As far as demands for a UFC superfight payday go, George St-Pierre’s reported request of $50 million to face Anderson Silva is a bargain when you consider that Silva wanted half of the UFC to face Jon Jones.
Mike Straka brought up the $50 million number on the latest episode of The MMA Beat. Straka reported, “I was told by somebody very close to Georges that Georges today makes close to $8 million a fight. So to fight Anderson Silva he’s going to ask for $50 million.” According to Straka, the figure was not an arbitrary number pulled from the ether.
Straka’s source said that number was based on the fact that St-Pierre feels a fight with Silva has the potential to end his career, a career he feels has 10 fights left in it. In order to possibly sacrifice that career, GSP wants to be paid money that takes that risk into consideration.
A price of $50 million is an insanely high payday for one fight, but when you look at the number from a pure business standpoint, it’s not all that crazy.
A loss to Silva could have an effect on St-Pierre’s future earnings outside the Octagon. If he were to lose in a brutal or convincing manner, sponsors may no longer line up to use him as their poster boy.
St-Pierre is not Michael Jordan; that sponsorship money is not something that will be guaranteed to keep rolling in once his career ends, especially if his career comes to an end as the result of a convincing defeat.
As far as his in-cage earnings go, if St-Pierre’s career comes to a close due to a Silva loss, that’s approximately $80 million (if the $8 million-per-fight number is true) left out there.
That’s $80 million St-Pierre will never have the chance to recoup. For that possible loss of future earnings, St-Pierre is apparently looking for a $50 million guarantee.
It’s all risk-reward for St-Pierre. To him, the risk of facing Anderson Silva seems pretty damn high.
Now, if St-Pierre is able to defeat Silva, he’s in a win-win-win situation. He pockets $50 million for one fight, his sponsorship dollars will increase the minute his hand is raised in victory and he can still count on nine more multi-million-dollar UFC paydays.
With all the above being said, no matter where the fight is held and no matter how many pay-per-view buys it generates, the thought that the UFC will fork over more than $100 million to two fighters is absurd.
The sport cannot support that type of payday. Perhaps one day the promotion will be able to support those types of paydays, but today? Not a chance.
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