The UFC’s attempt to expand into Germany is a good move, as was their attempt to move into Britain and Ireland, and both are showing promise. Still, when the UFC knocked down Pride, they had an opportunity to move in on an Asian market, picking up highly marketable contracts, and they failed to do this. (I’ll talk about this is one of the parts of my Pride piece)

Somebody needs to take the international market, and I’d like to see the UFC move into south east Asia as they move into Europe. Perhaps that’s a little ambitious, but I think it’s definitely doable.

“I’d like to build the sport to the point where that can happen (but that requires an international market, which is one of the areas the UFC has failed the worst, in my opinion).”

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That just seemed like an out of the blue criticism of the UFC. I mean has anybody else done a better job at creating an international MMA market?

I have a long list of things that I absolutely love about the UFC. But their payroll is not one of those things.

It just seems like you take shots at the UFC when it isn’t even necessary to make your point.

At the same time, though, if that potential for income exists, it motivates a lot of fighters, and guys know that they can develop their career and make it just that, a career.

If a guy knows he can make $15 million in a fight, as opposed to $1.5 million, it’s going to change the way he trains, and it’s going to alter his willingness to become a true professional, who trains and does nothing else.

That income potential may exist at some point in the future in MMA, but I don’t think it does at the moment. I’d like to build the sport to the point where that can happen (but that requires an international market, which is one of the areas the UFC has failed the worst, in my opinion).

This topic has just been in the back of my mind for quite some time and you happened to refresh it by bringing up something related to what I have been hearing people say before. That MMA fighters should be getting paid what pro-boxers are getting paid. Because while that sounds good to say it the ramifications from doing it could be terrible for the sport.

I did respond to the NSAC and asked for the data on every boxing PPV held in Nevada for the last year. Because I still think that if you eliminate the top 20 highest paid guys in boxing and top 20 highest paid guys in MMA that the pay would be very comparable for everyone else.

I do agree on the sponsor thing though. Unless they are a direct competitor then the MMA Promotion shouldn’t restrict that. However I do compare this to NASCAR where NASCAR eliminates certain sponsors from being on cars. Example being Sprint is the title sponsor for the cup series so they don’t allow any other phone companies to sponsor any cars in that series. So if the UFC has sponsor deals similar to NASCAR’s deal with Sprint that is the source of the conflict then it might change my opinion.

I know that boxing is bigger, fiscally, right now. They charge more for tickets, and they sell out. MMA can’t afford to have those kind of ticket prices right now (their fans, in point of fact, don’t have that kind of money).

I don’t need MMA fighters to get paid like pro-boxers by the promotions. That’s not a realistic expectation. If Affliction paid Fedor and Arlovski as if they were pro boxers, they’d go bankrupt.

I’m saying that the fighters should have every option available to make money, unless the UFC intends on compensating them for the business they’re going to lose, and has a contractual note about it.

The problem I have is people saying MMA fighters should make what pro-boxers are saying. Which you insinuated in your opinion.

Well if MMA Fighters are paid what pro-boxers make then you have to start charging the same amount for tickets and for PPVs that those big boxing events charge right?

You can’t just say that and then overlook all the ramifications that also come with paying them that.

The facts show it costs ten times the amount per ticket to attend the boxing event you compared to the MMA event. That was your example I just provided the facts for it. (Not to mention the much higher PPV cost for the boxing event.)

So do you want MMA fans to pay 10 times what they do now for a ticket to a live MMA event?

Because if you pay MMA fighters like pro-boxers then that is what comes along with it.

While it’s true that general promotional intakes aren’t there yet, that’s a part of my point.

There isn’t enough money in MMA for fighters to make a living out of fighting. So why is it ok for the UFC to place restriction on how they bring in revenue?

Yes, they’re the promotion. I’m just not all for them doing whatever they want because they’re the source of income. I’m generally a free market guy, but the UFC is restricting things that they had no contractual obligation to restrict, and that’s a problem for me.