UFC fighters pay levels have come up once again in recent weeks as former middleweight contender Nate ‘Rock’ Quarry voiced his concerns that the UFC’s proposed fighter’s uniforms would severely damage sponsorship opportunities and revenues. Then we had Gilbert Melendez almost signing with Bellator over alleged pay disputes. So how bad are things for UFC fighters?
There is no denying that professional MMA fighters, whether they are contracted to the UFC, Bellator or anyone else, really are at the low end of the pay scale when compared to the stars of the NFL, NBA, MLS etc which was one of the points raised by Nate. Clearly this is an unrealistic comparison. The afore mentioned organizations are long established sporting institutions with huge world wide fan bases that’s members benefit from raking in ungodly annual revenues. They are quite simply commercial phenomenons that can easily afford to pay their stars astronomical salaries.
The UFC on the other hand is relatively new to mainstream TV audiences and no where near the same financial league as these other institutions. Let me give you some examples; the reported annual revenue of the NFL is $9 billion, MLB $7 billion, NBA $4 billion, NHL $3 billion and the UFC $500 million. That is quite a difference.
So if we shouldn’t compare to those sports, do we therefore use professional boxing as a salary benchmark? Boxing is a fellow high profile combat sport after all. The answer in my opinion is probably not. Boxing is, for the time being anyway, still too far ahead ahead of the UFC in terms of it’s worldwide fan base and commercial revenue and we all know that Floyd Mayweather can earn more in one fight than most MMA stars will make in a lifetime, but if we drill a little deeper it becomes apparent that not all pro boxers are paid such life changing sums of money.
Only champions and championship contenders are paid life changing sums of money. Fight purses for most boxers on the undercard are actually not too dissimilar to that awarded to UFC fighters. In fact, over 90% of the combined annual fight purses paid out to boxers can be found in the bank accounts of those headlining the fight cards. That’s quite an astounding statistic and suggests that in percentage, not monitory terms, boxing pays it’s low to mid level fighters less than the UFC does. Dana White has said often that quite a few of his top stars are millionaires. Not mega millionaires like Mayweather, but millionaires none the less.
The reality of course is that only the best of the best in any sport make top dollar from their employers. But that top dollar can only be a representation of the revenue generated within your chosen profession. Nate complained that he was paid a mere $10,000 to fight Rich Franklin for the middleweight title, but by his own admission he said he could have negotiated better.
To be fair to the UFC, Dana agrees with Nate that the purse was poor and made stressed that the company was over $44m in the red at that point. Let me be clear, I am by no means saying that the UFC salaries are adequate, I am simply saying fighters need to be realistic. I have no doubt that there is more money currently in the pot for UFC stars and like Nate suggests, and Melendez has shown, the size of the purse will be down to how well the individual can both fight and negotiate.
So whilst UFC salaries are still playing catch up as the company continues to grow, their fighters are reliant on sponsorship revenues to top up their annual income. So with the reported introduction of official fighters’ uniforms, sponsorship, it seems, is about to become a huge bone of contention amongst UFC fighters.
Nate commented, “the UFC is moving towards a uniform for fighters to wear in the Octagon and this is going to kill sponsors. No longer will fighters have a shirt sponsor if everyone is wearing the same shirt. No more shorts sponsors if everyone is wearing the same pair of shorts.”Nate also pointed out, “the last time I was dealing with the UFC, clothing and supplement sponsors had to pay roughly $50k for the privilege of having a fighter put their logo on the fighter’s shorts.”
Now this ‘sponsorship tax’ to be paid to the UFC is over and above anything the fighter receives. Not many companies can afford that in today’s financial climate. I have a commercial background and fully understand that the UFC must govern the type of company that sponsors a fighter as brand association could very much damage the UFC. They also need to avoid any conflict of interest with their own sponsors.
For example, Bud Light is a major sponsor of the UFC so Dana simply couldn’t allow a fighter to walk into the Octagon wearing a Miller Genuine Draft t-shirt. However let’s be honest here, a $50k tax for clothing, supplements or any other sponsorship is ridiculous. In my opinion if a company wishing to sponsor a fighter meets the criteria set out by the UFC, then the revenue should belong 100% to the fighter.
Following Nate’s comments Dana was quoted as saying, “How sponsorship works out for a guy is not my problem. He’s a fighter, he gets paid to fight, period, end of story. Whatever extra money he makes outside of the UFC with sponsors is his f—ing deal.”
Slightly contradictory Dana. If you are not interested in fighter’s sponsorship revenues then why are you taxing them for being sponsored? You are a fight promoter so you get paid for putting on fights and not for who is sponsoring the fighters.
The likelihood is that the uniform will eventually be in place and the sponsorship tax will remain. So with that in mind, here is my solution to the problem; if the UFC want a uniform with limited sponsorship space then fight purses must be increased accordingly. If the UFC want to tax sponsors then by all means take a slice of that revenue but there needs to be a compromise.
The UFC should be damn well earning their percentage and one way they can do this is to assume the responsibility of selling the sponsorship on behalf of the fighter. This may help fighters feel a bit better about sharing some of their cash and may actually open them up to bigger and better brands than their current management team could. It’s just a thought.