General UFC Chit Chat/News

jockcass · 02-05-2013 10:47pm

New to this forum & thread - Was wondering how much top fighters stand to earn in UFC?. Is there much of a living outside UFC , especially for European based fighters or is it just for the love of the sport ?

IMO much more exciting than boxing now , but seems poorly enough paid for a brutally tough sport with such a high profile TV and pay per view audience.

I am sure those at the very top do very nicely but can`t see anyone lasting too long without sustaining serious damage or getting beaten by the new generation of up and comers ( Silva being the exception so far ..).

Obviously big names like Chuck & Randy have cashed in on celebrity , while others have jumped on the movie bandwagon etc.

Idle curiosity from an armchair fan ....

MrStuffins · 02-05-2013 11:00pm

It's like any job. Those who are the most successful get paid the most.

Those with moderate success get paid moderately.

unknown13 · 02-05-2013 11:53pm

DrPhilG wrote: »

Assuming his last contract was also 4 fights, then he signed it on a 3 fight unbeaten streak. For a fighter of his calibre $70k basic and presumably the same as a win bonus is pretty solid.

This time he's 2-2 in his last 4 with both wins being dull decisions and both losses being brutal KOs. I suspect that the new contract the UFC allegedly offered him prior to his last fight was for half what he currently earns and he decided to play hardball and hope that a good result against Roy would prompt a better offer.

Oops...

Doesn't help Kongo's case he was going absolutely nowhere in the division. He faced most of the top guys in the division and was beaten by them. It was only time he was going to be gone. If Fitch got released than Kongo was a likely candidate.

Double decker · 03-05-2013 12:01am

There is a hierarchy of pay scales. People with the biggest fanbase / profile / belts get paid the most, where as relatively unknown, debutant fighters get paid the worst. Fighters usually get multi-fight contracts 3/5 etc. The UFC can terminate most contracts after a loss. They can effectively freeze fighters out as well (have them contracted to ufc so they can't fight elsewhere, but not give them fights). Anyway, fighters usually get paid a fee to perform, a fee to win, and opportunity to win a bonus. Top ranked fighters, main eventers, belt-owners often get a cut of the PPV (pay per view ) or the gate receipts.

So a new fighter might get 4000 dollars to fight, another 4000 if he wins. He'll get that for his three fights, if he wins he might get 16000 contract etc. Sometimes fighters lose but are entertaining and are kept/given more lucrative contracts. Sometimes fighters win and are boring, don't generate fans and get cut (rarely go down the compensation scale).

The highest earning fight reportedly is brock lesnar who got about 5 million between 500,000/500,000 and % PPV. He could have earned similar sum from advertising / promotion. Chael sonnen is rumoured to have earned more in his recent title shots but that is unconfirmed. Dana white has always maintained that fighters on low figure fixed contracts (let's say 8000/8000) who deserved an unofficial bonus were 'looked after' with brown envelopes after fights. There are also official bonuses of fight of the night, sub of the night and ko of the night which are worth about 60000 dollar now. They have become standard.

There is probably a better summary online, but the general figures off the top of my head is that ufc makes about 3 million dollars from the gate (ticket sales), 25-50 million in PPV and TV rights. Some more millions from merchanising, sponsors, etc.

Overall the fighter purses tend to be from around 1-2 million to 5-7 depending if there was a massive headliner. So obviously it costs millions to run the ufc, it's very expensive to promote, set up, run etc. etc. but the figures show that the fighters are getting in and around 10% of the income. in my opinion.

Mellor · 03-05-2013 4:28am

A PPV might generate 25-50 million (50 million being top end of 1,000,000 buys @$50). But the UFC don't get all of that. The broadcaster takes a massive slice, prob most of it.

p to the e · 03-05-2013 11:55am

If anyone has ever wondered about Chael's wonky rib here's your answer:
http://www.espn.co.uk/UFC/sport/video_audio/86444.html

RainMaker · 03-05-2013 12:39pm

p to the e wrote: »

If anyone has ever wondered about Chael's wonky rib here's your answer:
http://www.espn.co.uk/UFC/sport/video_audio/86444.html

I've been meaning to ask did anybody know about that for a while now actually!

DrPhilG · 03-05-2013 2:28pm

Mellor wrote: »

A PPV might generate 25-50 million (50 million being top end of 1,000,000 buys @$50). But the UFC don't get all of that. The broadcaster takes a massive slice, prob most of it.

I've read that the broadcaster gets 65-70% of the income from PPVs, not sure how accurate that is though but I'm sure I read that somewhere.

Double decker wrote: »

So a new fighter might get 4000 dollars to fight, another 4000 if he wins. He'll get that for his three fights, if he wins he might get 16000 contract etc.

Rock bottom pay for a UFC fighter these days is $6k/$6k. And often the increasing scale is valid within the contract so it can increase with each win, not just at the end of the contract, e.g. the 3 fight deal might be for $6k/$6k rising to $8k/$8k and then $10k/$10k if the fighter wins each time. If he loses he drops back to the previous step although as you say there is always a risk of the chop.

Double decker wrote: »

The highest earning fight reportedly is brock lesnar who got about 5 million between 500,000/500,000 and % PPV. He could have earned similar sum from advertising / promotion.

Brock never got a win bonus, fighters earning a PPV cut rarely do. He had a $400k basic pay plus an undisclosed PPV cut. If you use Couture's deal which the UFC disclosed as a template, then Brock would have made somewhere around $3.5M in his PPV bonus which gave him just short of $4M from the UFC. The other $1M would have been in sponsorship money. Obviously a lot of guesswork in there as we don't know the exact details of Brock's PPV deal.

Double decker wrote: »

Dana white has always maintained that fighters on low figure fixed contracts (let's say 8000/8000) who deserved an unofficial bonus were 'looked after' with brown envelopes after fights.

He has also stressed (with great annoyance) that these although the amounts of these bonuses are undisclosed to athletic comissions, they are not "brown envelopes" or "under the table" and are taxable income the same as the agreed purse is!

Double decker wrote: »

There is probably a better summary online, but the general figures off the top of my head is that ufc makes about 3 million dollars from the gate (ticket sales), 25-50 million in PPV and TV rights. Some more millions from merchanising, sponsors, etc.

See Mellor's comment previously...

Sean McCorkle posted on the UnderGround once about fighter pay. Bear in mind that regarding sponsorship he is referring to guys who make the televised section of a card although nowadays there are only usually 1 or 2 dark fights, most are on facebook, FX etc even if not on the PPV broadcast.

Sean McCorkle wrote:

During my 3 fight stint with the UFC the paid me exactly 150% what they were contractually obligated to pay me. That is without a KO/Sub/Fight of the night bonus of any kind. That is even though I lost 2 of my 3 fights.
I got a discretionary bonus after all 3 of my fights, even an amount equal to my what would have been my win bonus after my embarrassing performance against Stephan Struve. I was told that was given to me based strictly on the effort I put in to promoting the fight, and not because of how I performed.

I am currently unaware of any pro sports franchise that pays any player more money than they are obligated to do so.

Sponsorship wise during those 3 fights I made an average each fight of about 75% of what I was contracted to be paid by the UFC. So if my purse for fighting was $10,000 I made approximately $7,500 in sponsors on average.

Take an average fighter's reported pay for a televised fight, and double it, and you'll have a rough number of the amount he made on that fight. So if a guy is reported at $12,000 to show, and $12,000 to win, chances are he'll make around $50,000 by the time it's all said and done for that fight.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/1/17/2713322/ufc-pay-sean-mccorkle-espn

unknown13 · 07-05-2013 11:31am

UFC UK Twitter account wrote:

UFC fans: we are happy to announce a 3-year ground breaking partnership with @BTSport starting 1st August! Stay tuned for more details!

Going to BT, not really that surprising.

DrPhilG · 07-05-2013 3:40pm

unknown13 wrote: »

Going to BT, not really that surprising.

Any word yet on how we can view it here? Will it basically be a straight replacement for Espn, i.e. just part of the Sky subscription? If so will it cost more or less than Espn did?

I'm just waiting for them screw us over like when they announced that TUF was free for everyone in the UK and Ireland because it was going in channel 5 (or 5-USA, can't remember) and then ignoring the fact that the channel wasn't available in most of Ireland.

omeatheopian · 07-05-2013 4:21pm

Taken from Joe.ie(for what that is worth)

While it’s yet to be confirmed, the assumption is these events and shows would be available to watch on the station that is now ESPN UK and Ireland.

Would make sense in fairness seeing as they bought it

unknown13 · 07-05-2013 4:39pm

DrPhilG wrote: »

Any word yet on how we can view it here? Will it basically be a straight replacement for Espn, i.e. just part of the Sky subscription? If so will it cost more or less than Espn did?

I'm just waiting for them screw us over like when they announced that TUF was free for everyone in the UK and Ireland because it was going in channel 5 (or 5-USA, can't remember) and then ignoring the fact that the channel wasn't available in most of Ireland.

This link seems to explain everything.

BT sport FAQ

ASJ112 · 07-05-2013 10:34pm

Not really sure how to describe this, but some guy released some behind the scenes audio/video that are rather strange/peculiar/sad that didn't show up anywhere else.

Miguel Torres getting KOed by Michael McDonald, then asking who he was fighting(thought it was Mark Hominick) and at what weight(video has been removed already). Or the Gracie corner saying all sorts of stuff about BJ Penn and Condit. Even get to see Nick Diaz shove Braulio Estima at the end of the GSP fight.

http://www.cagepotato.com/jerry-rips-dumbass-event-staff-and-more-things-you-werent-supposed-to-hear-at-ufc-159/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChBFmLCTnQglPwyfojd_TxQ

DrPhilG · 08-05-2013 3:05am

Shane Carwin has retired. Was always going to be a struggle to get back after such a long time out and so many injuries. Good luck to him, had a solid career, ended with a 12-2 record. And so close to beating Brock at 116!

Mellor · 08-05-2013 5:11am

Carwin just retired officially

DrPhilG · 08-05-2013 5:39am

Mellor wrote: »

Carwin just retired officially

Really? Hadn't heard...

DrPhilG wrote: »

Shane Carwin has retired.

:D

Xlami · 08-05-2013 1:59pm

Disappointed the fight with Nelson never happened. Will never forget the beating and late stoppage of Mir on 111 card. Sad to see him go

p to the e · 08-05-2013 2:11pm

It really has been a long time coming though. He has had back issues for years. I remember reading that he never actually intended to fight Roy Nelson after TUF as his back was so bad but he just did the coaching as he was a big draw name.

MrStuffins · 08-05-2013 3:42pm

That's a real shame. Always wanted to see him back. A really good fighter and would've still been a contender for the belt.

MrStuffins · 08-05-2013 5:40pm

9 fighters released, including the unsurprising cutting of Leonard Garcia.

http://www.bjpenn.com/9-fighters-including-leonard-garcia-removed-from-ufc-roster/

Mr. Manager · 08-05-2013 6:31pm

Cereal Rapist wrote: »

'Mon Cody send Garcia out of the UFC!

Cereal Rapist wrote: »

Garcia has to go. 5 losses out of 6 fights... Shouldn't here in the first plae IMO. As I said before, he just swings for the car park for 15 minutes.

MrStuffins wrote: »

9 fighters released, including the unsurprising cutting of Leonard Garcia.

http://www.bjpenn.com/9-fighters-including-leonard-garcia-removed-from-ufc-roster/

Bout bloody time.

Mr. Manager · 08-05-2013 6:35pm

MrStuffins wrote: »

9 fighters released, including the unsurprising cutting of Leonard Garcia.

http://www.bjpenn.com/9-fighters-including-leonard-garcia-removed-from-ufc-roster/

Shame to see Justin Lawrence and Sam Sicilia go. Lawrence showed promise in the TUF house.

adamski8 · 08-05-2013 7:19pm

Cereal Rapist wrote: »

Shame to see Justin Lawrence and Sam Sicilia go. Lawrence showed promise in the TUF house.

He was certainly hyped during the show. Didnt impress me.

Ian Whelan · 09-05-2013 8:51am

Felt sorry for Holobaugh. Fought at short notice and put on a great show in exchange for $6,000 then gets cut.

p to the e · 09-05-2013 9:59am

Cereal Rapist wrote: »

Shame to see Justin Lawrence and Sam Sicilia go. Lawrence showed promise in the TUF house.

I've said it before and I'll say it again Lawrence had this exciting karate style that he showed off in TUF house that just didn't seem to translate to the main show.

Out of all them I'm probably surprised the most at Pablo Garza being released.

califano · 10-05-2013 4:52pm

Are there any Bubba Watsons of golf whats to MMA?. i.e any ufc fighters that arent under a fighting gym or known trainer as such like Bubba Watson never having a golf lesson in his life but wins the US Masters.

Mr. CooL ICE · 10-05-2013 5:10pm

None as champion, but Dave Herman would probably be the closest, if there is any truth to his talk.

I'm sure there were many back in the early UFC/Pride/Pancrase days, but they would all have eventually been found out

MrStuffins · 10-05-2013 5:12pm

Didn't Roy Nelson used to train himself in his house?

DrPhilG · 10-05-2013 10:08pm

MrStuffins wrote: »

Didn't Roy Nelson used to train himself in his house?

Think so.

Evan Tanner was self taught too starting with the Gracies videos.

scudzilla · 10-05-2013 10:19pm

Ian Freeman is fighting Ken Shamrock in Doncaster (UK) in July, that'll be interesting :rolleyes:

General UFC Chit Chat/News

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