Heath Herring: 'Dana White's got six Ferraris. Hell, I just want one'

[Liquidrob]

UFC Quick Quote: Heath Herring calls out Dana White and Zuffa for unfair treatment
by James Kimball

"I really don't care too much for them, and I don't think they care too much for me (Dana White and the UFC ownership group).... They've got their guys they want to push, guys they want to market. Randy Couture, Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir are the guys they want to push and market. The problem is if you're one of the guys who's not one of their favorites, they want to keep you out of the competition.... I'm trying to make money for myself, feed my family, and these guys are trying to do everything they can to make it impossible for me.... With the way the UFC's pay scale is and as much as it costs me to get ready for a fight, at the end of the day I made like 40 grand.... If I was getting a little more money and it was worth my while I'd get back into fighting. But right now I'm making more in movies. I've got to look out for number one as far as that goes.... These guys are literally making money off our blood, sweat and tears. We don't get any health insurance. If you get hurt training for a fight, you're screwed. It's really kind of crazy.... Dana White's got six Ferraris. Hell, I just want one."

-- UFC heavyweight (for the time being at least) Heath "The Texas Crazy Horse" Herring had some choice words for Dana White and company when he spoke to Fight Night Radio on ESPN 1080 about the current state of his mixed martial arts career. Herring, who hasn't fought since UFC 87 when he took on Brock Lesnar, puts the blame for his recent inactivity square on the shoulders of the Zuffa brass

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Boo hoo.

Herring is an undercard MMA fighter. He should compare his pay to undercard boxers or kickboxers or undercard Strikeforce fighters. Guarunteed he makes more. That would be a fair comparison, as opposed to comparing his pay to his boss.

My boss makes more than me, too. That's how the world works, dipshit.

 

[Liquidrob]

I agree with Heath on some things, but not others, he was giving great chances by getting to fight Nog (who he already lost twice too) and Brock, he could have won those fights and it would have changed his career and made him more money

 

[SHOGUN]

Unfortunately, that's how it is for a lot of fighters - whether it be MMA, boxing, or kickboxing - not just those in the UFC. Big names make big money, the rest not so much. That's just the nature of the fight business, especially when it starts from the ground floor. However, if Herring actually won his fights to start with he wouldn't be saying any of this right now.

I do commend the UFC for having those Fight, KO, and Submission bonuses. No other major organization does that.

I never paid attention to the estimated costs of fighters' training camps when looking at official fighter payouts until recently. Those camps tend to cost a nice chuck of change.

 

[EmpireWF]

Herring is not a big draw, so what does he expect? He wants Couture, Chuck, Lesnar type money? That's laughable.

 

[Liquidrob]

This is the fight game, Heath knows this, so these are stranges comments, the problem is you have a clown like Dan White running around telling every idiot in the media that 'the UFC is NFL of MMA' and crap like that, lol @ that

In other pro sports, I'm just trying to remember some numbers, so correct me if I'm wrong, other pro sports the athletes get like 40% of the profits/revenue, in the UFC its like 10 to 15%, the UFC runs nothing like the NFL or other major sports, so White should just stop with that garbage

Low pay for non-headliners will not bring in or over top athletes, they will still get great fighters, but the young athlete will not focus on MMA early because there is no money in it, the best athletes they will get will be from wrestling because wrestlers really dont have any options after college

Take a guy like Phil Davis, dude is a stud, he started training MMA after college where he was a 4 time All American and NCAA champ, he fought a couple small shows and than went to the 'Big Show' and made 10k for his first fight, what is the league minium for other sports that Dana tries to compare the UFC to?

 

[Liquidrob]

Here is some more food thought, White rips boxing by saying all the money goes to the top draw and they only give you '1 good fight', so basically Dana is selling you a fight card with 5 or so 'great fights', so if you are selling 5 'great fights' shouldnt you be paying these guys great money? UFC 109 which had a crappy main event, but when you listen to White you get a great night of fights, this is what these great fighters in great fights made, the co-main event was supposedly for a title shot also

Randy Couture: $250,000 (no win bonus)
def. Mark Coleman: $60,000

Chael Sonnen: $64,000 (includes $32,000 win bonus)
def. Nate Marquardt: $45,000

Paulo Thiago: $30,000 ($15,000 win bonus)
def. Mike Swick: $43,000

Demian Maia: $62,000 ($31,000 win bonus)
def. Dan Miller: $15,000

Matt Serra: $150,000 ($75,000 win bonus)
def. Frank Trigg: $30,000

And than you just sold a main event with Mark Coleman as a headliner and he lost so he got cut the next day, lol

 

[Steel Mamba]

Dana White's got six Ferraris

No wonder he doesn't care whether or not we buy the fights anymore.

But to be fair look at where the NFL used to be in comparison to where it is today. It took them time to be capable of paying the salaries that they're now paying. I live in a middle class neighborhood and one of my neighbors was a former NFL player, I believe he's probably in his 70s. So an NFL contract didn't always guarantee fame and fortune.

Bottom line - the NFL gets paid billions from TV networks to broadcast their games. The NFL makes more off of one single stream of revenue than the UFC makes as a whole, so there's really no comparison to be made there.

 

[Kuzzy Powers]

These guys in individual sports are never going to make what the athletes in major sports man tho (minus golf and tennis maybe). Especially when theres so many workers.. if they want higher wages and medical insurance they have to create a union, and reality is noone has the balls to step up and make it really happen, because they know it cant happen. Theres always going to be people willing to fight for the wages they're receiving now, and willing not to have health insurance. Things cant change when people are willing to keep them the same.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Here is some more food thought, White rips boxing by saying all the money goes to the top draw and they only give you '1 good fight', so basically Dana is selling you a fight card with 5 or so 'great fights', so if you are selling 5 'great fights' shouldnt you be paying these guys great money? UFC 109 which had a crappy main event, but when you listen to White you get a great night of fights, this is what these great fighters in great fights made, the co-main event was supposedly for a title shot also

Randy Couture: $250,000 (no win bonus)
def. Mark Coleman: $60,000

Chael Sonnen: $64,000 (includes $32,000 win bonus)
def. Nate Marquardt: $45,000

Paulo Thiago: $30,000 ($15,000 win bonus)
def. Mike Swick: $43,000

Demian Maia: $62,000 ($31,000 win bonus)
def. Dan Miller: $15,000

Matt Serra: $150,000 ($75,000 win bonus)
def. Frank Trigg: $30,000

And than you just sold a main event with Mark Coleman as a headliner and he lost so he got cut the next day, lol

UFC (and MMA as a whole) underpay the main eventers when compared to boxing, there is no question (even when factoring in the "hidden" PPV bonus).

On the other hand, nobody takes care of the underneath guys as well as Zuffa. Frank Trigg lost 4th from the top and banked $30k. A boxer who loses 4th from the top would be lucky to make $5k, and would likely not get TV exposure either.

Basically, in no other combat sport could a guy in Herring's spot make as much money, which really makes him come off badly. And as you said, if Herring beats Brock he's making seven figures for his next fight.

 

[CrimsonGhost56]

i always wondered what in the hell happened to the heath after the brock loss. he was never really anything more than a mid-level guy but he was always a tough dude who put up a good fight

 

[Liquidrob]

UFC (and MMA as a whole) underpay the main eventers when compared to boxing, there is no question (even when factoring in the "hidden" PPV bonus).

On the other hand, nobody takes care of the underneath guys as well as Zuffa. Frank Trigg lost 4th from the top and banked $30k. A boxer who loses 4th from the top would be lucky to make $5k, and would likely not get TV exposure either.

Basically, in no other combat sport could a guy in Herring's spot make as much money, which really makes him come off badly. And as you said, if Herring beats Brock he's making seven figures for his next fight.

yes, but boxing doesnt sell you a great night of fights, they sell you the main event and the main event guys get a crap load of money and get a higher percantage of the profits/revenue than UFC guys, in the UFC they sell you great night of fights and no one really is making top dollar compared to any sport, main event of mid level

This just isn't the UFC either, Strikeforce pays crappy and so does almost all MMA shows, but they also dont say they have 'the greatest fighters in the world', tell you its the 'super bowl of MMA' and the 'NFL of MMA' or whatever the catch phrase of the month is, if you wan't to promote it like that you need to start paying like that

 

[EmpireWF]

Why pay like that if the fighters are willing to fight for what they're fighting for now?

 

[Liquidrob]

Why pay like that if the fighters are willing to fight for what they're fighting for now?

you're right, and the UFC shouldnt pay them more if they sign there contract for

Heath shouldnt be the one talking about this, he is past his prime, had many many chances against some of the best in the world, also he is known to party hard and not put much into training, etc...

the point I'm making, usually comes to how the UFC markets there company and the complete lack of real media coverage by mainstream media, basically they dont care and they have no idea whats going on and just take what Dana and the UFC give them as gospel, the UFC is in a great spot right now, they can pay what they want, promote how they want, cut who they want, use practices like threats and strong arm fighters and no one in the media will say anything

thats why competiton is good and the UFC wants to crush anyone who trys to compete, they dont want fighters to have options and in the end it will just hurt the overall level of talent that comes into the sport because without comp they can low ball fighters even more and the UFC has the media brainwashed into thinking they have all the best athletes/fighters even though they dont pay them like it

 

[Liquidrob]

also, lets be honest, I love this sport but the level of athletes in it are not great, they're great fighters, but the overall level of athletes in the sport is poor and you wont get quality athletes to become MMA fighters with the money that is being paid

even boxing 'which is dead' gets so many quality athletes just from having the Olympics and solid amateur system, MMA has no legit amateur system, they really need to grab wrestlers, judo players, BJJ champs when they are younger and get them into the sport, we are seeing it more now with guys like Phil Davis, King Mo, Jones, etc...you can get the grapplers because there isnt money to be made after college, strikers will always stay in boxing because of the olympics and possible huge pay days, even great kickboxers make more in K1 and only do MMA when they get older

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

also, lets be honest, I love this sport but the level of athletes in it are not great, they're great fighters, but the overall level of athletes in the sport is poor and you wont get quality athletes to become MMA fighters with the money that is being paid

even boxing 'which is dead' gets so many quality athletes just from having the Olympics and solid amateur system, MMA has no legit amateur system, they really need to grab wrestlers, judo players, BJJ champs when they are younger and get them into the sport, we are seeing it more now with guys like Phil Davis, King Mo, Jones, etc...you can get the grapplers because there isnt money to be made after college, strikers will always stay in boxing because of the olympics and possible huge pay days, even great kickboxers make more in K1 and only do MMA when they get older

This will come with time.

The sport is roughly 20 years old (actually less) in this country. Think about where the evolution baseball was in 1890, or pro football in 1940, or pro basketball in the 40's and 50's.

There are kids between the ages of 8-18 right now who are growing up with MMA as their favorite sport, and have Chuck posters on the wall. The current guys who are over 25 did not grow up watching MMA. It didnt even really exist, or was still in it's dark age.

These kids will either find gyms (or already have), and some will choose MMA over basketball or football or whatever, and you will see better athletes (aside from the top level wrestlers, who MMA has attracted since day one) participating.

As for top level strikers, why would they jump into MMA? If I was a gifted striker, i'd box or kickbox, too. Why deal with learning ground techniques?

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

you're right, and the UFC shouldnt pay them more if they sign there contract for

Heath shouldnt be the one talking about this, he is past his prime, had many many chances against some of the best in the world, also he is known to party hard and not put much into training, etc...

the point I'm making, usually comes to how the UFC markets there company and the complete lack of real media coverage by mainstream media, basically they dont care and they have no idea whats going on and just take what Dana and the UFC give them as gospel, the UFC is in a great spot right now, they can pay what they want, promote how they want, cut who they want, use practices like threats and strong arm fighters and no one in the media will say anything

thats why competiton is good and the UFC wants to crush anyone who trys to compete, they dont want fighters to have options and in the end it will just hurt the overall level of talent that comes into the sport because without comp they can low ball fighters even more and the UFC has the media brainwashed into thinking they have all the best athletes/fighters even though they dont pay them like it

This too will come with time.

Right now you have sportswriters & media people who didnt grow up with the sport, so when they do cover it, they all end up doing the same little puff piece, and probably never give UFC a second thought until the next Chuck/Rampage or UFC 100.

Right now you have journalism students in college who are eating MMA for breakfast, who love the sport, and represent the next gen in sports writing. When these kids get media jobs, the MMA profile will rise up. In 20 to 30 years, when these kids become editors or program directors or producers, and are calling the shots, MMA will share the spotlight with the other big time sports.

The crusty old gaurd who represent sports jouranlism in 2010 didnt grow up on MMA, and frankly don't care. The new genereation will have followed it from the beggining, and know Dana's bullshit.

 

[Liquidrob]

As for top level strikers, why would they jump into MMA? If I was a gifted striker, i'd box or kickbox, too. Why deal with learning ground techniques?

If you start young enough you can pick up grappling pretty easily, you will be way ahead of guys striking wise and long term you will not take a beating like you would in boxing or kickboxing over your career

Boxing and Kickboxing are brutal compared to MMA, the difference between getting your head beat in for 12 rounds in boxing and KO'd all the time in kickboxing are so much worse than getting subbed, taking a few clean shots and the ref stepping in

I always thought the next big evolution will be that quality boxer who comes over young enough, you will see the difference in striking, it will be like when Cro Cop came over and picked up the sprawl and brawl game, guys were just shaking having to fight him plus he came over late and look at the success he had

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I'm unsure of my stance here.

Rob makes good points, but considering MMA fighters are basically freelance, non-contracted (for the most part) workers...they tend to make what people are willing to pay them for.

And, its good to see people acknowledge Horses' existence.