they sign contracts thats what keeps them from not fighting, they have to complete the contract they signed.
So what? Thats the nature of business. You cant expect a startup to make an initial profit in its first years without a solid injection of capital. The UFC is worth billions now. The fact is the pay scales are mediocre when compared to boxing. Its not even close. Matter of fact PRIDE paid better wages than the UFC hence why the best talent went oversea's.
Thats nonsense. Theres a good reason why Fedor commands the money he does. He just so happens to be the greatest of all times. The same is true of Manny and PBF. Hatton made a tidy career picking and choosing his fights. He was seen as the best in the world at his weight by casual fans. We didnt even know if he was the best in Britain. Bottom line is if it dont make dollars it dont make sense. Boxing is as much economics as it is a sport. Some fighters like Hatton took advantage of that.
I'm not entirely sure why people are struggling to understand this. We do not know how much Chael Sonnen or Anderson Silva was paid - all we know was what the UFC was obliged to pay them. Sonnen has recieved a sizeable bonus payment while Silva will have recieved this bonus and a cut of the pay per view revenue. The system is smart in that it rewards fighters for going above and beyond in promoting fights, and keeps the UFC's obligations low in case there's a downturn. As for why Silva isn't paid the same as Lesnar -why do certain boxing champions earn more than others? Lesnar is a bigger draw and earns the UFC more money, so he is paid more money. Its fairly simple really. There is an argument about whether the UFC's payscales are entirely logical, with there being some distortion surrounding elder veterans and TUF stars but I think they do a reasonable job. I think that increasing base pay for title challengers would be good in so far as it would stop debates like this, but I doubt it would mean anything to the fighter as the money would just be taken from their bonus. Pride paid more than the UFC in the early part of the decade because the UFC was losing milllions each year. When the UFC turnaround in 2005 it was soon in a position to pay competitive amounts to the top fighters, especially when Pride started to implode in 2006/2007. The fact is that a lot of MMA promotions have gone out of business overpaying on talent (Affliction most obviously). The UFC is a well-run business that has to look at the bottom line. Would I like more money to go fighters? Sure. But people are being far too quick to criticise the UFC.
Floyd, Pacquiao and Hatton were paid that money because they drew big crowds and headlined huge pay per views. Fedor has gotten his money by talking money marks into sweet deals despite having never been a draw whether in Pride, Bodog, Affliction or Strikeforce.
The figures at Saitama Arena disagree with you. Agreed Fedor wasnt a draw at Affliction or SF but thats because he is in an American audience. In Japan he was most certainly a draw. As for Bodog he only fought once for the promotion against Lindland. And the reason why SF and Affliction coughed up the money is because they were more than aware of Fedor's star potential. Theres not much point in trying to claim otherwise.
Boxing is a business but it is a sport based on history, legacies and fans paying to see the best fight the best. The same applies for MMA and any other sport. As soon as fighters become more independent/pwoerful, they get a bigger slice of the pie, are not hungry and put on absolute **** for millions. Everyone needs a boss to keep them in line. That is what the UFC do and while there are bad points to it, generally it makes it much better for the fans. MMA might not be paid millions but they are comfortable financially doing what they love. Even the guys getting $6,000 are no different to Sunday league footballers getting paid £150 a week to do what they love while having a full time job. They are simply low level athletes and high level athletes.
Ruiz performed in front 20,000 fans in Manchester, does that make him a huge British boxing draw? Fedor's drawing power in Pride was significantly less than the likes of Cro Cop, Sapp or Nogueria...let alone Sakuraba. Affliction paid big money for him because they thought that by building the promotion around their heavyweight division they'd create a product that applied to casual fans and would compete with the UFC where it was weakest. They also signed the likes of Sylvia and Arlovski to ridiculously huge contracts. Strikeforce were just desperate to sign somebody with the stature to convince CBS to let them have a show.
Erm they came to see David Haye.... And no Fedor's drawing power wasnt less than CC et al. If it was he wouldnt have been the head liner nor would he have been so popular at NYE nor would he have commanded the salary he did in PRIDE.
Not disagreeing with any of this. But its apples and oranges at the end of the day as there both different business's.
fedors drawing power was less than nogueira, Sapp, and Cro-cop? Really? I Dont agree. Boxers get paid more because they get most of the money that the fans generate, as well they should they are placing their health on the line and their window of opportunity is limited. The fans come to see mayweather, or Paquaio, or De la Hoya, or Tyson, etc................. fans dont pay to see dana white, frettitas, Joe silva ect...... you see its called bull****, you try to sell it after every ufc ppv, I dont buy it. And guess what im not buying this bowl of **** either, its not that your not trying hard, and make well thought out points, its that your defending greedy mother****ers! Greedy mother****ers will always be greedy weather you defend them or not so why do it? This content is protected
