It seems to me that the UFC is doing the same thing that goes on in boxing. If you are not the champ or the top two or three contender you won’t make any money. The vast majority of UFC fighters most hold full time jobs. It is the same way in Boxing, being pro doesn’t mean anything financially. You can fight on a UFC card and literally make peanuts. Now if you look at other sports Hockey, NBA or MLB just being pro means you make 400 or 500 K. UFC doesn’t make that kind of money but they have alot less players and the PPV money is substantial. So shouldn’t the UFC being paying the fighters a decent amount so they don’t have to struggle with full time jobs? The superstars are paid good just like in boxing. Everyone else though scraps by.
Amadeus That $12K is before paying manager, taxes, training costs. Plus I think some make less than the $12K.
Is it such a bad thing that a fighter should have enough to be a real pro? I mean who hear wants to work two jobs to get by? These are not bench warmers these are guys who are very good but maybe won’t win a title.
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
So you’re upset that a fighter actually has to work really hard to earn his pay instead of simply sitting on the bench!?
While it is true that the nobodies in the sport make peanuts most mid-level fighters actually make decent money. Not enough to live on completely but $12,000 to show for 15 minutes of work is pretty damn good.
Well even if they did pay them decent money, a career in UFC is still kind of precarious thing. So I think it still doesn’t hurt to have something to fall back on.
However, I do agree they should be paid better.
Absolutely! You make a very good point. You know UFC is making a ton of money not just in fight promotions, but from licences in merchandise.
Meanwhile, most of the guys who have built the UFC (the fighters) make squat. Granted, most UFC fighters aren’t in it for the money. There are alot much easier ways to make money than being a MMA, but the UFC should should kick them down a little coin for their effort. After all the fighters ARE UFC!
I’m sure they will bring up the basic pay of each MMA fighter but if you have a poor MMA record and come to the UFC and lose how do you expect to get paid. Bottom of the line, make Zuffa some money and they’ll return the favor. Example is forest griffin and stephen bonnar. They put on a good show and got rewarded, are they the best out there? Certainly not, but they fought their hearts out and got rewarded. Same thing with Serra, he’s going to cash in from KOing GSP. Like you said, boxing isn’t baseball and neither is UFC. UFC is more like boxing so it takes a natural swing and rewards the fighters according to the fight cards they promote that makes them the most money. Afterall, the better fighters deserve much more. Others have to prove their worth.
It’s a business. The goal in any business is to make a profit.
Take an endless supply of guys willing to fight for little more than name recognition and add to that a hundred times more people willing to pay big bucks to watch and you end up with a business that nets huge profits.
America, What a country!
I think all prelim fighters make at least $3,000 to fight and $2,000 to win, but the difference between the UFC and smaller organizations is that they take care of getting you to the event and home as well as accomidations while you are there, in KOTC they will get fighters from the town they are in to fill in last minute opponents and may not even have insurance for the fighters.
because they can
Oh hell yeah, if you’re not an A-list fighter you’ll be lucky to pull $2K a fight.
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