Tag: fighter pay

Weekend Roundup: Ex-WSOF Champ *Throws* Fight, God-Awful Tattoos, UFC Overload & More


(Photo via Getty)

By Alex Giardini

The weekend is in the books, and although many of you were indulging in baseball playoffs and college football madness, there was plenty of MMA to equally boast and complain about. Apart from the always-vibrant regional circuit, which included MFC 41 and SFL 35 last Saturday night (watch a dude go through the cage door looking like he was on the wrong end of a Stone Cold Stunner right here), there were four major MMA shows taking place in 48 hours, two of which came from the same promotion that may or may not be ruining the sport with its inflated and overstressed schedule.

To top it all off, there were also a handful of stories outside the cage to boast about, some amusing and some downright miserable.

Here is the Cage Potato “Weekend Roundup,” and quite frankly, the only recap you need:


(Photo via Getty)

By Alex Giardini

The weekend is in the books, and although many of you were indulging in baseball playoffs and college football madness, there was plenty of MMA to equally boast and complain about. Apart from the always-vibrant regional circuit, which included MFC 41 and SFL 35 last Saturday night (watch a dude go through the cage door looking like he was on the wrong end of a Stone Cold Stunner right here), there were four major MMA shows taking place in 48 hours, two of which came from the same promotion that may or may not be ruining the sport with its inflated and overstressed schedule.

To top it all off, there were also a handful of stories outside the cage to boast about, some amusing and some downright miserable.

Here is the Cage Potato “Weekend Roundup,” and quite frankly, the only recap you need:

Bellator vs. Battlegrounds MMA 

It wasn’t exactly the showdown anyone anticipated, yet Bellator 127 went head-to-head against the hopeful Battlegrounds MMA, the upstart group that hired WWE legend Jim Ross and former UFC trash-talking guru Chael Sonnen to lead the way in the commentary booth for the return of the epic one-night tournament.

First, let’s get Bellator out of the way. These weekly Bellator shows will thankfully come to an end, and we can’t wait for Scott Coker to put on monthly shows better than the five UFC shows Zuffa runs per month, even though season 11 has owned so far.

In the main event, Daniel Straus blitzed past Justin Wilcox in under a minute, returning to winning ways after dropping his featherweight strap to Pat Curran back in March. Karo Parisyan’s comeback came to a stop at the hands of Fernando Gonzalez in a catchweight bout, after the latter dropped him and continued to deck him into oblivion. Another catchweight fight saw Rafael Silva defeat another UFC veteran, Rob Emerson, and Kendall Grove surprised the majority of his naysayers by choking out Christian M’Pumbu. Check out the highlights here.

As for Battlegrounds MMA, it was the perfect mix of sensation and shit show. The tournament format made a return, but we can sort of see why MMA can do without it. The show was a little long (not nearly as long as you-know-who), and with all due respect to the combatants participating, it would be hard to say the event would have acquired the same intrigue had it not been a one-night, eight-man welterweight tournament.

Since most of you care about the commentary team, they were a lot better than Mike Goldberg & Joe Rogan, Jon Anik & Brian Stann/Kenny Florian, generic English guy & Dan Hardy, and even Michael Schiavello & Pat Miletech. Both Ross and Sonnen offered something different in the booth, ranging from the “American Gangster’s” steroid jokes and ranking a ring girl, to Ross’ dry humor and still intact punch lines.

The unlikely winner of the whole shebang was Roan Corneiro, defeating three men in one night (including two finishes), and then stripped of $15,000 by the Oklahoma Athletic Commission for “showing up late” to a medical. Since the grand prize was a whopping $50,000, earning just $35,000 to topple three foes in one night is pretty atrocious. Other notable tournament highlights include Cody McKenzie making weight by donating a pint of blood and then losing to Brock Larson by submission, Joe Ray mauled Luigi Fioravanti, and Trey Houston upset Jesse Taylor with a slick first-round armbar.

UFC Sweden Actually Turned Out To Be A Good Show

UFC in the afternoon is a little odd. Depending on which coast you reside on, you have limited time when waking up in someone’s bed that you don’t recognize, and realize you’re about three ferry rides away from your home. Some of us would just keep chilling, but you know, their partner can turn out to be Leo Johnson.

Anyway, Twitter, the best social media app on the fucking planet, blew up with so-called MMA journalists and enthusiasts making fun of those watching the UFC Sweden prelims around noon without being paid for it. We tend to agree.

The UFC Fight Night 53 main card was pretty damn entertaining, mainly because all the Swedes and their affiliates lost. Rick Story shocked by emphatically defeating the overhyped Gunnar Nelson, and then completely blew his post-fight interview by not calling someone out. The co-main event saw Max Holloway knock out Akira Corassani, and the Wiki-less Ilir Latifi also fell to Jan Blachowicz due to a mean kick to the body. The action opened up with Mike Wilkinson upsetting Niklas Backstrom with a nasty knockout. The best part was when the latter walked up to Dan Hardy in the midst of talking to the Englishman and simply said, “that’s fucked up, man …(something else)…”

Donald Cerrone & Hapless Canuck Get Inked

After promising his boss he wouldn’t wakeboard or commit to other crazy shit on fight week, UFC lightweight Donald Cerrone got some pretty interesting ink on his foot. To be honest, there should be more instances of a blonde Bettie Page riding a rocket-penis in the sport.

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WoW the feet hurt!! Would way rather take 30 unanswered uppercuts to the face lol @benguntattoo

View on Instagram

 

If you thought that was bad, check out this moronic UFC-loving sap getting UFC Halifax inked on his freaking forearm, complete with the iconic Chuck Liddell pose.

Seriously, dude, don’t ever read CagePotato again. You’re banned.

UFC Halifax Was Longer Than The Ten Commandments

Speaking about UFC Halifax, who doesn’t love the UFC doubleheader?

UFC made its debut in Nova Scotia this past Saturday night with UFC Fight Night 54, showcasing the fight card on multiple backup platforms after FOX Sports 1 flipped them the bird and said, “we’re finishing baseball first, Mitch Gagnon.”

The event was pretty lackluster in general, minus Rory MacDonald’s official coming out party as the real Patrick Bateman. He finished Tarec Saffiedine in the third round via knockout, and there’s a good chance he’s next in line for the welterweight championship. Also on the card, Miesha Tate’s boyfriend lost to Raphael Assuncao in the co-main event.

As for the rest of the main card, check Wikipedia. If Dana isn’t doing post-fight scrums anymore, we aren’t either.

War Machine Is Back On Twitter

War Machine, real name John … you know what? Fuck War Machine. Up next …

UFC Newcomer Creates Go Fund Me Page

Every time the fighter pay issue is brought up in the media, the UFC brass (primarily) completely shuts down the remarks, citing backstage bonuses, unknown contract clauses, and general media stupidity to fight their cause.

In this instance, Nina Ansaroff, who makes her Octagon debut against Juliana Lima in a women’s strawweight bout at UFC Fight Night 56 in Brazil, has created a “Go Fund Me” page upon entering her first fight for the promotion hopeful of “world fucking domination.”

This has to be one of the saddest instances of fighter pay in the goddamn world. Not only did Cat Zingano’s paycheck raise a few eyebrows last week, but also that’s just another example of how flawed the pay system is. Ansaroff is an Invicta FC veteran, riding a five-fight winning streak, and fought both Carla Esparza and Barb Honchak early on in her career. As it stands, the fighter has raised $960, with a projected goal of $5,000.

There are many ways to spin this, but I guess we can just give it a rest and say it’s business, right?

Josh Burkman Threw WSOF Title Fight, But Not Really, Laughs In Ben Askren’s Avatar

Josh Burkman returns to the Octagon after six years away, facing the power-punching Hector Lombard at UFC 182. He left his post at WSOF, and his not-so-cryptic tweets were rather interesting.

The “People’s Warrior” claimed he threw his welterweight title fight against Steve Carl back in October 2012, just to get back into the UFC’s grace. It was a little hard to believe since the scrap was a back-and-forth battle that saw Burkman go out due to a triangle choke.

After some back-and-forth clowning with Ben Askren on Twitter, Burkman reiterated that he would never throw a fight, and was simply tooling the current One FC welterweight champion (as per his chat with MMA Fighting).

Actually, promotions do release champions.

That reminds me … was Burkman dating Arianny when that whole thing with the pictures …. uh, nevermind

Is World Series of Fighting’s “Pay the Fighters Half” PPV Model Crazy Enough to Work?


(“Y’know Rousimar, it’s a shame how imbalanced the profit distribution is in this sport. Sometimes, it feels like we-OW OW OW OW OKAY I’LL STOP TALKING.” / Photo via Sherdog)

World Series of Fighting turned some heads yesterday — as in, we briefly looked up from our General Tso’s chicken — when the promotion announced that it will begin putting on pay-per-view shows beginning next year. In other words, the second-tier MMA promotion that very few of you watch on cable wants you to start paying for their shows. Make sense so far?

And, because WSOF has no superfights to sell you at the moment, the promotion is trying to generate interest through a unique financial arrangement: Half of the revenue that WSOF takes in through pay-per-view sales will go to their fighters. From the press release…

LAS VEGAS (Sept. 23, 2014) – In a radical move that could forever change the earning potential of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighters, World Series of Fighting (www.wsof.com) has announced that it will enter the pay-per-view business in the second half of 2015 with an unprecedented revenue sharing model that will pay 50 percent of all net revenue earned from live pay-per-view events it produces, to the fighters featured on the telecasts.

“This is a proud day for the sport of mixed martial arts and our organization and one that we hope will create a better opportunity for the fighters who put everything on the line every time they step inside the cage,” said World Series of Fighting President, six-time world champion and two-time Hall of Famer Ray Sefo.

“Until now,” continued Sefo, “one of the main things holding this sport back from becoming even bigger than it is today has been fighter compensation and the inability of the sport’s top athletes to earn on par with top-level professional athletes in other sports.

“If fighters can’t earn a fair share of the money at the top,” said Sefo, “the fighters lose hope or become disenchanted with the sport, which impacts their commitment to training and preparing properly for title fights. That is about to change, thanks to this major step we are taking now fighters will train harder than ever to become a champion giving the fans some epic championship bouts to enjoy. We want to thank NBC Sports and NBC for giving us such an amazing stage to grow World Series of Fighting since its debut…

Additional details about World Series of Fighting’s 2015 pay-per-view launch will be announced soon.

It’s not bad for a publicity stunt. But can this revenue-sharing model actually work? Let’s do some quick math…


(“Y’know Rousimar, it’s a shame how imbalanced the profit distribution is in this sport. Sometimes, it feels like we-OW OW OW OW OKAY I’LL STOP TALKING.” / Photo via Sherdog)

World Series of Fighting turned some heads yesterday — as in, we briefly looked up from our General Tso’s chicken — when the promotion announced that it will begin putting on pay-per-view shows beginning next year. In other words, the second-tier MMA promotion that very few of you watch on cable wants you to start paying for their shows. Make sense so far?

And, because WSOF has no superfights to sell you at the moment, the promotion is trying to generate interest through a unique financial arrangement: Half of the revenue that WSOF takes in through pay-per-view sales will go to their fighters. From the press release…

LAS VEGAS (Sept. 23, 2014) – In a radical move that could forever change the earning potential of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighters, World Series of Fighting (www.wsof.com) has announced that it will enter the pay-per-view business in the second half of 2015 with an unprecedented revenue sharing model that will pay 50 percent of all net revenue earned from live pay-per-view events it produces, to the fighters featured on the telecasts.

“This is a proud day for the sport of mixed martial arts and our organization and one that we hope will create a better opportunity for the fighters who put everything on the line every time they step inside the cage,” said World Series of Fighting President, six-time world champion and two-time Hall of Famer Ray Sefo.

“Until now,” continued Sefo, “one of the main things holding this sport back from becoming even bigger than it is today has been fighter compensation and the inability of the sport’s top athletes to earn on par with top-level professional athletes in other sports.

“If fighters can’t earn a fair share of the money at the top,” said Sefo, “the fighters lose hope or become disenchanted with the sport, which impacts their commitment to training and preparing properly for title fights. That is about to change, thanks to this major step we are taking now fighters will train harder than ever to become a champion giving the fans some epic championship bouts to enjoy. We want to thank NBC Sports and NBC for giving us such an amazing stage to grow World Series of Fighting since its debut…

Additional details about World Series of Fighting’s 2015 pay-per-view launch will be announced soon.

It’s not bad for a publicity stunt. But can this revenue-sharing model actually work? Let’s do some quick math…

– If the worst UFC pay-per-view card and greatest Bellator card can both pull about 100,000 buys, how many buys do you think World Series of Fighting can draw from a burned-out MMA fanbase, with verrrry little in the way of mainstream stars. Let’s be super generous and say 50,000.

– Bellator’s PPV price tag was anywhere from $30-$45, depending on cable provider. We’ll assume that WSOF’s PPV will cost an average of $40/pop.

– Generally, cable providers collect half of the gross PPV revenue. So, for every pay-per-view that WSOF sells, they’d get $20 in this hypothetical scenario.

– 50,000 x 20 = $1,000,000 net revenue for WSOF.

– 50% of that = $500,000 for the fighters “featured on the telecasts” which could mean just the ten fighters on the main card. If that’s the case, those fighters would receive an additional $50,000 apiece on average. (“Everybody! Gets! A Performance Bonus!”) If that money is distributed to prelim fighters as well — say, ten more fighters — then each fighter would get a $25,000 bump, on average. Obviously, we’d expect headliners to get a bigger cut of the pie than local curtain-jerkers.

What this exercise proves is that even a terribly-performing pay-per-view show can generate real money for fighters, if half of the money actually goes to them. Try to imagine the UFC doing this: Let’s say the UFC puts on a solid PPV card that draws 300,000 buys, at an average consumer price of $50. The UFC would collect $7,500,000 in net revenue (300,000 x 25). Half of that — $3,750,000 — would go to the fighters. Based on a UFC card with 24 bodies, each fighter would get an average payout of $156,250. And if the UFC just wants to share the cash with the 10 fighters on the PPV broadcast (which would make more sense), each main-carder would earn an average of $375,000. Holy crap, now we’re talkin’. Assuming it’s distributed sensibly, every damn one of those fighters would be thrilled.

Of course, the UFC would never adopt this model, because they don’t need to; they already have hundreds of fighters falling all over themselves to fight for $20k/$20k (if they’re lucky). But make no mistake — the money is there.

As for World Series of Fighting, their revenue-sharing model could be a great way for the promotion to attract UFC washouts and young prospects who might otherwise sign with Bellator. After all, putting pressure on Bellator seems to be WSOF’s only reason for existence.

(BG)

The 27 Most Persistent Myths in MMA


(“I’m telling you people, this is the most stacked UFC card OF ALL TIME!” / Photo via Getty)

Like price sticker residue on a prized picture frame, these myths refused to be scrubbed away. You’ll encounter them on forums, barroom discussions, and even from the mouths of so-called experts. What myths are these? We’re glad you asked…

By CagePotato.com Staff 

1. MMA wouldn’t exist without Dana White. Wrong. See here.

2. Royce Gracie was a humble, respectful warrior. [Ed’s note: Hopefully there’s been enough recent evidence to put this falsehood to bed until the end of time.]

3. Chuck Liddell in his prime would have destroyed ________.

4. MMA has nothing in common with professional wrestling.

5. [Celebrity with zero combat sports experience] would make a great MMA fighter!

6. Motivated BJ Penn could/still can beat anybody.

7. Healthy Shogun could/still can beat anybody.

8. Brock Lesnar could’ve held the belt forever and a day had it not been for diverticulitis.

9. The UFC is not a sports entertainment company.


(“I’m telling you people, this is the most stacked UFC card OF ALL TIME!” / Photo via Getty)

Like price sticker residue on a prized picture frame, these myths refused to be scrubbed away. You’ll encounter them on forums, barroom discussions, and even from the mouths of so-called experts. What myths are these? We’re glad you asked…

By CagePotato.com Staff 

1. MMA wouldn’t exist without Dana White. Wrong. See here.

2. Royce Gracie was a humble, respectful warrior. [Ed’s note: Hopefully there’s been enough recent evidence to put this falsehood to bed until the end of time.]

3. Chuck Liddell in his prime would have destroyed ________.

4. MMA has nothing in common with professional wrestling.

5. [Celebrity with zero combat sports experience] would make a great MMA fighter!

6. Motivated BJ Penn could/still can beat anybody.

7. Healthy Shogun could/still can beat anybody.

8. Brock Lesnar could’ve held the belt forever and a day had it not been for diverticulitis.

9. The UFC is not a sports entertainment company.

10. MMA wouldn’t exist without Bruce Lee.

11. Tito Ortiz held the most UFC light heavyweight wins of all time (too soon?).

12. _____, _____, and _____ will be the toughest test of [insert headliner of next PPV]‘s career so far.

13. Xyience is a thing people use outside of UFC press conferences, where cans of it are used as paper weights.

14. Michael Bisping won the Matt Hamill fight.

15. Rampage Jackson is funny.

16. Forrest Griffin is funny.

17. The low salaries Zuffa pays the fighters are okay because they all get rich off locker room bonuses.

18. The media isn’t on the take.

19. “I used supplements that must have been tainted.”

20. “I was hacked.”

21. “My phone was stolen.”

22. “My PR firm went rogue.”

23. Brazilian events bring out only respectful, educated fans.

24. Women’s fights are always exciting (and no, we don’t hate WMMA. You can criticize something and still like it. Imagine that…)

25. Dana White isn’t an asshole (this behavior is indefensible, no matter how much snow you have imported into your driveway).

26. Boxing is dead. Did you see how many MMA sites covered Mayweather-Maidana?

27. “Fastest growing sport in the world.”

Quote of the Day: Nate Diaz Unleashes the Mother of All Fighter Pay Rants (to Dana White’s Confusion)


(“Hold up a second, Nate. If you’re really only making that much money for this fight, I’ll gladly bow out.” Photo via Getty)

You may recall that back in February, Nate Diaz requested to be released from his UFC contract, stating via Twitter that “It’s time for me to be on my way..?” Most of us assumed that the empty threat was just that, a thinly-veiled attempt by the former title challenger and TUF winner to get some of that Gil Melendez money (see previously: “ive gotta high school reuinion i have to tend too“). In any case, we haven’t heard a word from Diaz since.

Until yesterday, however, when MMAFighting managed to get ahold of the ever-elusive Stocktonian and pressed him on his current standing with the promotion. Diaz’s response was a rant against the current state of fighter pay so vivid and thorough that we’re still not convinced it wasn’t spoken through his anger translator:

I’m ready to fight but not for some funny money that they’re trying to give me. They can let me go or they can let me fight, but let me do something. They know I need to make some money. I feel like they’re just trying to keep me on the waiting list. I don’t even want to communicate through anybody. If they want to figure out what’s going on, we should talk. No one is contacting me. I’m just doing my thing. Training every day. I’m ready to fight tomorrow.

They need to be about more money. My contract is all f*cked up. I want to be paid like these other fighters. I’m over here getting chump change. At this point, they’re paying all my partners and other people I train with are getting real money, and it’s too embarrassing for me to even fight again for the money they’re paying me. So they can either pay me or let me go. I’m with that.


(“Hold up a second, Nate. If you’re really only making that much money for this fight, I’ll gladly bow out.” Photo via Getty)

You may recall that back in February, Nate Diaz requested to be released from his UFC contract, stating via Twitter that “It’s time for me to be on my way..?” Most of us assumed that the empty threat was just that, a thinly-veiled attempt by the former title challenger and TUF winner to get some of that Gil Melendez money (see previously: “ive gotta high school reuinion i have to tend too“). In any case, we haven’t heard a word from Diaz since.

Until yesterday, however, when MMAFighting managed to get ahold of the ever-elusive Stocktonian and pressed him on his current standing with the promotion. Diaz’s response was a rant against the current state of fighter pay so vivid and thorough that we’re still not convinced it wasn’t spoken through his anger translator:

I’m ready to fight but not for some funny money that they’re trying to give me. They can let me go or they can let me fight, but let me do something. They know I need to make some money. I feel like they’re just trying to keep me on the waiting list. I don’t even want to communicate through anybody. If they want to figure out what’s going on, we should talk. No one is contacting me. I’m just doing my thing. Training every day. I’m ready to fight tomorrow.

They need to be about more money. My contract is all f*cked up. I want to be paid like these other fighters. I’m over here getting chump change. At this point, they’re paying all my partners and other people I train with are getting real money, and it’s too embarrassing for me to even fight again for the money they’re paying me. So they can either pay me or let me go. I’m with that.

Has anyone else ever considered the possibility that the Diaz’s are capable of being embarrassed? Like, that they possess the amount of self-awareness necessary to understand the emotion?

I train harder than everybody in the UFC. And then there’s boxers out there getting multimillion dollar contracts, and I’m a bigger draw than boxers. It’s embarrassing. I think I’m the biggest draw in the lightweight division. I feel like they’re trying to weed me out of the top 10. I saw that I went from no. 5 to 6 in the rankings, for some reason. That doesn’t make any sense. 

Preaching to the choir there, brotha.

I don’t get paid sh*t, and I’m about to tell the world. I didn’t like what my brother and my partners got paid. Now that they got a better contract, which still ain’t sh*t, it blows what I get out of the water. And they deserve triple what they get. I’ve been in the UFC for eight years and never turned down a fight. It’s not like I’m getting paid 20 bucks an hour and they’re getting 50 bucks an hour. I’m getting 20 bucks an hour and they’re getting paid 15,000 bucks an hour. They blow me out the water. At this point, I can’t even go to lunch with my partners because if we start talking about contracts or our business, I don’t have anything but bitter sh*t to say.

I like to imagine that these power lunches consist of Diaz, Warren Buffett, Mark Cuban, and Ice-T sitting at the head table of Medieval Times and lamenting recent business ventures while ravaging on tankards of ale and turkey legs.

“It’s like, no, you know, I can barely even afford a side of tomato bisque soup like all you made motherf*ckers, know what I’m saying?”

We’re entertaining entertainers. We get Shaq, Justin Bieber and Lil’ Jon at the show. How are we entertaining billionaires and we can’t even get sh*t?

Don’t forget Rosie!

My partners still make sh*t money for what the company is bringing in. They’re happy because they’re not getting paid what they used to get paid, so they get little chunks to shut up. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t get paid sh*t. I get $60,000 (to show) and $60,000 (to win). If I were doing this for the fame, I would have quit seven years ago. I can’t tell you what my brother and Gil make, but I can tell you that they signed a contract for more than I get paid to headline and win a fight, and that’s bullsh*t. So you understand where I’m coming from? I can’t even fight for the money they’re offering me. So I ask to get released because I can’t fight there for that. 

I don’t talk to the UFC. No one calls me. I’m not going to call them begging. They know I’m on call, I take every fight. They know what they should be giving out. 

When I signed my last contract, they conned me into signing an eight-fight contract to fight [Benson] Henderson. I was negotiating my contract three weeks out from the fight. [My manager] Mike [Kogan] came in and got me a little bit of a raise — a little – they act like they hooked me up. They didn’t do sh*t. They gave me a little something to shut me up for a minute. [They] got me to sign the contract, but the way they got me to sign the contract was like, Just trust me, sign the contract, and we can renegotiate anytime. I was like, I’ll just fight a couple of fights and then talk some sh*t because I don’t like this contract. So I’ll renegotiate in a couple of fights because they told me I could do that. Then they called me to take the Khabib [Nurmagomedov] fight when it wasn’t working out for them and Gil [Melendez]. They were trying to lowball Gil, too, and he was supposed to fight Khabib, but he said he couldn’t take the fight for the money they were offering. So they call me the next day and ask me to fight Khabib. I said, I’ll take the fight as long as I can renegotiate my contract. And then it was all downhill from there. Then they tweeted out that I turned down the fight, and I never turned down the fight. They tried to do me dirty. 

Wait, wait, wait…you mean to say that Dana White might have tweeted something completely reactionary and not based in fact? Well I for one am shocked. Shocked I tells ya!

If I can get released, I can go fight somewhere and make some money. If they can renegotiate, I can make some money, because right now I’m broke. For some reason, the IRS is telling me that I owe them more money than I have right now, and I pay my taxes every year. 

“Uh…Nate, I’m pretty sure ‘joint return’ doesn’t mean what you think it does.”
– Diaz’s accountant

At this point, they’re having a fat-ass party with others getting paid and they’re letting me see it. Before, I had no argument because I didn’t really know. But now they’re letting me see the party and letting me in. So now that I know for sure, I’m going to talk. If everybody would start speaking up and quit keeping their mouths shut, people would start getting paid. We’re working for a billion-dollar company. It’s ridiculous. I go to boxing events where they pay the fighters so much money and those boxing events aren’t even half the shows that the UFC is.

The crazy thing to me is that in what other professional sport do the cheerleaders make more than the athletes? I’m sure Arianny Celeste, Brittney Palmer, Joe Rogan, Bruce Buffer, probably you, everybody makes more money than I do. So I’m trying to make a move here. The way that the UFC makes me look, too, makes people I know believe that I’m some type of millionaire. I got a family to feed. I got my mom. She just got a brand new house and working two jobs still. I’m trying to break her off some money when I can but I’m going as broke as her.

There’s a lot more money that needs to be dished out because it’s coming in, and I know it.

It just goes to show, even the hardest, realest, anti-bullshitingest motherf*ckers in the UFC are just doing this MMA thing to break off some money for their moms. (*tattoos tear drop on cheek*)

As you would expect, Dana White’s response was equal parts logical business owner and corporate fat cat rubbing his greedy palms together.

Nate Diaz came in and signed a new deal and was very happy with his new deal. We gave him a shot at the title and he lost to Benson Henderson. If he would have won, obviously his deal would have changed if he became champion, which he did not. Then he got stopped by Thomson. Thomson finished him.

Now he comes off a win over Gray Maynard and feels like he should be making Justin Bieber money. Nate needs to get back in there and start fighting, win fights again and earn a title shot again.

What the hell is with all these Bieber shout-outs? I CHOSE MMA BLOGGING TO *AVOID* THAT TURD, DANA.

He was happy as can be when he signed his new deal. Go back and look at my twitter after he signed the new deal. I tweeted it. He was happy. We’ve done everything to honor the contract. I’ve always been good to Diaz. This is the kind of craziness you see with athletes. They end up spinning off and don’t make the money they should have made. Nate Diaz has what it takes to be champion or he doesn’t, but I’ll tell you, there’s only one way to find out. He has to come back and fight. He thinks he loses to two of the best guys in the world and deserves more money? In what f*cking planet does that make sense?

Guess how much money he makes sitting at home? Zero. Get back to work, Nate.

You know, there was an interesting discussion on the Co-Main Event Podcast recently about whether or not there should be a precedent set regarding the absolute minimum an MMA fighter should receive for a fight. While the topic itself was spurred by the news that a fighter at WSOF 9 made just $500 to show, it’s a discussion that bears just as much relevance in the UFC.

While Diaz’s current 60k/60k is rather standard fare for someone in his position in today’s UFC landscape (Gray Maynard, a fellow TUF alum and former title challenger, made 45k for his fight with Diaz), perhaps that’s the problem. There’s no denying that any veteran of Diaz’s caliber surely deserves more than a 60k split per fight, let alone the 15k/15k he was reportedly paid for his performance at the TUF 18 Finale. Any occupation with as much inherent risk as MMA deserves to be paid accordingly, especially when a multi-billion dollar company is the one financing it.

But while we’re discussing how things should be done, I also think that topless Kate Upton should serve me breakfast in bed every morning. The difference between the fantasy I’ve just constructed and Diaz’s being that only one of us has any chance of actually doing something about it. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: If MMA fighters want to actually do something about their pathetic pay situation, they need to take greater action than bitching about it on Twitter. Form a fighter’s union, or at the very least, maybe discuss your payrate with your boss, face to face, instead of airing your grievances for the world to see like the true professional you are supposed to be. It’s really not that hard.

–J. Jones

Friday Link Dump: Football Player Ejected for Nasty Uppercut, Epic UFC 168 Video Trailer, Mayweather Sets PPV Records + More

(Must-watch: “MMA Pay: Leverage & Power,” by CAINtheBULL)

Today’s Installment of “Football Players Using MMA Techniques”: Clemson Player Ejected for Devastating Lead Uppercut (BleacherReport)

EPIC video trailer for UFC 168: Weidman vs. Silva 2, by the legendary NickTheFace (CagePotatoMMA Tumblr)

Tomato Can Blues: The True Story of the Michigan MMA Fighter Who Faked His Own Death (New York Times)

Following Chael Sonnen’s Rihanna Comments, Dana White Says ‘He’s Got to Knock That S**t Off’ (MMAFighting)

Golden Boy: Mayweather vs. Canelo PPV Sets Records With Reported 2.2 Million Buys, $150 Million in Revenue (MMAMania)

Angels of Anarchy – Jade Bryce (BabesofMMA)

Anthony Perosh Takes on Ryan Bader at December’s UFC Fight Night 33 in Australia (MMAJunkie)

Spoil TUF and the UFC Will Sue You for Five Million Dollars (Fightlinker)

Get Down And Stay Down: MMA Style (Break)

Interview: Andy Samberg Fires Up ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ (MadeMan)

20 Job Search Hacks That Will Get You Hired (Complex)

Russell Wilson: The Quarterback That Connects (MensFitness)

Insane Russian Flattens Nails With Bare Hands (EgoTV)

The 33 Most Influential Events Of The Last 10 Years: A Summary For Average Joes (DoubleViking)

Supercut: Before They Were Famous (ScreenJunkies)


(Must-watch: “MMA Pay: Leverage & Power,” by CAINtheBULL)

Today’s Installment of “Football Players Using MMA Techniques”: Clemson Player Ejected for Devastating Lead Uppercut (BleacherReport)

EPIC video trailer for UFC 168: Weidman vs. Silva 2, by the legendary NickTheFace (CagePotatoMMA Tumblr)

Tomato Can Blues: The True Story of the Michigan MMA Fighter Who Faked His Own Death (New York Times)

Following Chael Sonnen’s Rihanna Comments, Dana White Says ‘He’s Got to Knock That S**t Off’ (MMAFighting)

Golden Boy: Mayweather vs. Canelo PPV Sets Records With Reported 2.2 Million Buys, $150 Million in Revenue (MMAMania)

Angels of Anarchy – Jade Bryce (BabesofMMA)

Anthony Perosh Takes on Ryan Bader at December’s UFC Fight Night 33 in Australia (MMAJunkie)

Spoil TUF and the UFC Will Sue You for Five Million Dollars (Fightlinker)

Get Down And Stay Down: MMA Style (Break)

Interview: Andy Samberg Fires Up ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ (MadeMan)

20 Job Search Hacks That Will Get You Hired (Complex)

Russell Wilson: The Quarterback That Connects (MensFitness)

Insane Russian Flattens Nails With Bare Hands (EgoTV)

The 33 Most Influential Events Of The Last 10 Years: A Summary For Average Joes (DoubleViking)

Supercut: Before They Were Famous (ScreenJunkies)

Don’t Worry, Dana White Is Just Bluffing About That ‘Eliminating Bonuses’ Thing


(“It’s an ‘undisclosed locker room bonus,’ okay? That means we don’t tell the media, we don’t tell the IRS, and we especially don’t tell my wife.” / Photo via TerezOwens.com)

For years, the UFC’s end-of-night performance bonuses have rewarded fighters for outstanding battles and finishes in the Octagon, as well as given fans a metric to determine which fighters are the most consistently entertaining. But now that more and more fighters are publicly coming out to blast the promotion’s pay scale, UFC president Dana White says he’s thinking about ending the practice altogether, and using that money instead to bump the guaranteed salaries of lower-tier fighter. As he explained to media yesterday:

“The bonuses were something we’ve been doing out of the kindnesses of our (expletive) hearts,” White said. “That’s not something that was ever done or structured. We started doing it and that was it. It was something we liked to do, thought it was a cool thing to do. Apparently people don’t like it. They want the lower-level guys to get paid more money.”

Asked to clarify if this was really a move the promotion could make in the not-so-distant future, White answered emphatically.

“(Expletive) yeah, it could happen,” White said. “That’s what I’m thinking about doing. All the (expletive) lower-level guys think they need their money boosted. Everyone thinks it’s not enough money, so that’s easy to do.”

This, of course, is nothing more than a transparent bluff, on par with your father threatening to “turn this car around, goddamnit!” 30 minutes into a family road trip. Now that Dana has suggested that the UFC will transform its pay structure — sacrificing those $50,000 end-of-night awards to fatten the paychecks of prospects — here’s what he expects will happen next:


(“It’s an ‘undisclosed locker room bonus,’ okay? That means we don’t tell the media, we don’t tell the IRS, and we especially don’t tell my wife.” / Photo via TerezOwens.com)

For years, the UFC’s end-of-night performance bonuses have rewarded fighters for outstanding battles and finishes in the Octagon, as well as given fans a metric to determine which fighters are the most consistently entertaining. But now that more and more fighters are publicly coming out to blast the promotion’s pay scale, UFC president Dana White says he’s thinking about ending the practice altogether, and using that money instead to bump the guaranteed salaries of lower-tier fighter. As he explained to media yesterday:

“The bonuses were something we’ve been doing out of the kindnesses of our (expletive) hearts,” White said. “That’s not something that was ever done or structured. We started doing it and that was it. It was something we liked to do, thought it was a cool thing to do. Apparently people don’t like it. They want the lower-level guys to get paid more money.”

Asked to clarify if this was really a move the promotion could make in the not-so-distant future, White answered emphatically.

“(Expletive) yeah, it could happen,” White said. “That’s what I’m thinking about doing. All the (expletive) lower-level guys think they need their money boosted. Everyone thinks it’s not enough money, so that’s easy to do.”

This, of course, is nothing more than a transparent bluff, on par with your father threatening to “turn this car around, goddamnit!” 30 minutes into a family road trip. Now that Dana has suggested that the UFC will transform its pay structure — sacrificing those $50,000 end-of-night awards to fatten the paychecks of prospects — here’s what he expects will happen next:

– Fighters who are notorious for gobbling up performance bonuses, but who have relatively modest base-salaries — think Donald Cerrone, Nate Diaz, Joe Lauzon — will scream bloody murder at the thought of their $50k bumps going away. I mean, those guys depend on that money. How else are you going to convince 10 or 12 girls to come out on a pontoon boat with you?

– The lower-level fighters who actually stand to benefit from this pay-restructuring are going to have a change of heart, once they realize that there’s no possibility of earning a life-changing amount of money in a single fight. Right now, a newbie like James Krause can step into the Octagon for the first time and leave $100,000 richer. Under DW’s new proposed system, an $8k/$8k fighter might begin to earn a living wage, but those jackpot days would be over.

Either way, Dana’s betting that a lot of his contracted fighters will start to cry out, “No, no, we liked things the way they were, PLEASE DON’T TAKE AWAY OUR BONUSES DADDY!!!”

Again, that’s what Dana hopes will happen. But look, he’s not really going to eliminate end-of-night bonuses; it’s just a publicity stunt to keep the loud-mouths in line. What makes this threat so aggravating is that it’s based on such an obvious false choice: Low guaranteed money with the possibility of end-of-night bonuses, or higher guaranteed money with no possibility of end-of-night bonuses — pick your poison.

The thing is, there are other ways to fix the UFC’s pay structure that don’t involve eliminating those $50,000 bumps that everybody loves so much. For example, the UFC could do one of the following things for all new contracted fighters, going forward:

– Keep FOTN/KOTN/SOTN bonuses, but eliminate win bonuses: Nearly all UFC fighters double their show-money by winning. This financial arrangement is apparently designed as an incentive for UFC fighters to fight hard and try to pull out a victory until the bitter end. But winning fights in the UFC and advancing up the ladder are major incentives in themselves. So instead of those win bonuses making UFC fighters push harder, the fighters became aware that half of their potential payday is based on winning the match. And so, safe-fighting was born; win each round in the most risk-averse way possible, and double your money when the last bell sounds. One solution to this problem would be giving all new fighters a flat fee for showing up and fighting, which would be higher than their show money under the existing structure. Therefore, new prospects get paid more in guaranteed money, and there would be no incentive just for winning — but those incentives for entertaining performances would still remain.

– Put the fighters on salary: Can you imagine only getting 2-4 paychecks a year? It’s hard to plan for the future when you don’t know when the money’s coming in, or exactly how much it will be. So what if the UFC signed new prospects to an annual contract that paid them twice a month like regular working folks? Even if the money still isn’t fantastic — today’s $8k/$8k fighters might instead start off with a $40k/year salary in this scenario — it would give the lower-tier fighters some semblance of a normal life, and the stability they need to continue living as fighters.

Got any better ideas? Fire away in the comments section…

(BG)