UFC Pay Issues
By Curtis Clontz on Feb 05, 2008
At UFC 81 Brock Lesner put on a show, and may have portrayed the future of the heavyweight division in the UFC. His massive frame and brute strength helped him put a beating on the experienced Frank Mir. Unfortunately for Lesner the fight didn’t end like it started, and resulted in his first loss in MMA. I do not have a problem with former professional wrestlers fighting in the UFC, but I do have a problem with an unproven fighter making more than anyone on the fight card. Prior to this fight Lesner had only 1 professional MMA fight against Min Soo Kim. Kim was hardly a solid opponent. He had a sub .500 record, and was coming off of three straight losses before the Lesner fight.
Brock Lesner is a monster of a man. He frightens the boogie man, clowns, and Bigfoot. His size will put him at an advantage in the UFC, but is he worth all of the fuss? If Lesner can learn a solid BJJ and ground game, he could be unstoppable in the ring. If Bo Jackson wouldn’t have hurt his back and hip, if Pete Rose hadn’t have gambled, and if Lebron James would have spent four years in college, they could have been considered the best at what they do. Lesner is a long way from being at the top of the weak heavyweight division. Most of the excitement around Lesner is from his outstanding wrestling background, but in my opinion that does not make him deserving of a $250,000 payday. Josh Koscheck is the most decorated college wrestler in MMA, and he doesn’t make that in a fight. I don’t think Lesner is worth that much, yet. Lesner led in money received on the fight card over several more deserving fighters. Mir, who beat Lesner, and Nogueira who won the title should have received a larger payday.
The pay of Brock Lesner’s first UFC fight makes me wonder how the UFC is being run from the inside. Recently one of the best fighters in history has questioned the UFC and Dana White in particular. Randy Couture has stated time and time again that the UFC doesn’t take care of their fighters. In my opinion Dana and the UFC take care of their “favoritesâ€. They take care of the fighters that say “yes Dana†on a daily basis, and do what Dana says is best for the UFC. I am a Matt Hughes fan, but it is funny that he was the beneficiary of a brand new tractor after his coaching on the TUF television show? If this pattern continues Dana white may MMA’s Don King.
Money in sports will always be a huge topic. Many athletes make millions of unearned dollars every single day. No man should be paid millions of dollars to hit a baseball, when policemen, firemen, teachers, and servicemen make nearly a fraction of the pay. The same applies to the UFC. A man should not get paid 250,000 dollars and lead the paydays for the fight card for getting submitted. If the UFC does not take care of all their fighters, the fighters will leave. At the current time the UFC is the premier MMA organization. This could all change with the signings of fighters like Randy, Fedor, Tito, Cro Cop, Sherk, Diaz, Jason Miller, Josh Barnett and many other top fighters to a rival organization. I feel that HDNet fights could really push the UFC if they could land a few key MMA free agents. Mark Cuban is a brilliant businessman that understands business and loves sports. He put basketball on the map in Dallas, and could do the same for HDNet fights. MMA is here to stay. The talent will continue to be showcased in cages and rings around the world. If Dana and the UFC take care of their fighters, they will continue to be the MMA giant. If they can’t, they may fall from the top, and wipe their tears, as another organization steps in the forefront.
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Brock Lesnar is a draw. Many people watched this card just to see Brock Lesnar. He was a huge WWE star.
Hughes, Couture, Liddell, Ortiz, Franklin, and GSP are getting paid top dollar because of their name and their past fights. They all have name value.
Shogun, Wanderlei Silva, Cro-Cop, and another Pride imports are making top dollars because they have a credible MMA history with name-value compared to a Josh Koscheck.
Well after he abandoned his jab and body shots, Mike Tyson was the premier heavyweight meal ticket. If you really want to make money as a boxer you need to fight either De La Hoya or Mayweather.
De La Hoya vs Miguel Cotto will earn huge PPV buys.
Check you poll, only 1 person voted to not see Brock again. Hey, I agree with you but I’m not going to fault Dana White or Brock Lesnar for what he’s earning in the UFC.
Does he deserve it? Well we will see when the PPV numbers come in.
Brock is not just any beginner MMA combatant. He had the potential to bring in a lot of new people- pro wrestling fans. He has a history outside of the UFC as a big draw in that arena. The UFC touted his college record because that was the only credentials they had for him. They can’t say “look at how many chairs he took to his back in that no rules match at Wrestlemania whatever.” Its standard business practice to award people with draw power. I am not saying it is right, it is simply business. My wife teaches troubled kids, she should be getting paid more than Brock, but unfortunately business doesn’t pay based on merit, they pay based on the bottom line. And the bottom line is if they let him go to another organization, they risked losing that extra demographic. It’s sad, but that is how it works.
While I can agree that Lesnar is somewhat of a draw, he certainly didn’t sell out UFC 81. His $250,000+ was way overpaid for that event. He’s worth $100,000 at the very most…that’s my opinion and I’m sure Dana White would argue to the death about something like that.
“De La Hoya vs. Miguel Cotto will earn huge PPV buys.”
Exactly. And even if DLH gets ripped apart, chances are that he is going to make 3-4 times (maybe even 5 times) more money than Cotto because he is the draw in that fight (and also the promoter, but that’s a different discussion entirely).
Lesnar makes too much money, Mir makes too little, but the truth is, that’s the way they’re going to run it.
I think the fact that the UFC signed Lesnar, but failed to sign Fedor, Barnett, Hunt or any of the other dozen heavyweight who might have added depth (and I’ve talked about this at great length before) is just ridiculous.
Lesnar is like the Mark Kerr of MMA, if Mark Kerr had his first 11 fights.
He’s big. He’s slow. He has no skills. He has no cardio.
Why is he getting paid?
Because he talks more than anyone else in the sport, and aparently Dana White didn’t understand that, in order to back it up, he would have to have to, you know, actually be a good fighter.
Sorry, I mean “If Mark Kerr had skipped his first 11 fights”
It’s time for a fighters union. I’m typically not a union guy in the real world, but the fighters are suffering in MMA when it comes to pay (along with healthcare and getting fights in a timely manner) and the union could help unite the fighters to get fair pay based on their TV ratings draw and the gate $.
If Dana and Zuffa do not correct their ways, they are going to miss out on alot of fighters that could be great for the UFC. Josh I completely agree with you. Barnett could have done well in the UFC, but they didn’t hire him.
I can’t believe that brock left wwf for a football try out and didnt win on ufc. I like him and his wrestling very well. He needs to get back in it….
Grow up, this is America..Dana would pay a one legged hooker with no left tit a million dollars to fight a dying cancer victim while Lesner jerked Tito off in the corner if he could make money off of it. Can you say capitalism? Dont like it? Move to fucking Cuba man-
Wow…