E:60 tackles whether or not the UFC is a monopoly

[Warner2BruceTD]

I love how Dana is always going on about "UFC is a sport!", but when 'Ultimate Fighting' comes under scrutiny as a monopoly, the company line changes to 'We are in the MMA business, anyone who has the money can be in the MMA business, we are not alone in the MMA business!'.

So is the sport you promote UFC, or MMA?

 

[EmpireWF]

"The top 5 percent [of fighters] are definitely making good money, but you've got to look at the guys at the bottom of the card," the fighter said. "They can't fight anywhere else. If they make $10,000 a fight and fight every six months, they can't make ends meet."

I said earlier in the thread the underneath guys should be paid more than the $8k show/win they're getting.

 

[Liquidrob]

funny all this stuff coming out now and espn doing a piece on it, old wacky rob has been saying this stuff for years, about time it gets out

Every sport the revenue is around 40 to 50% for the players, in the UFC it is in 10 to 20% range if even that, the jig is up, the ufc has been raping the fans and fighters for years, we built this sport with our support and the fighters blood, time to pay the piper

 

[CrimsonGhost56]

Pride and the Yakuza were more legit then Zuffa

:yep:

 

[Liquidrob]

For all you yahoos who want to support 'lower level' fighters making low wages because they don't bring in money go f yourselfs, without those guys there is no sport, up and comers need guys to fight, stars are built on these type of guys, the cards which the ufc sells ' we're not like boxing, we put on great exciting fights!' are used to fill up these cards, fighters have to be paid so they can fight

You want to be the top dog, pay everyone, that's how the real sports do it, bench warmers are needed, everyone can't be a star and stars can't fight each other all the time, they can barely fill a card with 2 or 3 big time match ups which they're charging 50 bucks for

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

MMA "journalist" and frequent UFC apologist Jeremy Botter attacks the piece over at the Observer board...

Much of the OTL stuff was researched by Josh Gross and John Barr. Josh actually has a story about it:

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/pag ... ul-hit-all

I like Josh, but I'm not a fan of the story, mostly because it relies almost exclusively on anonymous quotes from fighters. I'm not implying these are fabricated quotes, but a story just seems untrustworthy when there is almost nothing of substance on the record. I understand that not a single UFC fighter is going to go on record with quotes for a story like this because, no matter what Lorenzo says about fighters being able to say whatever they want about the company, they really do not like people discussing fighter pay and their financial inner-workings in public. But there has to be a better angle for approaching it than relying on anonymous quotes.

I used to get into heated debates with this guy, but we haven't crossed paths in a while. I had to respond to this pile of shit post, though.

He doesn't like the off the record quotes, yet doesn't want to imply they are untrue, and even admits that they needed to be anonymous for a story to happen in the first place do to the idea that nobody would ever talk otherwise.

In this particular case, this is actually a story where anonymous quotes are actually more credible than on the record quotes, because getting anything on the record would just be guys bullshitting and kissing Zuffa ass. How a journalist fails to see this is baffling.

 

[EmpireWF]

For all you yahoos who want to support 'lower level' fighters making low wages because they don't bring in money go f yourselfs

Who are you arguing with?

Has anyone said the guys are lucky to be making $8k/$8k?

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Who are you arguing with?

Has anyone said the guys are lucky to be making $8k/$8k?

Do you happen to frequent the Observer UFC..oops, I mean MMA board?

Doing a quick look at the payouts from 141, only a few fighters made less than $10K. All those guys were bottom rung fighter, who are interchangeable, are marginal UFC fighters, and made no difference whatsoever to business. Why do they deserve more money?

At least in a team sport, you can argue that even the last guy on the bench plays a role with the team, and deserves compensation. These guys were talking about deserve nothing. If they are good enough, they will earn the bigger money. simple as that.

these are grown men who have chosen to live a fantasy life of trying to be a full time fighter. they aren't coal miners, or day laborers or something.

There are 30+ teams vying to pay someone like Albert Pujols $250 million. Those same teams are also vying to pay someone like Mitch Moreland $450,000. Why? Because Pujols is a star who earned that thru performance, and Moreland is not.

And this guy, who finds a way to blame the SPONSORS, not Zuffa, for low fighter wages lol

You really would have to hold sponsors as accountable though. You aren't gonna get the same amount of money from them fighting for Titan Fighting Championships as you are if you were fighting for the UFC. This sport benefits more from having only one league, and that's what I view the UFC as, a league, more than anything.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Yes, let's hold those dastardly sponsors responsible for this! Those cretins!

 

[EmpireWF]

Well those guys are just morons.

IMO, fighting for the UFC should mean that you have the option of being a full-time fighter. If you choose to be like Shane Carwin or others who have day jobs, more power to you.

But the UFC should mean everyone makes enough to be able to fight 3 or more times and afford all their bills. Obviously, that's probably never going to happen.

Where is the minimum though? Should it be $20k instead of $8k? How do you come up with the proper figure?

I doubt Joe Blow making $80k a year potentially is going to be able to be a full-time fighter.

 

[Liquidrob]

Lol @ empire trying to back the fighters now, oh brother...

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

The minimum is set by the market. The UFC can get away with paying whatever that floor is, because of the lack of viable competition driving the wages up.

The question then becomes, is the UFC actively preventing that competition from occurring, with the intention of driving down wages? Or is this just a byproduct of their superior business acumen, and an unintentional result of success?

 

[EmpireWF]

Lol @ empire trying to back the fighters now, oh brother...

lol You think I look at them as slave labor?

 

[Liquidrob]

The minimum is set by the market. The UFC can get away with paying whatever that floor is, because of the lack of viable competition driving the wages up.

The question then becomes, is the UFC actively preventing that competition from occurring, with the intention of driving down wages? Or is this just a byproduct of their superior business acumen, and an unintentional result of success?

When threats are made like 'if anyone signs with EA you will never fight in the ufc', whens threats to guys like fitch for not signing there likeness rights and saying all AKA fighters will be cut because of 1 fighter, when threatening already cut fighters who are trying to make money that if they sign with a rival they will not re-sign them and so on you have a case, even stevie wonder can see zuffa has unethical business practices, and that's just dealing with fighters

 

[Liquidrob]

Hey, at least the ufc offers tweeter bonuses for creative tweets!

 

[EmpireWF]

Dana has a fire under his ass. Says it's a hack job and the UFC had people film the interviews so they could prove it.

Tweets...

@TheFightingPost @joshgrossespn trust me I have been a part of ESPN hack jobs that's why I don't do those BS shows and why we filmed it

@TheFightingPost in an attempt by gross and ESPN to do a hack job on us we were ready this time!! We are gonna blast these hacks!!

@TheFightingPost idk I'm in Rio but my stuff is ready to roll!!! I'm excited to smash and discredit ESPN and the piece they did!! So pumped!

@TheFightingPost can't stand the lying 2 faced media fucks!! So glad we did this one right cause ESPN can NOT be trusted.

I wish he'd stop cursing out media members, no matter his personal feelings.

 

[calgaryballer]

Well, we shall see if it every comes out and shows anything like what Dana says it does. Typical spin move, try and discredit now, and by the time anyone remembers it will be too late

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

So I was arguing with the geeks that more major places for fighters to work is not only good for fighters, but also good for fans. Well, I was getting raped from all sides on that one.

Then big Dave jumped in. At least someone agrees with me.

Fewer places to work is better for some fans, such as fans who only want to follow one organization.

If you were a fan who likes to attend live shows, more organizations means more shows in your city, and then, fewer organizations is by no means better.

My friends enjoyed seeing four Strikeforce shows per year in San Jose with high quality fighters and local stars. We don't get that anymore. Most are not interested in MMA any longer, although the reality is they came in with Frank & Cung and when those guys got old, most of the San Jose fan base was going to be gone anyway. But in this city, in no way will you find too many fans saying fewer organizations are a positive.

 

[Liquidrob]

just lol @ dana's 'responses' to this

sounds like a 14 year old ranting on facebook about his teacher or something, to think people thought this guy was the 'brains' of the UFC and made them a success, too funny

Zuffa isnt ready for primetime that's for certain

 

[EmpireWF]

Zuffa isnt ready for primetime that's for certain

do go on