...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
UFC Fight Night 68 on Saturday night was one of the most entertaining and action packed MMA events in years. Unfortunately, it was also a showcase for the worst of the organization, highlighting just how far they actually are from equal footing with other major sports.
While ten of the night's 12 fights ended in an exciting finish, the UFC handed out bonus money to just four fighters, as is their model. However, the more depressing piece was the many fighters on the card essentially begging the UFC for that bonus money, as inadequate fight purses are being made even more so with the impending Reebok deal cutting sponsor pay.
It started with Joe Proctor, who pulled off a thrilling last second guillotine choke over Justin Edwards to kick off the televised card. He hopped on Twitter after the fight in a somewhat desperate attempt to convince UFC brass to toss the money his way.
Brian Ortega, who wound up getting a bonus for the "Fight of the Night" along with Thiago Tavares, made a call in-cage for it himself, saying, "Baby need new shoes, baby. $50,000, what's up?"
It's becoming all too common to see these fighters begging for the benevolence of UFC brass to change their lives with a significant bonus. It's a situation they shouldn't be in as professional athletes in the leading organization for their sport, and that sad point was made even sadder on Saturday in the case of Francisco Rivera.
The bantamweight has eight total fights in the UFC, seven in a row dating back to 2012, and he's stopped opponents in three of his last five. However, despite those finishes, including a 21 second win over Alex Caceres on Saturday, he's yet to be awarded a post-fight bonus in his run. What's worse, it's clear he needs it.
Already emotional after the win from being away from his family for this training camp, Rivera gave another sad plea for a bonus.
"Sean Shelby, Dana White, please, I've been fighting for the UFC for a while, can I get a bonus? Please? I need it. Please?"
He followed up afterward, saying backstage that his bills had been getting paid by sponsors, not his UFC money, and that the Reebok deal might mean he needs to get a part time job to make ends meet. When he ultimately wasn't awarded one of Saturday's four bonuses, he could only offer resignation.
"I have the worst luck in the UFC, officially," he said. "The worst luck."
The UFC has been touting this Reebok apparel deal as something that will help them present a uniform look across the board, to bring them on the level of other major sports like the NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA. Their problem now lies with the fact that they aren't paying a large segment of their roster like high end professional athletes, while simultaneously squashing the ability of those fighters to supplement their income with sponsorship money.
It's their prerogative to not allow outside sponsors on their broadcasts. It's their platform, and the fighters are signing the contracts as they're offered because for many it still means more than they can get outside of the UFC. However, they can't claim they're trying to be on par with the other big leagues if the fighters on their roster need to find other work in order to make it from fight to fight.
Part of this is, of course, on the fighters to change, because as it stands these types of complaints mean they're signing contracts that don't make financial sense for them. More and more fighters will need to negotiate deals that make up for lost sponsorship money, and must demand more for themselves if they want to get it. Some aren't going to get those terms, some may wind up looking elsewhere and still won't get even the bottom end of the UFC spectrum, but there has to be a push for a new kind of contract.
This idea that the UFC is going to give out locker room bonuses and under the table bonuses to fighters keeps many from rocking the boat for fear it will keep them from ever being a beneficiary. They hold out hope that the UFC will find it in their hearts to reward them if they just perform and don't criticize the system. At this point, the system is holding back the overall progression of pay, with only minimal growth in the bottom tier payouts as a larger percentage of fighters on the roster fall there.
It could potentially be a simple, if expensive, fix. Cover training costs, supplement lost sponsorship income with higher fight purses, give fighters monetary protection in the event they suffer injuries in or out of the cage. These are things athletes in other sports are afforded. If the UFC wants to make the move to the next level as a sport and an organization, they're going to have to start treating the fighters on their roster as if they're legitimate professional athletes, and they're going to need to pay them in kind.
DON'T GO YET... WE SUGGEST THESE MMATORCH ARTICLES, TOO!
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.
