(Quarry slugs it out with Jorge Rivera during his final Octagon appearance in March 2010. / Photo via MMAWeekly)
For five years, Nate Quarry was a reliable and entertaining presence in the UFC’s middleweight division. He fought through some incredible brawls, gave us a few laughs, and most of his fights ended in satisfyingly violent fashion, for better or worse.
Quarry retired from MMA two years ago on his own terms. There was no contract dispute, no falling out with the UFC top brass. The TUF 1 veteran stepped away quietly and respectfully, due to concerns about his own health and future. He had no axe to grind.
But on a recent UG thread about the UFC’s upcoming fighter uniforms, Quarry couldn’t hold his tongue any longer, and wrote out a long post about his own experiences with sponsorships during his time in the UFC, and the cold, impersonal way he was treated by the promotion. Whether or not you think the UFC has any obligation to support its fighters beyond their contracted fight-purses, Quarry’s note is worth reading in its entirety. Check it out below, and let us know what you think.
*********
“When I signed with the UFC this is what I was told:
We can’t pay you much but you can have any sponsors you want.
Then: We need to approve your sponsors.
Then: You can’t have any conflicting sponsors.
Then: You can’t thank your sponsors after fights.
Then: We are not approving any sponsors that we don’t like their product.
Then: Your sponsors have to pay us a fee of $50,000 for the pleasure to sponsor you.
Then: Your sponsors have to pay us a fee of $100,000 for the pleasure to sponsor you.
If a sponsor has a budget of 10k to sponsor a fighter, they are then out. If there are 5 shorts companies in the UFC you can only go to them for a sponsorship. If they have spent their budget or don’t want to support an up and coming fighter they give you shorts instead of money. If you’re fighting for $6,000 to show and fighting 3 times a year, even $500 makes a big difference. When there is no competition they don’t have to pay you. I lost And1 as a sponsor when the UFC enacted the tax.
(Quarry slugs it out with Jorge Rivera during his final Octagon appearance in March 2010. / Photo via MMAWeekly)
For five years, Nate Quarry was a reliable and entertaining presence in the UFC’s middleweight division. He fought through some incredible brawls, gave us a few laughs, and most of his fights ended in satisfyingly violent fashion, for better or worse.
Quarry retired from MMA two years ago on his own terms. There was no contract dispute, no falling out with the UFC top brass. The TUF 1 veteran stepped away quietly and respectfully, due to concerns about his own health and future. He had no axe to grind.
But on a recent UG thread about the UFC’s upcoming fighter uniforms, Quarry couldn’t hold his tongue any longer, and wrote out a long post about his own experiences with sponsorships during his time in the UFC, and the cold, impersonal way he was treated by the promotion. Whether or not you think the UFC has any obligation to support its fighters beyond their contracted fight-purses, Quarry’s note is worth reading in its entirety. Check it out below, and let us know what you think.
*********
“When I signed with the UFC this is what I was told:
We can’t pay you much but you can have any sponsors you want.
Then: We need to approve your sponsors.
Then: You can’t have any conflicting sponsors.
Then: You can’t thank your sponsors after fights.
Then: We are not approving any sponsors that we don’t like their product.
Then: Your sponsors have to pay us a fee of $50,000 for the pleasure to sponsor you.
Then: Your sponsors have to pay us a fee of $100,000 for the pleasure to sponsor you.
If a sponsor has a budget of 10k to sponsor a fighter, they are then out. If there are 5 shorts companies in the UFC you can only go to them for a sponsorship. If they have spent their budget or don’t want to support an up and coming fighter they give you shorts instead of money. If you’re fighting for $6,000 to show and fighting 3 times a year, even $500 makes a big difference. When there is no competition they don’t have to pay you. I lost And1 as a sponsor when the UFC enacted the tax.
At the UFC summit a fighter asked if he could wear his own shirt. Dana laughed and said, “Uh… we can talk about it.” I turned around and asked the UFC lawyer if I could wear my OWN shirt and he said, “Sure, give me $50,000 and we can talk about it.”
People have no clue from the outside what it’s like to fight for the UFC. After spending 10-15 years chasing your dream only to see that the company it’s been your dream to fight for cares nothing about the fighters and only cares about the bottom line.
When I was fighting for the UFC we got X-Mas presents like an iPod. A very bottom of the line iPod but it was still cool. Now the guys get a gift certificate to the UFC store and can use it ONE day. Any money they don’t spend on that day is forfeited.
A fighter gets to use the gym at the hotel he’s fighting at for free. The cornermen and everyone with him have to pay. So I’m helping Leben make weight the day of weigh ins and have to pay to go sit in the sauna with him. The UFC couldn’t say, “The fighter gets 3 people to go into the gym with him the week of the fight.”
That’s just nickel and dime stuff.
With every little bit they try to squeeze out of the fighters, the more the other organizations will look more attractive.
I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to fight for the UFC and everything I have besides my daughter has come from fighting. But let’s not fool ourselves. It’s not a charity. It’s a business. And they are doing everything they can to make money. The fighters are just a product to use and discard. Every up and coming fighter is the best ever. Every ex-fighter who then expresses an opinion is a coward, loser, etc, etc.
I fought for the world title for $10,000. Not a penny more. No bonus. No cut of the PPV. The gate alone was 3.5 million dollars. The third highest gate in UFC history at the time. And they must have loved the fight cuz they show the final punch at the start of EVERY UFC PPV.
And that’s fine. Because it’s a business. But sooner or later the allure of fighting in the UFC will not be as attractive as fighting for an organization that takes care of you, appreciates you, will let you have sponsors to help make up the income gap, doesn’t trash you when you think for yourself, and on and on. Just like every business you work for. It’s funny to me to hear people cheer for Dana when he says things that if he was your boss and he said them about you, you would be looking for another job. [Ed. note: Oh my God, this x 1,000.] But when you’re signed to a contract, you can’t go anywhere. No matter how much you want to.
When I retired I received a form letter, EMAILED to me that said, “Should you choose to fight again you are still under contract with the UFC.” I didn’t even get a hard copy with a real signature that I could frame.
As I said, I love what the UFC has done for me and my family. And specifically what Dana has done for me.
But I also know it’s a business. And that’s the best piece of advice I can give to wanna be fighters. Fight for the love of the game. But you better treat it like a business. Because the promoter handing you a contract sure will.”
Nate Quarry, like so many other young men, once had a dream to compete under the bright lights of the UFC, but he soon learned that all of the glitz and glamour was just a facade to mask a business that cares more about the bottom line than its employe…
Nate Quarry, like so many other young men, once had a dream to compete under the bright lights of the UFC, but he soon learned that all of the glitz and glamour was just a facade to mask a business that cares more about the bottom line than its employees.
The former UFC middleweight contender has long been considered one of the true good guys in MMA. He was a company man who tiptoed around controversial issues, always careful not to rock the boat.
However, recent power moves by former UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre and top UFC contender Gilbert Melendez seem to have flipped the script for fighters all over the world.
St-Pierre, who is arguably the greatest fighter in MMA history, vacated his title and is currently on an indefinite hiatus until the UFC addresses some of his concerns.
After a contractual dispute with UFC President Dana White, Melendez recently agreed to terms on a contract with rival promotion Bellator.
More and more fighters, past and present, are beginning to speak up. Quarry joined the growing list of disgruntled UFC veterans when he took to MMA Underground (h/t BloodyElbow.com) and posted a detailed description of what life was really like as a UFC fighter:
People have no clue from the outside what it’s like to fight for the UFC. After spending 10-15 years chasing your dream only to see that the company it’s been your dream to fight for cares nothing about the fighters and only cares about the bottom line. …
I fought for the world title for $10,000. Not a penny more. No bonus. No cut of the PPV. The gate alone was 3.5 million dollars. The third highest gate in UFC history at the time. And they must have loved the fight cuz they show the final punch at the start of EVERY UFC PPV. 🙂
Perhaps the most frustrating part about being a UFC fighter lies in the company’s handling of sponsorship money. According to Quarry and various other fighters, sponsors are required to pay hefty tax fees just to sponsor a fighter.
The fee alone discourages many low-end sponsors from doing business with the UFC. Sure, this doesn’t affect fighters like Anderson Silva or Jon Jones, who rake in more money from high-end sponsors than the totality of the average fighter’s purse. It may not even affect mid-level fighters frequently featured on UFC main cards.
But for newcomers and undercard fighters, every single dollar that can be squeezed from a sponsor counts. As Quarry aptly puts it, “If you’re fighting for $6,000 to show and fighting three times a year, even $500 makes a big difference.”
Quarry adds:
When I signed with the UFC this is what I was told…We can’t pay you much but you can have any sponsors you want. Then: We need to approve your sponsors. Then: You can’t have any conflicting sponsors. Then: You can’t thank your sponsors after fights. Then: We are not approving any sponsors that we don’t like their product. Then: Your sponsors have to pay us a fee of $50,000 for the pleasure to sponsor you. Then: Your sponsors have to pay us a fee of $100,000 for the pleasure to sponsor you.
If a sponsor has a budget of 10k to sponsor a fighter, they are then out. If there are 5 shorts companies in the UFC you can only go to them for a sponsorship. If they have spent their budget or don’t want to support an up and coming fighter they give you shorts instead of money.
The UFC is synonymous with MMA, like the NFL is synonymous with football or the NBA with basketball. It is every fighter’s dream to one day compete in the UFC.
With no union in place, it’s difficult for fighters to have any real bargaining power or leverage when negotiating with the world’s largest MMA promotion.
Quite frankly, it’s the UFC’s way or the highway.
The vast majority of fighters are willing to put up with just about anything as long as it guarantees them a coveted spot on the UFC roster.
But change could be coming.
With Bellator on the board, negotiations won’t always end with fighters facing a checkmate from the UFC. Fighters now have another viable option that offers both competitive pay and an opportunity to compete on a nationally televised network.
When negotiations sour, the UFC will still have the option to pick up its ball and go home, but from this point forward, the MMA mecca will likely think twice before letting world-class talent slip into the waiting arms of its ever-growing competition.
(McCullough vs. Cerrone: a great fight overshadowed by the shitstorm that was Filho vs. Sonnen II. / Photo via Getty)
In today’s CagePotato Roundtable we’re talking underrated fights — fights that deserve to be remembered as some of the best our sport has to offer, yet are rarely even brought up during the discussion. Obviously, Fight of the Year winners are disqualified from this list, and UFC Fight of the Night winners have been strongly discouraged from inclusion. Read on for our picks, and please continue to send your ideas for future CagePotato Roundtable topics to[email protected].
Until their recent rematch truly helped bring to light how incredible their first encounter was, I would argue that Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler at Bellator 58 was the most criminally underrated fight in MMA History. It wasn’t difficult to see why; the fight just happened to transpire on the same night that Dan Henderson defeated Mauricio Rua in a “Because PRIDE” classic at UFC 139, and being that Bellator plays Wes Mantooth to the UFC’s Ron Burgundy, Alvarez vs. Chandler was sadly overshadowed by its manlier, more mustachioed counterpart.
Contrary to popular opinion, however, I would additionally argue that Alvarez vs. Chandler surpasses Hendo vs. Rua in terms of pure excitement, and I say that as a guy who dug PRIDE more than Seth digs TNA Impact. For one, there was more than pride on the line for Chandler and Alvarez, there was a lightweight title. Sure, it was a Bellator lightweight title, but that’s worth like three MFC titles, dudes. And while Hendo vs. Rua was a goddamn barnburner in its own right, it never quite reached the fever pitch of the first round of Chandler vs. Alvarez.
(McCullough vs. Cerrone: a great fight overshadowed by the shitstorm that was Filho vs. Sonnen II. / Photo via Getty)
In today’s CagePotato Roundtable we’re talking underrated fights — fights that deserve to be remembered as some of the best our sport has to offer, yet are rarely even brought up during the discussion. Obviously, Fight of the Year winners are disqualified from this list, and UFC Fight of the Night winners have been strongly discouraged from inclusion. Read on for our picks, and please continue to send your ideas for future CagePotato Roundtable topics to[email protected].
Until their recent rematch truly helped bring to light how incredible their first encounter was, I would argue that Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler at Bellator 58 was the most criminally underrated fight in MMA History. It wasn’t difficult to see why; the fight just happened to transpire on the same night that Dan Henderson defeated Mauricio Rua in a “Because PRIDE” classic at UFC 139, and being that Bellator plays Wes Mantooth to the UFC’s Ron Burgundy, Alvarez vs. Chandler was sadly overshadowed by its manlier, more mustachioed counterpart.
Contrary to popular opinion, however, I would additionally argue that Alvarez vs. Chandler surpasses Hendo vs. Rua in terms of pure excitement, and I say that as a guy who dug PRIDE more than Seth digs TNA Impact. For one, there was more than pride on the line for Chandler and Alvarez, there was a lightweight title. Sure, it was a Bellator lightweight title, but that’s worth like three MFC titles, dudes. And while Hendo vs. Rua was a goddamn barnburner in its own right, it never quite reached the fever pitch of the first round of Chandler vs. Alvarez.
How good was Chandler vs. Alvarez 1? Good enough to pull over a million viewers for its (equally enthralling) rematch. A rematch which, by the way, went down on a last-minute clusterfuck of a card that was extremely underwhelming until Alvarez and Chandler saved it and possibly the promotion.
If we’re talking about underrated fights, let’s give some attention to MMA’s earlier days. There were a lot of great fights then — and I’m not just talking about the “classics” that are constantly cited as examples of MMA’s best fights. I’m talking about the underrated fights that offered an inkling into MMA’s future. One such fight is Keith Hackney vs. Royce Gracie.
When watching this fight in 2013, it seems kind of bland, but you have to look at the fight in its historical context. The fight took place at UFC 4 in 1994. Back then, Royce Gracie was a monster. In the young, borderline-illegal “sport” of MMA, Gracie was the closest thing there was to a Mike Tyson. He was untouchable, and he dispatched his opponents without effort — at least until Gracie met Kimo Leopoldo.
At UFC 3, Leopoldo exhausted Gracie to the point where the Brazilian couldn’t continue on in the tournament even though he had beaten Leopoldo with an armbar. Yes, Kimo was the first man to make Gracie look mortal…but Kimo was a roided-up monster. Keith Hackney couldn’t make that claim, and that’s why Keith Hackney vs. Royce Gracie was so awesome.
A karate guy with a little bit of boxing experience and some high school wrestling who ran a heating business managed to, at least briefly, stymie a living legend and a fighter who had been training to fight for his entire life.
If you haven’t seen the fight, here’s how it didn’t go down:
When Royce Gracie fought a striker, he took them down in comically easy fashion and then had his way with them. Strikers were hapless fish-out-of-water. Their sole purpose in the early days was to make “Gracie” Jiu-Jitsu look bullet-proof by getting their ass kicked.
Boxers? Nothing compared to a Gracie.
Karate men? Laughable!
But Hackney didn’t follow this precedent.
Yes, he lost, but he performed better against Royce Gracie than any striker had performed against a legit grappler at that point in UFC history. He stuffed several of Royce’s takedowns and even managed to land a few clean, powerful punches to Royce’s then unblemished face.
The fight wasn’t a barn-burner, but it’s underrated for what it was: A fight that showed the start of MMA’s progression.
Who doesn’t like a good ol’ fashioned fist fight where both competitors match up evenly?
Answer: Nobody; well at least nobody that visits Cagepotato.
Yet somehow, Nate Quarry vs Tim Credeur is rarely even brought up as one of the best fights in the history of our sport.
Both dudes were different stylistically yet they each shared a TUF background. Fans knew who they were because both fighters made an impression on the show; remember, this fight took place back when “fans” actually watched TUF. There was built-in name recognition to this curtain jerker on the main card of Fight Night 19 for both guys whether it was warranted or not. Oddly enough, this fight card served as the lead-in for TUF: HEAVYWEIGHTS starring Kimbo Slice #ratings.
What happened in the course of 15 minutes was nothing short of awesome. Round 1 saw the underdog, Credeur, drop his opponent and quickly follow him to the mat for a quick transition to an attempted RNC (not to be confused with the delicious BRC from El Pollo Loco; up yours East Coasters). Quarry was able to get back to his feet and then both men just started swinging. It was great and Credeur took the first frame.
Round 2 started with both guys throwing bombs until Quarry connected flush and sent Crazy Tim to the mat. Nate landed some solid GNP strikes from inside full guard. Although Credeur was taking punishment, he was constantly shifting his hips looking for a submission and returned fire with shots of his own from the bottom. Even though he was active from his back, Quarry knotted the fight at one round apiece.
In the final stanza it was clear that both men were tired and beat up but that is why this fight was my choice. Both Quarry and Credeur showed Arturo Gatti-esque balls and just kept swinging with Crazy Tim getting tagged several times. Though Credeur was eating punches and getting knocked down, he kept getting up. On wobbly legs, he continued to throw punches even though Quarry was getting the better of him. Quarry, for his efforts, had a mouse under his eye that looked like a Halloween-sized Snickers bar and his counter-punching was spectacular. The horn sounded and the two professionals embraced after giving the fans one hell of a slugfest.
Had this fight taken place only one year earlier, there is no doubt in my mind that it would have been Fight of the Year, and rightfully remembered as one of the greatest MMA slobber-knockers of all time. But instead, Diego Sanchez vs. Clay Guida took home 2009′s FotY, and this bout is only a footnote in our sport’s history — a great fight from an otherwise decent card that earned both competitors an extra $30k for their efforts (yeah, the Fight of the Night award for this event was only $30k. Feel old yet?).
Barnett’s PRIDE career was relatively brief and not particularly successful — he went 5-4 in the Japanese promotion from 2004-2006, including three separate losses to Mirko Cro Cop — but his run in the 2006 PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix was a career highlight, and his opening round match against Aleksander Emelianenko is, in my opinion, the most under-appreciated heavyweight bout in PRIDE history.
At the time, Fedor’s spooky “little” brother had a reputation as a dead-eyed psycho with unreal power in his hands; three of his previous four wins were knockouts that lasted less than 30 seconds. Barnett’s best strategy would have been to take the fight to the mat at all costs and let his grappling advantage take over. But in a misguided (yet totally awesome) display of bravery, Barnett spends the majority of the ten-minute first round trading bombs with Emelianenko. What transpires is everything you’d want out of a heavyweight MMA fight — two behemoths standing toe to toe and testing each other’s ability to remain conscious.
The fact that Barnett survives a ten-minute boxing match against Aleks was a moral victory in itself. And after proving his point, Barnett got down to business in round two, tripping his now-gassed opponent to the canvas, passing to side control, softening Emelianenko up with some knees, and wrenching out a tap via Americana. After the fight, Josh declared that “pro wrestling is the strongest in the world” (!) and vowed that Fedor was already dead (!!!). The Japanese fans swooned, and so did I, watching the fight later on the Internet.
Of course, opening-round fights of any tournament tend to be easily forgotten, and the epic Final Four at PRIDE Final Conflict Absolute tends to overshadow everybody’s memory of the 2006 OWGP. (My God this Cro Cop!) But viewed on an individual basis, I think Barnett vs. Emelianenko was the most entertaining and competitive of the 15 fights that took place in that tournament — and it made me a Josh Barnett fan ever since.
Until his reign as UFC Lightweight champion ended with a whimper — OK, a verbal tap — rather than a bang, Benson Henderson had developed a well-earned reputation as a fighter who fans could count on to engage in compelling fights. In large part, this was often a product of the durability of Henderson, his sound technique in all areas and the equal competency of his opponents. On two occasions, however, he squared off against a foe who brought out the best in him and vice versa. The first example is obviously Anthony Pettis in their 2010 Fight of the Year. Of course, when the fight in question contains the pre-eminent highlight of the sport, it’s probably a little too high-profile for this roundtable. The second was Donald Cerrone.
Cerrone is also notorious for engaging in entertaining fights. Unlike Henderson, his tend to be more violent and one-sided. Such was the case in his second fight against Henderson at WEC 48; Henderson clinched him against the fence, kneed him in the head until Cerrone developed a nasty hematoma and finished the fight with a guillotine in the first round. However, Bendo and Cerrone’s first match was one of the greatest fights in MMA history. With then-WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner injured, Henderson and Cerrone competed for the interim title at WEC 43. The first two rounds took place on the ground following Henderson takedowns, but Cerrone was extremely active off his back throughout the fight and almost secured a fight-ending guillotine in round one. The third round was less eventful, but in the fourth Henderson — who had been active with takedowns and top control — began to fade. Cerrone began to capitalize, first in the standup in round four and then on the ground in round five. In that final round, Cerrone attempted no less than six submissions, all which had the potential to end a fight. Henderson, however, managed to survive each one of them, earning him a reputation for being nigh-unsubmittable that would stick with him until his last fight. Many observers, including myself, believed Cerrone had taken a close decision on the strength of his submission activity. Naturally, Henderson won the controversial decision, through Christ who strengthens him — or at least influences judges to weigh top control too favorably.
The match won Fight of the Year from Sherdog, MMA Fighting and Sports Illustrated. Given the popularity of both fighters currently, it would easily be in the consideration for the best fight in MMA history if it took place today. Yet it’s still a relatively obscure fight because no one knew who the WEC guys were in 2009. That’s a shame, because this fight not only epitomized every single aspect of mixed martial arts you could ask for (save for a definitive finish), but it also began to establish the legitimacy of the WEC and its fighters. This fight, along with the ascendancy of guys like Urijah Faber, Miguel Torres, and Jose Aldo, helped pave the way for the inclusion of lighter-weight fighters in the UFC. But even deprived of its context, this is still a truly exceptional fight. You can watch some potato-quality footage of the entire five-rounder right here.
I’m under no delusions that Leonard Garcia is a UFC-caliber fighter, but I’ll be damned if I allow this discussion to conclude without anybody bringing up “Bad Boy.” His aggressive fighting style almost always translates into an entertaining, memorable brawl. But I don’t need to explain that to you; hell, you probably look forward to watching Leonard Garcia fight even more than Jared looks forward to updating his To-Do list.
Back in September, Leonard Garcia returned to action against Nick Gonzalez. It was the back-and-forth brawl that you’d expect from a Garcia fight, with Bad Boy eventually winning the fight by rear-naked choke. If this fight took place in the UFC, it would have been Fight of the Night, but since it took place under the Legacy FC banner, most of you probably didn’t even know that the fight took place until just now. Go ahead and check it out.
I think it’s a bit of a stretch to call this a Fight of the Year candidate (like some people are), but it definitely deserves to be mentioned during any discussion revolving around great fights from 2013. Instead, it will more than likely play second fiddle to an Al Bundy GIF during this year’s Potato Awards. Such is life, I guess.
Have a fight that you’d like to nominate? Feel free to share your pick in the comments section.
Looks like someone got a call from their boss. Former Strikeforce fighter Tim Kennedy is set to make his UFC debut July 6th against Roger Gracie but made news yesterday for an interview he recently gave in which he criticized UFC fighter pay.
“It’s a good thing I have another job because the UFC doesn’t pay very well,” he told GrappleTalk Podcast.
“Anybody who accepts [fighters being underpaid] as a reality of the sport is sad and pathetic,” Kennedy went on. “I hope this isn’t the reality of the sport. If it is I should probably go do something else, like empty trash cans. I’d make more money than I do now.”
It didn’t take the middleweight long to regret his words, however, and he issued an apology to UFC brass for the interview through his facebook fan page yesterday. “I recently made comments regarding fighter pay. The intent of these statements was to highlight that professional fighters incur significant expense associated with their preparations to fight and that fighter compensation is still not on par with other major sports,” Kennedy began.
(“Apologize or Dana will do WHAT to my butt?” Photo via OTM.)
Looks like someone got a call from their boss. Former Strikeforce fighter Tim Kennedy is set to make his UFC debut July 6th against Roger Gracie but made news yesterday for an interview he recently gave in which he criticized UFC fighter pay.
“It’s a good thing I have another job because the UFC doesn’t pay very well,” he told GrappleTalk Podcast.
“Anybody who accepts [fighters being underpaid] as a reality of the sport is sad and pathetic,” Kennedy went on. “I hope this isn’t the reality of the sport. If it is I should probably go do something else, like empty trash cans. I’d make more money than I do now.”
It didn’t take the middleweight long to regret his words, however, and he issued an apology to UFC brass for the interview through his facebook fan page yesterday. “I recently made comments regarding fighter pay. The intent of these statements was to highlight that professional fighters incur significant expense associated with their preparations to fight and that fighter compensation is still not on par with other major sports,” Kennedy began.
While I am fortunate to have various revenue streams associated with my business interests, most fighters do not have that luxury. When you spend training camps with great guys with amazing talents and you see them barely making ends meet, while simultaneously seeing athletes in other sports with far less character and a far smaller work ethic making exponentially more, you can get frustrated.
Unfortunately, I made statements that alluded to how the UFC in particular pays its athletes. This was particularly offensive as Zuffa has taken better care of me than any other organization, even giving me a bonus for being amusing on Twitter. My choice of words was poor, not properly informed, and did not match my intent. Additionally, my comments were taken out of context. I can tell you that I have been fighting longer than most people and I remember all too well the days when there was no regulation or standard for an MMA promotion. I fought many times in Mexico where the rules were negligible, there were no physicals, and being paid was a luxury we didn’t expect. Our sport was shunned and was considered ‘human cockfighting’. Today, we are on Fox. We have doctors and insurance. We make more money than the average American. And we get these things by playing a sport we love. The only reason this is possible is because of Zuffa. They have legitimized the sport and taken better care of the athletes than any other organization, and the trend is only improving, with athletes making three times what they made on average five years ago.
My comments were hurtful and inappropriate. I accept full responsibility for the statements and apologize to the UFC, Dana White, Lorenzo Fertita, & Joe Silva as well as anyone I might have offended with my comments. Fighting for the UFC is an honor and a privilege. I look forward to putting this situation behind me and focusing on my upcoming fight with Roger Gracie.
There are two sets of things to take issue with in Kennedy’s twenty four-hour public relations whirlwind. First, his notion that UFC fighters are not paid “on par” with other sports.
Assuming that we ignore the importance of the fact that MMA has only really existed in North America for less than twenty years, as opposed to over a hundred for all the major sports, Kennedy is still wrong.
Sure, athletes in unionized major sports leagues like the NBA, NFL and MLB get paid a lot more than UFC athletes, at the low-end, the middle range and at the top. But that’s not a great comparison. Those players bargain collectively, as associations and unions. More often than not, union work is higher-paid work in most fields. If UFC fighters want the benefits of unionization, they should unionize.
In comparison to boxers, however, it is a simple truth that UFC fighters get paid more than most of their counterparts in boxing. There are maybe three or four professional boxers in the entire world that get paid more than the top UFC champions. Other than that, fighters on a UFC card usually get paid more than boxers on top cable and pay per view boxing cards. Top level professional MMA has a much healthier middle class than top level professional boxing and the UFC has probably created more new fighter millionaires than boxing has in the past ten years.
Kennedy, no stranger to sounding out of touch, also said that he could make more money emptying trash cans. Listen, I’m not saying that fighters and athletes and everyone in the world shouldn’t get more money for honest work than they currently receive. Go for it. If you want to go that direction, see the above advice on banding together to get better wages and treatment. But Kennedy’s garbage man comparison and complaint is pretty silly for two reasons.
First off, let’s say that garbage collectors make more than a mid-card level UFC fighter. What’s wrong with that? We actually need functioning garbage collection in modern, healthy society. I like watching Tim Kennedy fight but I sure as heck don’t need him as much as I need the local garbage man or woman to come pick up my bags of filth every Friday.
Second, if Kennedy is complaining about low pay and has identified an alternate career path where he could earn more, then why in the world doesn’t he switch careers? Kennedy is a decorated, elite war veteran. Want to bet that he couldn’t walk into most cities in the U.S. and get a streets and sanitation job easier than most? Deservedly, government jobs often consider past military service quite favorably in evaluating potential hires.
If Kennedy were a garbage man, he could still train and fight MMA, like he loves. Then he’d have that high-paying job he’s always wanted and still be able to practice MMA. Chances are, however, that Kennedy likes fighting in the UFC for other reasons as well – notably the fame and opportunities to fight the best in the world.
All that is one set of issues with this Kennedy story. The bigger one, however, is how quickly he wilted under pressure, felt or anticipated.
Maybe Kennedy, in the midst of a training camp, thinking of lesser paid fighter friends of his, said some out of touch things in regards to UFC pay. But, there’s nothing wrong with him advocating for even better pay, overall. What’s really disappointing is that Kennedy is apparently willing to denounce important positions of his so easily. In his apology, Kennedy said, that his “choice of words was poor” and “not properly informed.”
Kennedy has been an MMA pro for years. Why wasn’t his opinion “properly informed?” And, what could have possibly happened in just a few hours to make Kennedy’s perspective more informed? Also, his apology wasn’t just a change in “choice of words,” it was a philosophical about-face.
Tim, does the UFC pay well or doesn’t it? You should have an answer, even if it’s a personal one. And, if the answer to the question is that, no, they do not, why back down from defending the low-paid fighters that you said you were concerned about in the first place?
For a more well thought out, balanced, and less likely to be so quickly denied view of UFC pay, check out Nate Quarry’s recent interview with BloodyElbow.
In it, Quarry provides a nuanced, first-hand perspective on the UFC being both cut throat and generous, the balance between what fighters give to the organization and what the UFC gives to them, the value of competition in the MMA promotions business, the value of sponsorship money and the possibility of unionization. Check it out.
Nate Quarry isn’t a household name, but he’s become a source of insight into the MMA world. A former fighter who can articulate and speak well about the sport is a rarity these days, but Quarry fills the bill nicely.With fighter pay in the UFC becoming…
Nate Quarry isn’t a household name, but he’s become a source of insight into the MMA world. A former fighter who can articulate and speak well about the sport is a rarity these days, but Quarry fills the bill nicely.
Well, they’re very unsatisfied. They have next to no negotiating power whatsoever. One big organization basically dictates whatever happens…It’s a catch-22, because without the UFC where would I be? Where would the sport be? I consider myself ridiculous lucky because of all the things Dana White, the Fertittas, and the UFC have done for me – and all the athletes – is amazing. But on the flip side, what all the athletes have done for Dana White and the Fertittas is amazing.
Quarry went on to explain a situation where he required back surgery just to be able to train, and White helped him with his medical issues. This is the kind of story that doesn’t get a lot of press because it’s behind closed doors, but I’m sure it’s not an isolated incident of White and the UFC going out of their way to help their fighters.
Quarry also described how competition is affecting what’s going on at the negotiating table.
Look at Lombard. He gets all this money even though he’s never fought in the UFC and no one really knows who he is and then comes in and has a terrible performance. The reason he gets paid ten times as much as Stephan Bonner is because the UFC had to buy him away from Bellator. You see that in boxing all the time because there are multiple promoters and companies all trying to get a guy because they know he’s valuable and they can make money with him.
He also brought up Dan Henderson as a guy who suffered from a lack of competition in MMA. Henderson originally left the UFC due to finding a better deal from Strikeforce. After Zuffa bought out Strikeforce, “Hendo” had little choice but to return to the UFC.
Quarry also brought up sponsors and sponsorship money as well. As most MMA fans already know, this is where fighters, and athletes in general, make most of their money. The payouts we see released represent only what the UFC pays the fighters and doesn’t include sponsorship money, which can be more than what the UFC dishes out.
When I started fighting for the UFC, I was told, well we can’t pay you very much, but you can have any sponsors you want. Then it became you can’t have conflicting sponsors. Then it became we need to approve your sponsors. Then it became your sponsors have to pay a tax so they can sponsor you and the UFC. Now these small companies that could pay a fighter $5,000 can’t afford it anymore.
It’s clear the UFC wants to rid themselves of low-end sponsors by creating the sponsorship tax. But as Quarry explained, it can lead to some serious loss of income for fighters.
Quarry has always supported the need for sponsorships and has stated that he wouldn’t be where he is without companies paying to put their logo on his shorts. Nike and Burger King aren’t going to spend advertising dollars on lower-tier fighters, so those guys need all the small sponsors they can get.
While he brought up some valid points, none was bigger than the lack of competition in MMA.
The UFC is it when it comes to a major promotion. Bellator is in second place, but the bargaining tools in terms of financial gains are far from close.
Competition would not only lead to increased fighter pay but also increased production value. Would White and the UFC be as comfortable cancelling an event or showcasing a dud like UFC 161 if Bellator were a true player in the MMA game?
However, Quarry’s argument about competition in MMA does have a fault as well. It could lead to fighters becoming even more glorified than they are now and elevate salaries much like what has happened in the major sports leagues.
We could see the day where guys are paid more just to join the UFC than fighters who have been scrapping their way through the rankings—similar to how some rookies are paid exorbitantly compared to some veterans making chump change.
Ultimately, so many factors go into fighter pay that it’s hard to focus on just one item. It also doesn’t help that the UFC is a private company, which means we never get a clear picture of final payouts.
So long as the UFC is a private company and doesn’t release its full financial details, this debate will continue. Seeing as how the UFC doesn’t have to look over its shoulder to remain atop the MMA world, don’t expect anything to change.
The sport of mixed martial arts and the world of comic books rarely clash against one another, although they do carry some of the same characteristics. Both feature larger than life figures doing extraordinary things like rescuing damsels in distress a…
The sport of mixed martial arts and the world of comic books rarely clash against one another, although they do carry some of the same characteristics.
Both feature larger than life figures doing extraordinary things like rescuing damsels in distress and fighting in cages, as in the case of MMA.
Retired UFC middleweight Nate Quarry brought the two worlds together recently with his independent comic book release Zombie Cage Fighter and is now combining the brands even more with an appearance on AMC‘s Comic Book Men, airing on Thursday night.
The reality show focuses on a store in Red Bank, New Jersey called Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash, owned by famed Clerks director and pioneer of SModcast Kevin Smith. Typically, Comic Book Men stays centered around the world of superheroes, but in the next episode, Quarry introduces them to what mixed martial arts is all about.
Quarry says it’s actually quite natural that comic book fans could be MMA enthusiasts and vice versa. It’s just a matter of the two worlds colliding at just the right moment.
“It’s the exact same demographic if you look at, for lack of a better term, comic book nerds and fight nerd—they’re the exact same guys,” Quarry told Bleacher Report. “The fight nerds are more about the three-dimensional guys fighting in cages. The comic book nerds they’re looking at the two-dimensional with the superheroes, but in both cases, people are looking for something greater than the average everyday life that most people go through.”
Quarry’s appearance on the show centers on him attempting to get the store to carry his comic book, but he also has the chance to show the guys a little mixed martial arts.
“They had never seen a real fight before. It was just a whole new world for them to come see,” Quarry said.
“When I was a kid, I got prejudice from the cool kids in school for liking comic books and not playing sports. Now as an adult who still loves comic books, I get prejudice from the comic book world because I’m this jock who obviously is just glomming onto the popularity of zombies. So I’ve had to break down barriers with people in the comic book world to show that this is a story I’m passionate about.”
In the episode, Smith and his co-star and best friend Jason Mewes (who actually is a long time MMA supporter and has appeared on Inside MMA previously) coach two fighters who square off in the cage dressed as their signature counterparts, Jay and Silent Bob.
Quarry says the whole crew flocked to MMA once they understood it, and one member of the team, Ming Chen, actually started taking kickboxing classes after the show wrapped just to see what the rage was all about.
It was a hard sell at first, but Quarry was persistent, and by the end of his time in New Jersey, he had turned the Comic Book Men into MMA fans.
“I could see when I first showed up, they couldn’t see the connection,” Quarry said. “They didn’t know how I was going to fit into their world because I’m coming from some place completely different, but then after being able to spend a little bit of time with them, they could really see I’m exactly like them. I just chose to be a fighter instead of running a comic book store. Our passion about what we do is exactly the same.”
Quarry’s appearance on Comic Book Men airs on Thursday night at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.
Damon Martin is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Nate Quarry, like so many other young men, once had a dream to compete under the bright lights of the UFC, but he soon learned that all of the glitz and glamour was just a facade to mask a business that cares more about the bottom line than its employees.
