Jump to content

Should UFC Fighters Get Paid More?


David

Recommended Posts

12 hours ago, ColinBollocks said:

I don't blame Masvidal for trying his luck - they can certainly pay him more. Although, realistically, spunking away your good money years isn't smart.

There's trying your luck, and just being fucking stupid though. He was handed the chance to make probably the second biggest payday of his career for a fight that he has very little chance of winning, and he knocks it back? 

I'm no financial or business whizz, but when you see some of these MMA "managers" you quickly realise why the UFC can stiff all of these fighters. They're negotiating with fucking morons for the most part.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

Indeed. He probably feels he's a bigger asset after battering Diaz so deserves more - which is probably true. However, if they're offering PPV points on top of his base fight money then that's a good deal with the potential to make some proper money.

Fighters go on about wanting Rousey/McGregor money but it's worth noting Rousey and McGregor, at their peak, seemingly fought all the time against all comers (obviously aside from being their two biggest stars). It's a balancing act. Truth is almost all fighters are dispensable since they've got into bed with ESPN; there is less reliance on the PPV cash.

Edited by ColinBollocks
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, ColinBollocks said:

Truth is almost all fighters are dispensable since they've got into bed with ESPN; there is less reliance on the PPV cash.

I mentioned this briefly in the other thread. Are PPV points even worth what they were pre-ESPN? The whole model has been altered now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

Apparently the reason Brock decided against the DC fight was he realised he'd not get the money he was after fighting on ESPN+ only. He maybe thought fighting on ESPN+ would naturally have a squeeze on the draw potential. The points only matter if the show does well. Again, pointless Mighty Mouse having points unless he gets a percentage fighting on a co-main big show - and we don't know how co-main PPV points work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

Maybe the reason Masvidal kicked off about money was because he probably knew he wouldn't beat Usman, and wanted to save that match until last while he's still a draw, so wanted a realistic excuse to back out to fight someone else and continue to earn a bit more cash without damaging his "BMF" brand. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, ColinBollocks said:

Apparently the reason Brock decided against the DC fight was he realised he'd not get the money he was after fighting on ESPN+ only. He maybe thought fighting on ESPN+ would naturally have a squeeze on the draw potential. The points only matter if the show does well. Again, pointless Mighty Mouse having points unless he gets a percentage fighting on a co-main big show - and we don't know how co-main PPV points work.

Under the system that was released into the public, even a half-decent card drawing 300,000 PPV buys would still see a fighter on PPV points get an extra $300,000 in pay. Tack that on to the basic $500,000 for a male champion at lightweight or above and you're hitting $800,000. That's decent dough for a champion who can't draw, and it's why I don't think the UFC would pay that. It doesn't make financial sense considering the percentage of revenue they reportedly pay to fighters.

Under the older pre-ESPN system, a fighter making PPV points would be getting 3% of the UFC's roughly 50% PPV revenue that they shared with cable providers etc per buy on events selling under 400,000. That rises to 6.1% of revenue generated on PPV buys between 400,000 and 600,000, and 7.6% of PPV revenue generated from every buy 600,000 and above.

Imagine if it was an event featuring a champion and a draw who has PPV points in his or her contract? You're looking at the UFC giving up over 15% of revenue on a good PPV card on PPV points alone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

What do they get if the show does under 300k? IIRC, anything outside of Jones, Conor, Nate, GSP usually does well under 300k these days. It's why they were so keen to sign that ESPN+ deal where they get a fee per show. Do champs get a cut of the gate and show sponsor money etc?

I'm just spitballing here, but maybe the co-main with the points gets a reduced cut of their points? Generally if the co main is a championship bout it's a (weeeelll) big show intended to do big numbers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, ColinBollocks said:

What do they get if the show does under 300k? IIRC, anything outside of Jones, Conor, Nate, GSP usually does well under 300k these days. It's why they were so keen to sign that ESPN+ deal where they get a fee per show. Do champs get a cut of the gate and show sponsor money etc?

As soon as a PPV hits 200,000 buys any fighter on the card who is entitled to points will get 3% of the UFC's revenue from PPV sales. That's up to 400,000 buys. Between 400,000 and 600,000 they get 6.1%, and above 600,000 they get 7.6%.

Bear in mind that's per fighter. If you have two champions on one card, or a champion and a "name" fighter with a PPV points contract you're talking double those percentages.

And yes, some fighters will get a cut of the gate and suchlike.

That's why I find it hard to square all of this with the reports that fighters get 16% of total revenue, unless it's lower-end fighters dragging that percentage down significantly on average? Because if every champion is getting a hike in base rate and PPV points as standard, they're making decent coin even on shows that pull 200,000-300,000 buys as that's an extra $200,000 to $300,000 on top of their base pay.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think you have the deal wrong there. It's nothing for the first 200,00 regardless of how the show does. $1 per buy for 200k to 400k $2 for 400k to 600k and $2.5 for any buys over 600k.

So an 800k buy show would pay out $0 +$200,000 +$400,000 + $500,000 for a total of $1.1 million out of about $25 million that the UFC gets.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, weevil said:

I think you have the deal wrong there. It's nothing for the first 200,00 regardless of how the show does. $1 per buy for 200k to 400k $2 for 400k to 600k and $2.5 for any buys over 600k.

So an 800k buy show would pay out $0 +$200,000 +$400,000 + $500,000 for a total of $1.1 million out of about $25 million that the UFC gets.

You sure? I said:

On 6/16/2020 at 10:44 AM, David said:

As soon as a PPV hits 200,000 buys any fighter on the card who is entitled to points will get 3% of the UFC's revenue from PPV sales.

 

On 6/16/2020 at 10:44 AM, David said:

Because if every champion is getting a hike in base rate and PPV points as standard, they're making decent coin even on shows that pull 200,000-300,000 buys as that's an extra $200,000 to $300,000 on top of their base pay.

Have I calculated somewhere when talking about dollar figures taking into account that initial 200,000 buys? If so, my mistake.

In the above calculation I'm talking about cards that would pull in anywhere from 200,000 to 400,000 buys, or slightly over the 400,000 buy mark. Meaning an extra $200,000 - $300,000 for the fighter in that case.

EDIT: I may have worded that badly actually. My apologies. I was focusing on the lower-selling cards that may do between 200,000 to 400,000 and change, such as 490,000 buys etc.

Edited by David
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, weevil said:

yeah so if the show does 210,000 buys the fighter gets $10,000 dollars not $210,000.

If a show is headlined by a champion who draws 210,000 PPV buys they don't deserve any more than $10,000 extra. That's just the truth of it.

They'll get their championship level basic pay. But if they don't sell PPV's, if the fans don't really give a fuck about them, they deserve no more than that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...