You would think that with all their sponsorship deals, good match-ups, fan demographic, and what not, that they would make a whole bunch of $$$.
Because the promoters are abusing the fighters worse than the mob were doing in boxing back in the day.
The main reason here is that MMA is a promotion-based sport, boxing isn't. MMA chose the nasty concept of promotions from professional wrestling, which is not even a sport to begin with. Thus, we have a UFC champion, a PFL champion, ONE champion, RFF champ and so on. Furthermore, fights are (almost always) only between fighters of the same promotion. Thus, the UFC champion is not a world champion but the champion of that particular promotion. Imagine if we had a Golden Boy champion, a Top Rank champion and a Queensberry champion. Yes, we do have four or five 'sanctioning' bodies, but their job is just that, to sanction title fights. The sanctioning bodies have little to no control over what the boxers should do in their careers and who they should fight, other than enforcing mandatories. Boxing promotions do exert some control, but the field in theory is open - anybody can fight anybody in their weight class. This is not possible in MMA - a UFC fighter cannot fight someone from ONE. The promotion will generally not allow that. This is also true in professional wrestling - WWE's wrestlers don't fight AEW guys. Every promotion in wrestling/MMA is a closed corporation. With this being the reality, the ultimate aim of every promotion is to make profit. And they would like to share as little as possible with their fighters. The fighters have little say here, as they would need the promotion to remain significant.
MMA fighters appear to have limited options. Where do you go if you are unhappy with your contract. They are also jack of all trades, masters of none. The fans are also the definition of casuals. If you’re an elite boxer you are part of a history that goes back centuries, if you’re an MMA fighter you go back to a time when you were mentioned on Friends.
There are always exceptions to the rules. Ngannou / McGregor one of the few able to do such a thing. “win the crowd …. Win your freedom.” This content is protected
1) its a sport that essentially started in the 90s and didnt start becoming really big (outside of Japan) until the second half of the 00s. 2) The UFC has a relative monopoly on the sport and their business model is to build around their own brand + overall cards as much as individual stars.
True (with some exceptions) but then they would also beat the top guys from other combat sports more often than not as long as the entirety of both fighters skillsets are allowed to be used. So in the most literal sense they are the best fighters in the world even if they typically arent great in any one particular area.
The UFC fighters are underpaid. For sure. But their events sell out on the strength of the brand, even before the card is announced. That isn’t the case with boxing.
Correct. As I posted earlier and I know this from work colleagues, it’s a casuals wet dream. Because outsiders think it’s incredibly violent, it you say you’re a UFC fan it makes you look like a tough guy. If the UFC show comes to town, it sells out regardless of the quality of the card. It’s a badge of (dis)honour to say you’ve been. No one or at least hardly anyone goes to a boxing show regardless of who’s on the bill.
Also. Bet on the favourite in every fight of a UFC card. And then do the same in boxing. The difference in returns are staggering
if you trade it for boxing system of boxing promotions, you never get any of the fights you want. Ufc just needs a union so they can pay based on actual percentage of the gate and ticket sales+ppv that is reasonable. Boxing pays their top stars more, but the hell would i want to see a bunch of multi millionair mma guys not fighting and beating a bunch of bums and can beaters. More money is nice, but boxing isn't the way.
Boxing is an older sport with a more fledged crowd: For many countries for instance Boxing was and still is insanely popular where these consumers will be loyal customers to the end. This leaves many boxers able to work and offer their fights to crowds of people they can ensure payment. MMA or specifically UFC is newer and still growing to hit different markets. As its growing organizations like the UFC have taken upon themselves to advertise, obtain fighters, target crowds to generate viewers for money. Most companies/orgs/individuals can't do this because of the insanely high fixed costs in the market, leaving the UFC with a monopoly and all the leverage to pay less $$ with no real willing competitors.