By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
As part of a civil case in Brazil, text messages between MMA manager
Marcelo Brigodeiro and UFC matchmaker Mick Maynard have been
disclosed. What’s shown is, quite frankly, appalling. Mick lowballs
one of Marcelo’s clients, Su Mudaerji, wanting him to go from a 20/20
contract ($20,000 show/$20,000 win) to a new 4-fight 23/23 contract?
To be fair, these messages were from December 2020 but the UFC makes
far too much money to be this penny-pinching.
Then, on top of that, when Marcelo asks if there’s any room for
improvement on those numbers Mick responds by saying “He can fight it
out it’s fine”, implying that Su can fight out his current contract
then leave the UFC.
Mick then goes on a big rant about how Su isn’t nearly the fighter
that Song Yadong is (the fighter who inspired asking for more money in
the first place), including complaining that Su didn’t fight anywhere
near the same caliber of fighters. The man who actually makes the
matchups was saying this, complaining about who a fighter had fought.
On top of all this, Mick then says “It should be 20/20 but I was trying to be nice”. As if that doesn’t just scream passive-aggressive jerk.
It’s ludicrous that someone in Mick’s position would act this way. I
know these are private messages but it’s incredibly slimy to act like
giving a +3/3 contract is some grand act of charity.
This speaks to an overall problem with the UFC. They don’t pay their
fighters nearly as much as they should.
I was originally planning on doing a MMA Resolutions blog this week,
with things I would wish for or hope happen in 2026.
It would have included things like hoping that the referees finally
start doing part of their jobs and start taking points away for
eyepokes and low-blows and fence-grabs and any other shenanigans that
fighters do because they know they can get away with it.
It’s absolutely disgusting to me that fighters are only given “hard
warnings” and other such nonsense for such blatant attempts at cheating.
It’s like flopping in basketball or soccer. I don’t understand how
sports leagues can reward such ridiculous garbage like acting as if
you were shot with a 12-gauge when you were either barely touched or
not even touched.
Eyepokes are a much more serious issue in terms of safety (just ask
Tom Aspinall) but cheating is cheating.
It’s ironic (or maybe not?) that the cheating in MMA is done the
opposite way as the cheating I had mentioned above, flopping.
When you flop, you’re acting as if the other person has hit you when
they actually haven’t, or has hit you much harder than what they actually did. However, with eyepokes, especially the Palpatine Method,
you’re acting as if you’re not trying to hit someone in the eye, or that you accidently hit them in the eye.
Regardless, it’s junk and I’m hoping it gets wrangled sooner rather than later.
Another thing that I was going to hope happens in 2026 is the UFC
paying their fighters more. This one is absolutely necessary if the
UFC hopes to become a sports league on par with the NHL, MLB, NBA, NFL, Premier League, etc.
I understand those are team sports while the UFC is a collection of
individuals, so it can never be a one-to-one comparison, but MMA is
already behind an 8-ball because how many people want to get punched in the face for a living? You’ve already taken out some of the potential people who might want to compete right there.
Then there’s the money aspect. You can get paid a heck of a lot more
money in one of these other sports. Obviously you’ve got to work your
butt off/be lucky/have natural talent, etc. but that’s true for all sports.
So you limit yourself with the long term damage you can suffer from the sport and you limit yourself by not paying enough to make it worth
it to take that risk for some people?
You can only control the former so much (and they’re not doing a great
job at that either) but the latter? You’ve got more control there. I’m
not saying the UFC needs to unload the Brinks truck for everyone but
they’ve got to make it worth it to endure what the fighters have to go through.
At the same time, the fighters can help themselves some with this by
learning to cut a promo (not fully necessary but at least be able to talk without stumbling over your words) or, more importantly, call
your shots. When you win a fight, have a name or two ready to go when
you’re being interviewed. Say you want to fight X, Y, or Z. Don’t just
say that you’ll fight whoever the UFC wants you to fight (though you
can say that to them backstage if you want), call out specific people.
I’m not saying you have to be disrespectful, just say you want the
chance to show what you can do against them.
Another thing I’m hoping to see is more title defenses. Having
champions that only defend their titles once a year isn’t going to cut it. Unless they’re the most magnetic of personalities that are absolutely must-see, you won’t be able to build a big following if
you’re only fighting once a year.
This goes hand-in-hand with the UFC paying the fighters more and
making it worth it to them to fight more than once a year. Even twice a year is much better. NFL players will play two games in five days at
least once during the season. Why? Because they’re getting paid a lot
of money that makes it worth it to them.
If the UFC paid the fighters more, gave them a bigger share of the
revenue generated, I think both sides would benefit. I think the
long-term growth of the sport would be better because more money could
attract more talent.
Other resolutions would be the usual expected things. Stuff like
hoping for good fights, good health, no major injuries for any of the fighters, that kind of stuff. Those aren’t so much resolutions as they
are wishes but eh, there’s not much going on in the MMA world right now.
I hope everyone has a great and safe 2026.
If you’re a collector (action figures, statues, comics, cards, and more), you should check out
Nibble on the Toyrat website!
It’s an amazing experience that allows you to catalog your own collection, search for items you want (across multiple storefronts!),
and buy/sell items with other users! You can even create and order
your own custom toys!
It’s an incredible tool that you can use and there’s so much more I
haven’t even mentioned. I would highly recommend that anyone can interested in collecting should join. Thank you.
My new epic fantasy book is out. It’s called Kingdom of Zarias: The End’s
Beginning. The exciting epic fantasy series Kingdom of Zarias
returns with the 4th book in the series. After the harrowing events of
Book 3 the residents of the Kingdom of Zarias continue on their paths.
Serena Summers continues to learn and grow as a fighter, desperately
seeking to become stronger before she loses anyone else in her life.
Daniel Summers discovers new parts of the world that open his eyes to
just how little he truly knows. A new hero, Lamar Abeers, arrives to
join the fight against evil. Plus, Zach Summers, Tiana Highsmith, and
Xavien Ekens continue their journeys with their friends, and a new ruler of Vhaharen is crowned. The world has found a little peace.
However, that peace is only temporary. In a shocking act of violence,
the monstrous villain Galren strikes from the shadows and changes the
world forever. This is Book 4 in the series. There’s lots of action,
magic, and monsters in the Kingdom of Zarias. It’s like a tabletop
game in novel form. It’s on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many other
places. If you’re interested, I would greatly appreciate it if you would check it out and support me. Thank you very much, have a good day.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at
hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank.
Thanks for reading and have a good day.
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