to agree to disagree"

 

[SlicerDM]

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.

How can you earn it when you're constantly being picked by a lesser fighter for title shots.

Cough Cough Hendo vs Bisping.

 

[SlicerDM]

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

They'll have leverage when they work together, did you miss that part?

Strength in numbers.

 

[SlicerDM]

How can you earn it when you're constantly being picked by a lesser fighter for title shots.

Cough Cough Hendo vs Bisping.

Win, cough cough Renan Barao making 15/15 as champion.

 

[eiyuu]

Win, cough cough Renan Barao making 15/15 as champion.

Barao makes 50k/50k . . .

http://www.mmaweekly.com/ufc-fight-night-88-fighter-salaries-jeremy-stephens-tops-the-payroll

. . . and as well all know, disclosed pay does not equal actual pay.

 

[eiyuu]

How can you earn it when you're constantly being picked by a lesser fighter for title shots.

Cough Cough Hendo vs Bisping.

By continuing to win. Not getting a title shot means you don't have to continue to win? Do tell?

 

[CRuck1980]

They'll have leverage when they work together, did you miss that part?

Strength in numbers.

This isn't the nfl or NBA, the fighters don't have nearly the amount of numbers to make an effective union, that's a pipe dream

 

[TMAN29]

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.

And like most times, you get it! What we are seeing now is a generation of fighters that have been training practical martial arts since they were kids. I know Ben Nguyen, Devin Clark, and David Michaud personally and those young guys have been training since youth. I am also friends with former UFC fighter (2007) Chad Reiner, who came into the UFC with a beginner blue belt, avg wrestling and some athleticism. Times have changed in just a decade.

 

[TMAN29]

To be fair, I don't think that the UFC benefitted that much from increasing the number of undercard/unknown fighters - next to no one would buy a PPV or tune in to watch some random, though maybe talented, guy or woman fight someone else they have never heard of. Doing more shows has very likely increased the revenue stream coming from live gate and FOX. Live gate revenue is very little compared to PPVs though and I don't know how much the UFC earns from FOX.
.

That's why I specifically said for the UFC Fox deal... they needed to fulfill the commitment with events. Also, do you think fans would have gone to a live event, if there were 6-7 fights on the card instead of 11-12?

 

[jeremyemilio]

The best athletes go into the high paying sports.

This isn't true as a blanket statement. There are a lot of factors at play. For instance, I'm not entirely convinced that Michael Jordan would have been world class at anything if the NBA didn't exist. You'd assume he could translate his skills to playing wide receiver, I guess... but not everyone is built for that sort of contact. He'd certainly never have made it at hockey or soccer, and his baseball aspirations were a joke.

Olympic level wrestling is extremely high caliber, with a massive talent pool, and it pays shit for the most part. The reason those guys don't go into other, higher paying, sports is simply that their skills don't translate... but let's be real, there aren't very many NBA athletes who could have just gone another direction and become Olympic wrestlers, if that so happened to be a high paying gig and the NBA was a bush league. Most of them would have either gone into other none sport related professions or would still be tall guys playing basketball for the love of the game and sandwich money.

That said, higher pay would most definitely increase and enhance the talent pool for MMA. It's just that most of that new talent wouldn't come from other sports, but from guys with a gift for fighting who have, nevertheless, decided the wiser thing to do was to go out and get a job and build a career that doesn't involve getting knocked unconscious for the love of the game and sandwich money.

 

[SlicerDM]

This isn't the nfl or NBA, the fighters don't have nearly the amount of numbers to make an effective union, that's a pipe dream

Yes they do. Are you nuts.

You're living a pipe dream and a fallacy if you believe they can't unionize. Anyone can unionize with numbers.

If McDonalds workers decided to just stop working do you really think their demands wouldn't be met.

If fighters just stopped signing contracts you don't think they would have their needs met? They make the money flow and they can make the money stop flowing.

 

[SlicerDM]

By continuing to win. Not getting a title shot means you don't have to continue to win? Do tell?

Continue to win and make 20/20k?


Or end up like Nate Diaz who was making 60/60 than got cut down to 12/12.

Hey what about the fighters who never negotiated again with the UFC because they wern't being paid their worth?

 

[unfinishable]

The best athletes go into the high paying sports.

This is only true if the athlete involved has options. Most, if not all top athletes have played their sport since childhood and can't just decide to go into another sport

MMA is a fallback sport for D & E level athletes, they shouldn't be paid like A-level athletes.

It's not about being paid like a A,B,C or D level athletes, its about popularity of the sport and how much money it brings in. Most olympians who are supposed to be the best athletes in the world.
An A-level athlete still needs the training, you would have to have done 2 sports (or more) at a high level growing up to have mma as a "fallback".

 

[Brandon Taylor]

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.

My son is 15 and has been wrestling and doing jiu-jitsu Jitsu since he was 5. I think grappling is as safe as any sport for kids. I agree with you that I wouldn't have wanted him doing muay thai or boxing when he was younger. Now I let him spar lightly from time to time against people I trust to control their power. I doubt he will pursue MMA in the end though. He enjoys training but doesn't show much interest in fighting.

 

[CRuck1980]

Yes they do. Are you nuts.

You're living a pipe dream and a fallacy if you believe they can't unionize. Anyone can unionize with numbers.

If McDonalds workers decided to just stop working do you really think their demands wouldn't be met.

If fighters just stopped signing contracts you don't think they would have their needs met? They make the money flow and they can make the money stop flowing.

I'm not saying is impossible I'm saying there's not enough of them to be effective. And realistically their individual Self interests are way too varied

 

[blazerkor]

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

Yeah, I could see a minimum but a minimum wouldn't be much higher than 20 and 20. When you are coming up you should fight a lot, probably 4 times a year. If a fighter fights 4 times a year at that scale he or she could bring home 160k. I think that's fair.

 

[johnyboy]

LMAO, if they were A level athletes they'd get into sports that paid better. Aldo is a failed soccer player, Stipe is a failed baseball player and a failed boxer. And those are 2 of the better athletes on the roster.

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

I don't think you understand my post at all.

Most qb's can't run as fast as rb's. Football players aren't as good at baseball baseball players can't play basketball.

 

[TMAN29]

Yeah, I could see a minimum but a minimum wouldn't be much higher than 20 and 20. When you are coming up you should fight a lot, probably 4 times a year. If a fighter fights 4 times a year at that scale he or she could bring home 160k. I think that's fair.

Agreed. I said 16/16 just because i thought it more realistic. But 20/20 is a great starting point and if your worth your salt the oppurtunity to train full time through the ufcs investment well be worth the risk! At 2-1 the fighter would make $87,500 not counting any other pay. At 20/20 total compensation would be $107,500.

 

[Kthankss]

LMAO, if they were A level athletes they'd get into sports that paid better. Aldo is a failed soccer player, Stipe is a failed baseball player and a failed boxer. And those are 2 of the better athletes on the roster.

You're one of those people that relate everything they do to money huh? Pointless having this conversation with you

 

[Kthankss]

This isn't the nfl or NBA, the fighters don't have nearly the amount of numbers to make an effective union, that's a pipe dream

This makes absolutely no sense... If 50% of UFC fighters joined a union that would be big problems for the UFC.

A union gets power when the majority of the populous that union is representing form together. Not the overall number budd.