UFC 168 - Payroll - So embarrassing it's pitiful.

[K-1]

In kickboxing and K1 / Pride, judo, karate, muay thai, tea kwon do the pay is miserable. So not surprising that the same applies for UFC.

MMA guys bragg a lot but there not very smart: in boxing or entertaiment wrestling they could earn 100 times more....

Yeah it's kinda same deal as UFC...you'll have a few name guys getting retirement type pay then there is a tremendous drop off in pay, and after awhile even those house names don't get jack.

if you aren't a main event (THE house name basically) and/or grandprix champ and/or gp runner up, you aint making shiznit

Ballpark i'd say.....

(keep in mind Grand prix are not just one fight, it's a series of fights, so this is a total not per fight)

HW GP i'd est about +400,000ish /runner up maybe +200,000ish

MW GP prolly about +200,000ish runner up maybe +100,000ish


In their heyday, guys like (Hoost, Semmy, Remy, Aerts ..etc) big house guys (I've heard) were bringing in like 1-3 mill per fight depending on the contract).

[tommywishbone]

"15,650 spectators filled the MGM Grand Garden Arena generating a gate totaling $6.2 million."

Ticket sales all by themselves generated over $6,000,000 in revenue for the UFC, making the fighter salaries even more humiliating.


UFC does not report PPV numbers but UFC 168 did a rock bottom 700,000 PPV buys at $59.99 per buy that's $42,000,000. So. . .

PPV buys (minimum).... $42,000,000
Ticket sales...................$6,000,000

That's a absolute minimum of $48,000,000 with just those two sources of revenue and total fighter salaries were under $1,900,000.   Comedy.

[shootfighter1]

Shameful that these pros are paid so much less than NBA/NFL/MLB, etc.  Most of our pro athletes are overpaid, MMA athletes way underpaid.  Think of it...this is the pay for the top of the top and often in the last few years of their career when they have made it.

[Cleanest Natural]

The sport is young. It'll grow.

What most do not understand is that in order to have really good fighters, they have to grow up fighting this system. You don't have the grassroots yet. That's why you can take a hillbilly wrestler and make him champ after 2 dismal fights. No depth. Weidman is a friggin "wrestler". In boxing you see the real talent.

[Radical Plato]

The disparity is mind blowing from the highest paid to the lowest $600,000 to $10,000.  The highest paid guy is getting 60 times more than the lowest paid.  That's crazy. And how do the fighters negotiate?  Do they have agents?  And if we are to take womens MMA seriously, how can one of the co main event fighters (Miehsa Tate) only earn $28,000 and Josh Barnett an undercard fighter at this event earn over 6 times that at $170,000.  And Chris leben $51,000, are you serious, the guys a can, he has lost 5 of his last 6 fights.  I think there is a lot of brown nosing and favoritism shown my Dana.  The whole pay system doesn't make sense.

[Nicademus]

It ll get there, within 10 years the UFC HW champ will be a bigger name than Ali, Tyson or any of those other pillow fighters.

Ain't happening.  They said that 10 years ago.

[OneMoreRep]

I've spoken to many pro fighters that train out of or do their fight camp at Renzo's academy and I'd say that 95% of them say that they are treated very poorly (financially speaking) by the UFC.

From what I gather, the biggest draws for the UFC are/were: GSP & Anderson Silva. (With both potentially on leave at the moment, things will get a little sticky)

Surprisingly, I've heard the biggest Pay Per View draw was Brock Lesnar and I assume that can be contributed to the sheer amount of WWe fans that he brings with him to the UFC.

I think Dana knows that Brock coming back, after having spent some time in the WWe, will mean that he has once again amassed a large enough following that would translate to tons of money for the UFC via per pay views.

I do agree with Che in that these titles "greatest of all time, baddest guy on the planet" are way out there. Unless you drop the barriers to have cross-promotional fights and allow for your fighters to venture out into other combat arenas (Sambo, K1, Boxing, Muay Thai etc.) in order to prove their fight prowess amid all types of fighters, the idea that any one fighter is the baddest man on the planet is kind of ridiculous.

"1"

[arce1988]

 Great post OMR!

[Mr Nobody]

5'7 and 47 still dunking.

[RRKore]

back to mowing lawns for estevan payan

lol   brutally true

[arce1988]

spud can still do that? that easy too? damn.

[OneMoreRep]

5'7 and 47 still dunking.

Pay close attention to the 1:01-1:02 mark and you can hear the trampoline, not to mention see the camera move slightly off of Spudd, while his jump appears slightly off balance..

"1"

[arce1988]

 Thanks OMR! I was saying, shit... spud still doing it that fucking easy at almost 50?!  

[Mr Nobody]

Pay close attention to the 1:01-1:02 mark and you can hear the trampoline, not to mention see the camera move slightly off of Spudd, while his jump appears slightly off balance..

"1"

Good spot I missed that.

[Mr Nobody]

Oh sweat this is a UFC thread.

[Thin Lizzy]

If  fighters are so underpaid, why doesn't an astute businessman come along and exploit this disparity by stealing these fighters from the UFC and paying them what they're supposedly worth?

People, here, also say this about bodybuilding and how Weider underpaid everyone. The truth is that without Weider and Dana pro bbers and fighters would be just guys working out and training at a gym.

[The True Adonis]

Boxing is much more interesting.  UFC is boring.

[OneMoreRep]

If  fighters are so underpaid, why doesn't an astute businessman come along and exploit this disparity by stealing these fighters from the UFC and paying them what they're supposedly worth?

People, here, also say this about bodybuilding and how Weider underpaid everyone. The truth is that without Weider and Dana pro bbers and fighters would be just guys working out and training at a gym.

The guy from Bellator is trying to do just that, but the problem is that the UFC is the most established promotion that has been around for over 2 decades now and has inadvertently become the authority when it comes to MMA. The presumption is that the very best MMA fighters fight for the UFC and that all other organizations have 2-3rd tier fighters on their roster. Pride was tied to the UFC and I'd even go as far as to say that many of their cards were much more exciting than what the UFC put out around the same time. Without PRIDE being around now, it's much harder to gauge how well the UFC would fend against another big money promotion.

It's like when Vince McMahon tried to start his own bodybuilding league and it failed miserably. Vince was paying IFBB pros that came over very well (Gary Strydom being one of them), but it soon flopped. I forget as to the reason why again.

Anyway, I've always felt that if Bellator were to acquire the likes of GSP, Anderson Silva and Jon Jones, the UFC would suffer a significant blow and a good amount of their fighters would also jump ship and follow the top headliners, not to mention the large purses.

"1"

[Darren Avey]

Ain't happening.  They said that 10 years ago.

It is happeneing, More people know who Cain Valasquez is than who Wladmir Klitschko is

[che]

Anyway, I've always felt that if Bellator were to acquire the likes of GSP, Anderson Silva and Jon Jones, the UFC would suffer a significant blow and a good amount of their fighters would also jump ship and follow the top headliners, not to mention the large purses.

"1"

I don't know man , there's not a hype machine like the UFC hype machine, if they go somewhere else Dana would say they are washed up ,they can't cut it in the UFC anymore..........etc.  they would hype the shit out of the new guys, and the sheeps would buy it.

[Kwon_2]

The disparity is mind blowing from the highest paid to the lowest $600,000 to $10,000.  The highest paid guy is getting 60 times more than the lowest paid.  That's crazy. And how do the fighters negotiate?  Do they have agents?  And if we are to take womens MMA seriously, how can one of the co main event fighters (Miehsa Tate) only earn $28,000 and Josh Barnett an undercard fighter at this event earn over 6 times that at $170,000.  And Chris leben $51,000, are you serious, the guys a can, he has lost 5 of his last 6 fights.  I think there is a lot of brown nosing and favoritism shown my Dana.  The whole pay system doesn't make sense.

You have already answered your question.

Danan likes Chris Leben, he has been fighting for the company a long time, even though he doesn't have high skills, he likes to bang, and takes almost any fight. That's what Dana likes and pays him more than x.

It's they who decide what the specific fighter gets paid.

If superskilled fighter x that Dana doesn't like wants Anderson Silva-money, it's very hard for him to negotiate that contract

Favoritism is in every area and aspect in life.

[Thin Lizzy]

It's like when Vince McMahon tried to start his own bodybuilding league and it failed miserably. Vince was paying IFBB pros that came over very well (Gary Strydom being one of them), but it soon flopped. I forget as to the reason why again.

Anyway, I've always felt that if Bellator were to acquire the likes of GSP, Anderson Silva and Jon Jones, the UFC would suffer a significant blow and a good amount of their fighters would also jump ship and follow the top headliners, not to mention the large purses.

"1"

The WBA flopped because it couldn't sustain a revenue base because bodybuilders dont draw money neither do the overwhelming majority of MMA fighters. These sports are in the ticket selling business. No one is calling Brock Lesnar the greatest MMA fighter of all time, but he got paid because he put asses in the seats and in front of the tv.

The idea that a union would change things is false, as well. If you force Dana to pay fighters more, he'll just make the roster smaller. So, what one fighter gets comes at the expense of another. Econ 101.

[The Wizard of Truth]

If dana white didn't pay fighters at all at the beginning they would still want to fight in the ufc, ie guys would fight for free in the ufc. The ufc has no true competition so dana white can pay them what he likes

[Alex23]

5'7 and 47 still dunking.

Holy shit... impressive.

[no one]

They get pay what they deserve , they know it and Dana White knows it ,that's why they  do it without complaining ,actually they beg to be part of the  UFC .
95% of the UFC fighters are replaceable , there are  some good talents  but nothing extraordinaire ,I hope this helps .

UFC
Where a guy  can become World Champion and being called ''the baddest man on the planet''  with only 2 pro fights (Lesnar )
Where a rookie with 9 pro fights can beat the greatest MMA fighter of all time no once but twice (Weidman ),maybe the greatest wasn't that great.
Where you can become   a World Champion without even fighting for the  title  (Rousey )

exactly. a lot of people want to hate on white. these guys are lining up to fight for what is relatively peanuts. whos to blame?