Why fight top competition for less money in the UFC?

[ferrisjso]

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/mmajunk...er-reveal-wsof-millionaire-tournament-mma/amp

PFL has a 10 million dollar fight pool.

six fighters will get paid 1 million plus in this tournament.

Rory Macdonald made $250,000 from sponsors alone fighting Douglas Lima. That’s not counting his actual pay. Then he got the $100,000 from his salary.

Tyrone Woodley made $200,000 for the fight night to fight a killer and isn’t allowed any sponsors lol. Only Reebok.

This goes for non champion level ufc fighters like Rory and now Tyrone. Obviously the champions make more. But for every other fighter on the ufc roster you’re making less money to fight high level fighters.

Why fight the best fighters in the world for less money?

I’m

This happened to mike perry for about 40 grand

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.fightful.com/mma/rory-macdonald-s-bellator-192-sponsorship-payout-better-all-competitors-reebok-payouts-ufc-fight?amp

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.fightful.com/mma/rory-macdonald-s-bellator-192-sponsorship-payout-better-all-competitors-reebok-payouts-ufc-fight?amp

This is why promotions have a sizeable collection of top talent last few years. After Reebok deal in particular and the rise of competitors the UFC didn't kill in the crib(probably for legal reasons, cause the UFC used to be a monopoly and just stopped acting like one), it doesn't make sense for top fighters who are elite but not good enough to get a title shot to stay in the UFC. That's the most oppressed class in the UFC cause main events drive sales(stacked cards dont matter to casuals) if you have a high salary UFC probably expects(or hopes)for you to be in main events, if not they are paying for something that won't really contribute to their bottom line. But those people are worth a lot to competitors so they often leave.

A lot of top guys obviously might delusionally hope they'll get the chance. So a lot of the best guys outside the UFC tend to be lay and prayers like Bader and Davis(formerly Shields, Fitch etc) who the UFC is just not interested in giving shots to regardless of merit. But see a lot of the elite in the UFC who won't get shots believing they will. That's why the whole champ champ bs is so bad for the sport, it takes away from the oppurtunities for less established names to make it to the top and you've got lots of divisions only recycling known quantites for belts. Take 135 got lots of guys who are capable of winning the UFC belt but the UFC keeps cycling established names from other divisions, retirement etc into spots they don't deserve. Not sure another person climbed that divisions ladder from Wineland all the way to Moraes.

UFC also treats the lower ranked guys better because their cheaper and will have better will towards the co if they replace the higher ranked guys. It's exploitative but it's a more sustainable model than the opposite which is typically what capitalists do. No ones going to cry about someone in the upper middle class whose made a million dollars they'll cry about the person who can't pay their rent(which makes sense). And it's why(partially correctly) the UFC looks better than boxing which is the Amazon or Apple of combat sports. Saw it with Reebok, fighters with sponsers felt exploited the lower ranked people without them were happy to get money. That's the UFC's general business models overpay at the bottom and underpay at the top because the stars popularity is dependent on their brand. In boxing it's different cause no one gives a fuck it's boxing the card outside the main event doesn't exist.

 

[boss429]

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/mmajunk...er-reveal-wsof-millionaire-tournament-mma/amp

PFL has a 10 million dollar fight pool.

six fighters will get paid 1 million plus in this tournament.

Rory Macdonald made $250,000 from sponsors alone fighting Douglas Lima. That’s not counting his actual pay. Then he got the $100,000 from his salary.

Tyrone Woodley made $200,000 for the fight night to fight a killer and isn’t allowed any sponsors lol. Only Reebok.

This goes for non champion level ufc fighters like Rory and now Tyrone. Obviously the champions make more. But for every other fighter on the ufc roster you’re making less money to fight high level fighters.

Why fight the best fighters in the world for less money?

I’m

This happened to mike perry for about 40 grand

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.fightful.com/mma/rory-macdonald-s-bellator-192-sponsorship-payout-better-all-competitors-reebok-payouts-ufc-fight?amp

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.fightful.com/mma/rory-macdonald-s-bellator-192-sponsorship-payout-better-all-competitors-reebok-payouts-ufc-fight?amp

Weird considering both Lima and Rory would have done the same to him and the man that did that to him but apparently aren't "high level competition" lol.

 

[Myrddin Wild]

Comparing a few examples of people who might be making more than UFC fighters isn't a consistent representation of what's happening across the board. Any such generalizations would show that the UFC is the higher paying organization. If you're going to compare the absolute top paid athletes from another org to the UFC... it's not fair to point out the mid tier payed fighters in the UFC to compare. No, you compare Top paid to top paid. Nobody is making McGregor money. Khabib likely made 15 mill or more for fighting McGregor. Jones makes 5 million per fight... & the list does go on well in excess of the 6 people that other org is making millionares.

These orgs in the past have over spent to get talent, only to grow broke & go out of business. I'm definitely for fighters making more money but lets also understand the perspective that it's the UFC leading this charge & are not going broke as a company like literally every other one has. Just saying, that it's not as easy to stay in this business as some of the more outspoken about fighter pay would have you believe.

The health of the UFC as a company itself is rarely talked about by those people. The fact that every other MMA org has failed is rarely spoken about. Bellator, Rizen, & One I think are the bigger "current" competitors, but they haven't been around as long as the UFC. We'll see how their pay structure works out, but if history is any indication, they will fold just like all other but the UFC has & then someone with big pockets will come up trying to start another one, (like what's currently happening with PFL) but over-spend & go broke just like they all do while everyone bitches about the UFC's business model while forgetting that if it wasn't for that business model the sport would be dead.

If the sport didn't just die... it would be dominated by lower paying orgs getting people to fight for much less than the UFC has to offer. It could be an interesting debate whether or not these other orgs would even be spending that kind of money if they weren't in competition with the UFC & so in that respect the UFC is partially responsible for the higher end payscale of the lesser orgs.

 

[mime]

If they all left for the money, they'd be facing the top competition again but would the smaller orgs have enough to pay them all?

 

[boss429]

Despite what Sherdoggers day UFC pays more.

Only 6 people in PFL get a million. And that’s only after 4/5consecutive wins. So they make 200k-250k per fight. UFC has guys that make more guaranteed regardless of whether or not they win 5 in a row.

Yeah they do but only among the top 10% of the roster, what about the other 90%?

Fuck, these guys are supposed to be in the NHL of MMA, the highest level they can possibly achieve and I make more than probably 75% of the roster yearly to build houses and apartments.

I mean I get that my job is far more risky with a substantially higher probability of serious injury or death so I'm compensated fairly well for taking that risk 300+ times a year, but still, I don't make anywhere near what even the lowest paid player in any other premier major sporting organization does.

 

[Myrddin Wild]

Rory Macdonald made $250,000 from sponsors alone fighting Douglas Lima. That’s not counting his actual pay. Then he got the $100,000 from his salary.

Tyrone Woodley made $200,000 for the fight night to fight a killer and isn’t allowed any sponsors lol. Only Reebok.

You just compared one of the highest paid athletes in one org to a mid tier paid athlete in the UFC.

You could take Rory's tree fiddy K & find dozens of UFC fighters making way more if your comparison were fairly compared. hell Arlovski & Reem both make more, & they're both gate keepers. To have a real comparison, you have to compare Top Tier pay to Top Tier pay in both orgs.

Here's another bit of deception your article presented.
"At March’s UFC 222 event, the most recent fight card for the promotion that featured publicly disclosed paydays, UFC women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg took home $500,000."

No mention of PPV points?
What a bias load of shit. You're only going to present "disclosed pay" for the UFC while making a point with Rory presenting things outside of his "disclosed pay?" No mention of Cyborg's sponsors? This is presented as if the UFC can't have sponsors. FFS GSP still has a 7 figure sponsorship with Under-armor. God knows how much Cowboy gets from that protein pack company & budweiser. You reckon Cyborg has some sponsors too?



Don't get me wrong... I'm a full on supporter of fighters making money... but your arguments here... as well as the source you brought to the table are falling extremely short of reality

 

[scorpipede]

You just compared one of the highest paid athletes in one org to a mid tier paid athlete in the UFC.

You could take Rory's tree fiddy K & find dozens of UFC fighters making way more if your comparison were fairly compared. hell Arlovski & Reem both make more, & they're both gate keepers. To have a real comparison, you have to compare Top Tier pay to Top Tier pay in both orgs.

Here's another bit of deception your article presented.
"At March’s UFC 222 event, the most recent fight card for the promotion that featured publicly disclosed paydays, UFC women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg took home $500,000."

No mention of PPV points?
What a bias load of shit. You're only going to present "disclosed pay" for the UFC while making a point with Rory presenting things outside of his "disclosed pay?" No mention of Cyborg's sponsors? This is presented as if the UFC can't have sponsors. FFS GSP still has a 7 figure sponsorship with Under-armor. God knows how much Cowboy gets from that protein pack company & budweiser. You reckon Cyborg has some sponsors too?



Don't get me wrong... I'm a full on supporter of fighters making money... but your arguments here... as well as the source you brought to the table are falling extremely short of reality

They must allow Monster now too, right? I see folks holding them cans a lot.

 

[AimedWithV]

More like if you don't believe in yourself or don't have the skills you better go to PFL.

There is a big difference between believing in yourself and hoosing a job where you get less money initially, with less than 5% probability that you get a lot of money.
And again, it's not about skills. It's about marketability. Woodley and Nunes are one of the most skilled fighters on Earth, definitely in 5% of the whole MMA. Yes they get not more than they could've gotten in PFL.

Even if you don't make it to the top of the heap in the UFC you can go to PFL later and try to win the million dollars.

When is it "later"? After a couple of years? This is not a wise and not responsible financial decision, to say the least.

That's exactly what Sean O'Connell did. It's like choosing a guaranteed amount instead of PPV points.

When O'Connell fought in the UFC, PFL did not exist LOL. Moreover - hadn't PFL existed, O'Connell would have not been able to walk out of MMA financially stable.
O'Connell story is the story of why it is better to be in PFL if you're...most of the MMA fighterrs on the planet.

Also, there is no guarantee that you will win the PFL tournament and get that million dollar payout. How much does the average fighter make in the PFL?

Proportionally to how high he got in the tourney.
Finalist gets $500K, semifinalist $250K etc

 

[Myrddin Wild]

They must allow Monster now too, right? I see folks holding them cans a lot.

Yeah, good point. Not sure how that works out, but certainly they would have to get something extra for doing that.

 

[You Will Vote For Dreyga]

Yeah they do but only among the top 10% of the roster, what about the other 90%?

Fuck, these guys are supposed to be in the NHL of MMA, the highest level they can possibly achieve and I make more than probably 75% of the roster yearly to build houses and apartments.

I mean I get that my job is far more risky with a substantially higher probability of serious injury or death so I'm compensated fairly well for taking that risk 300+ times a year, but still, I don't make anywhere near what even the lowest paid player in any other premier major sporting organization does.

The only statement I made is that the UFC pays more than the PFL. Which is true. I never said any thing about there pay against other sports. You are bringing up an argument I was never making.

Every single MMA promotion in the world pays their fighters less the NHL.

I was just pointing out the myth that the PFL pays bettter then the UFC isn't true.

Playoff quarterfinal losers in the PFL make $50,000. These guys have like 3 fights to get total that year. That's about 16,667 a fight. That's is they win 2 and lose one.

Minimum in UFC for their lowest tier fighters is 10k/10k. So if they win 2 and lose one is 50,000. This is without so the lowest tier guys on the UFC roster make about the same as low tier PFL guys.

 

[boss429]

The only statement I made is that the UFC pays more than the PFL. Which is true. I never said any thing about there pay against other sports. You are bringing up an argument I was never making.

Every single MMA promotion in the world pays their fighters less the NHL.

I was just pointing out the myth that the PFL pays bettter then the UFC isn't true.

Playoff quarterfinal losers in the PFL make $50,000. These guys have like 3 fights to get total that year. That's about 16,667 a fight. That's is they win 2 and lose one.

Minimum in UFC for their lowest tier fighters is 10k/10k. So if they win 2 and lose one is 50,000. This is without so the lowest tier guys on the UFC roster make about the same as low tier PFL guys.

Fair enough but you kind of ruined your own case with that last sentence no?

Plus it seems the PFL guys are guaranteed those 3 fights a year which their UFC counterparts are most certainly not if Dana doesn't like how they win their fights.

It's that part that's the problem, in the UFC you're always subject to the whims of a dictators ego and if he doesn't like your style or you as a person your financial well being is jeopardized.

 

[You Will Vote For Dreyga]

Fair enough but you kind of ruined your own case with that last sentence no?

Plus it seems the PFL guys are guaranteed those 3 fights a year which their UFC counterparts are most certainly not if Dana doesn't like how they win their fights.

It's that part that's the problem, in the UFC you're always subject to the whims of a dictators ego and if he doesn't like your style or you as a person your financial well being is jeopardized.

I'm pretty sure that UFC guys are guaranteed to be offered 3 fights a year in their contract but they have a choice whether or not to take it. I know this year Dana promised fighters that they can fight 4 times this year if they want to.

I also should point that my calculations only accounts for absolute lowest tier guy in the UFC, the guys who fight on the prelims. The fighters get pay bumps as they go on. Don't believe me google salaries for any UFC event. The average UFC fighter makes more then the average PFL guy.

EDIT: There is also the money they make off the exposure of being a UFC fighter. Alot more sponsorship opportunities. Even after a couple fights. New UFC fighters can get a ton of sponsors via social media to help supplement their income. PFL champions barely have 50k followers where as midtier fighters like Angela Hill have well over 100k.

Claudia Gaeldha has second career as a fitness influence and makes thousands by posting pictures and video.

 

[boss429]

I'm pretty sure that UFC guys are guaranteed to be offered 3 fights a year in their contract but they have a choice whether or not to take it. I know this year Dana promised fighters that they can fight 4 times this year if they want to.

I also should point that my calculations only accounts for absolute lowest tier guy in the UFC, the guys who fight on the prelims. The fighters get pay bumps as they go on. Don't believe me google salaries for any UFC event. The average UFC fighter makes more then the average PFL guy.

EDIT: There is also the money they make off the exposure of being a UFC fighter. Even after a couple fights. New UFC fighters can get a ton of sponsors via social media to help supplement their income.

You nailed it in the edit. Fighters are willing to fight even if it means making less money and be subject to termination at the whim of a dictator for the chance to get the label "UFC fighter" because to the average person on the street there's a big difference between saying you're an MMA fighter and saying you're a UFC fighter.

The UFC uses that knowledge as leverage with the threat of taking it away to prevent fighters from following the lead of every other major sporting organization and forming a Fighters Association to get a similar revenue split as those athletes.

 

[You Will Vote For Dreyga]

You nailed it in the edit. Fighters are willing to fight even if it means making less money and be subject to termination at the whim of a dictator for the chance to get the label "UFC fighter" because to the average person on the street there's a big difference between saying you're an MMA fighter and saying you're a UFC fighter.

Huh? UFC pays more than everyone other MMA promotion.

If you are mad at the UFC for not paying it's fighters enough then you should also be man at PFL, Bellator, Rizin, and every other MMA promotion in the world since they all pay their people about the same.

The UFC uses that knowledge as leverage with the threat of taking it away to prevent fighters from following the lead of every other major sporting organization and forming a Fighters Association to get a similar revenue split as those athletes.

This is crazy. No one is being threatened by anyone. Any fighter can is free to leave UFC once their contract ends and go another promotion. Many fighters have and many will continue to do so.

 

[Genisys]

There is a big difference between believing in yourself and hoosing a job where you get less money initially, with less than 5% probability that you get a lot of money.
And again, it's not about skills. It's about marketability. Woodley and Nunes are one of the most skilled fighters on Earth, definitely in 5% of the whole MMA. Yes they get not more than they could've gotten in PFL.



When is it "later"? After a couple of years? This is not a wise and not responsible financial decision, to say the least.



When O'Connell fought in the UFC, PFL did not exist LOL. Moreover - hadn't PFL existed, O'Connell would have not been able to walk out of MMA financially stable.
O'Connell story is the story of why it is better to be in PFL if you're...most of the MMA fighterrs on the planet.



Proportionally to how high he got in the tourney.
Finalist gets $500K, semifinalist $250K etc

If what you say is right then why are fighters so happy to fight in the UFC? Because you’re wrong. Any way you paint it you’re wrong. The earning potential is higher in the UFC and the fighters that cry when they finally make it to the UFC know it. You know it too, but you don’t want to admit you’re wrong. No PFL fighter will ever make 8 figures for one fight. That is what earning potential means.

 

[AimedWithV]

If what you say is right then why are fighters so happy to fight in the UFC? Because you’re wrong. Any way you paint it you’re wrong. The earning potential is higher in the UFC and the fighters that cry when they finally make it to the UFC know it. You know it too, but you don’t want to admit you’re wrong.

How many times you had to write the same BS just to try to convince yourself?
And where did you take that fighters are happy to be in the UFC?

No PFL fighter will ever make 8 figures for one fight. That is what earning potential means.

95% of the UFC fighters will never see this money as well, and more than 99% don't even have a chance to see such money.
On the other hand, pretty much 50% of UFC roster have a chance to see 7 figures in PFL