This article reflects the opinion of the author
Some men are national treasures. Think Chesley Sullenberger, the heroic pilot who guided US Airways Flight 1549, and all 150 of its passengers, to the relative safety of the Hudson River. Think Kiefer Sutherland, who under the nom de plume Jack Bauer, saved us from certain death hundreds of times as depicted in the documentary series 24. And think Don Frye, the mixed martial arts legend who redefined what it means to rock a mustache and wasn’t afraid to go toe-to-toe with the baddest men in the world’s baddest sport.
Frye is a man’s man. He and Yoshihiro Takayama squared off in a battle that no one who has witnessed it could ever forget. Standing in hockey goon range, the two men wailed on each other for what felt like days. It was contested in the Pride ring, but it might as well have been held in a phone booth. The courage and sheer brass, shiny balls on display that night were nothing short of awe inspiring.
Even when it was his time to take a whooping, and in a career that has spanned three decades there were some of those along with the triumphs, Frye takes it like a man. Mark Coleman was the better man. Frye took his lumps and shook his hand. That’s how men settle their business.
I love interviewing Don Frye. He’s great, entertaining and witty. He never fails to thank me for my military service. He’s a great American. But sometimes, Don Frye is undeniably, inexplicably and embarrassingly wrong. Take, for example, his recent interview with Sherdog where he suggested that UFC President Dana White had ruined MMA:
I had a lot of fun. The fans are fantastic. Fantastic fans. But the thing is, Dana White‘s just ruined the sport. I got to thinking about it today and you know, he ruined it for me. I thought, ‘Why am I letting that a**hole dictate my life and take all of the fun out of it for me?’ I just ignore him and go on with my life.
Frye went on to complain about the economics of the sport:
Oh my God, it’s a crime. It’s a crime. You see some of these guys only getting two or three or six thousand dollars and you’ve got Dana bragging about having 30 Ferraris. Come on. You have a sponsor and he charges a sponsor what, a hundred and fifty grand to have your stuff on the fighter? That’s money he’s stealing from the fighter. Then he goes and he pays them two or three thousand dollars. That’s crazy.
Here’s the truth. Thanks to Dana White and the Fertittas, MMA has made multiple millionaires. Those sponsorship opportunities Frye is talking about? A direct result of White’s hard work securing a platform for fighters to reach fans. Big money sponsorships are the direct result of television—and White and the UFC staff have created ever expanding avenues for fighters to be seen on the boob tube.
Fighters on the UFC’s fringes, the guys making $8,000 or $10,000 are honestly overpaid for their efforts. They don’t contribute to the UFC’s bottom line and aren’t compensated like they do. That’s fair.
It’s a stepping stone, an opportunity to become the kind of fighter who makes big money like Georges St-Pierre or Jon Jones. The UFC doesn’t have to pay fighters that much for their initial undercard bouts. They’d have guys lining up for the opportunity at $6,000 to show and $6,000 to win.
In fact, they’d have guys lined up around the arena for a chance to get their foot in the door for free. They pay as much as they do, not because they are cold-hearted, but because they care about the fighter.
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