ESPN examines UFC fighter pay with Lorenzo Fertitta, Ken Shamrock, and others
Posted on January 15, 2012, 09:57 PM by Trent ReinsmithAlong with UFC 142, the item that seemed to get the most attention from UFC President Dana White was the ESPN “Outside the Lines” production that set out to examine the pay structure the UFC uses when compensating its fighters.
The expose’ begins by singing the praises of Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, who purchased the UFC in 2001 for two million dollars and grew it to a company worth an estimated one billion dollars plus. From there the production turns to the practices it seeks to question, mainly the perceived inequality in revenue distribution between the UFC and other major sports in the United States.
ESPN begins by focusing on the entry level fighters who are on a graduating pay scale, starting at $6,000 then moving to $8,000 and then $10,000 per fight. With a win a fighter can double their base salary for each fight. ESPN does acknowledge that the UFC pay is greater than that of entry level boxers, but is far less than those that play in the NHL, NBA and MLB.
The NHL collective bargaining agreement states that players will receive from 54 to 57 percent of the league revenue, while the NBA players get from 49 to 51 percent and NFL players receive 48 percent. When pressed on the subject, Fertitta said the UFC pays its fighters in the neighborhood of those other sports.
What the ESPN report ignores is that the NFL, NBA and NFL were not always in the same boat they are in today. A perfect example is Wayne Gretzky, perhaps the greatest professional hockey player ever. Gretzky’s first professional contract was for seven years and $1.75 million, which equates to $250,000 a year. Today the league minimum is $525,000. Showing that as the sport grew and revenue grew so did the salaries of the players.
Fertitta acknowledges that as the UFC has grown so has the pay. “Since 2005 to today, once we started actually generating enough revenue to where we’re not losing money,” Fertitta told ESPN.com. “We’ve paid out over a quarter of a billion dollars to our fighters. We’ve made 39 millionaires since we’ve owned the company.”
In closing Fertitta offered the following, “I’m proud of what we’ve done. I think what we’ve done is exactly what America is all about. We go out , we risk our money, we use our entrepreneurial spirit, we work 14 hours a day, we created an industry that these guys wouldn’t be making any money if it wasn’t for us. And 39 millionaires, I’m pretty proud of that and we’re going to make a lot more because we’re just getting started.” – for more see ESPN.com
The below video is a portion of the video that was not included in the ESPN broadcast, but was recored by the UFC as ESPN conducted their interview with Fertitta.
Comments
Hmmm, reporter vs Lorenzo. I got Lorenzo on this one by brutal KTFO or a sick arm break. The reporter won't even be kept in SF...he's gone.
ESPN is just trying to sling dirt on the UFC for signing with Fox, and this story was Josh Gross's idea, its biased from the start, then their 2 testimonies from figthers, are from Ken Shamrock, and Ricco Rodriguez! Are you serious Do some research on why you cant believe anything these to say. They did this for the money. To top it off UFC has only been making profit for 6 years how much do they expect them to pay how about we find out what NFL, MLB, and NHL players where making in their sports leagues first 10 years of existence. Body line UFC still pays better than any other org. Why dont you go report on the fighters making a 100 bucks a fight in Tri State Fights or something.
agree 100% with what your saying. this report was horrible. thought it was funny how they tried to draw a comparison between the NFL and other major sport base salaries and the UFCs. those organizations make so much money of jersey and merchandise sales as well as advertisements and broadcasting. of course base salaries are higher. I'm sure the UFC makes no where near what just one NFL team brings in. and seriously Ken Shamrock wooowwwwww.. met him one time talk about an old bitter man. WHO KNEW THAT HE WAS GOING TO TALK BAD ABOUT THE UFC????? NEVER SAW THAT COMING...
This is what freedom of speech should be about. Surprisingly, when rumors about ESPN's piece surfaced the UFC went out of their way to discredit it. Of course, it has turned itself into a monopoly. And yes, it is against the law. Of course, it does not pay its fighters enough and, yes, it treats them like slaves with the contracts they sign and the fact that the UFC can cut them for any reason at any time. There is no fighter union. This all has to change.
How can people disagree with what fightgame is saying? That MMA wouldn't exist if it wasn't for UFC is total bullshit imo, if anything what the UFC has successfully done is kill all other organizations and are now the only one left standing, but don't forget SF was successful despite the UFC Monopoly.
I agree that the UFC is what America is all about, its about using any methods necessary to destroy your opposition and do everything in your power in creating a monopoly.
I am sure this will be unpopular comment but there really is not difference between Microsoft, UFC or Big Oil.
Monopsony, not monopoly.
Wouldnt it be funny as hell if Fox ran a story on how ESPN tried to attack the UFC and was made to look like a 10 year old.
You can add in Sky TV. Those fookers have stolen most sports off nromal TV channels and millions of people are stupid enough to pay more than they used to for the same stuff.
OK....But If SF was doing so well in growing and progressing then why did they sell the company to Zuffa. No one is forcing anyone to buy or sell their companies....
ESPN cannot seriously be criticizing the UFC for their payouts. Almost every state that commissions MMA events have locally promoted MMA events and it's at that level the fighters make garbage. One fighter going to the UFC can gain substantial income just off of sponsorships for being in the UFC (I.E. tapout, musclepharm, etc.). I digress, if the UFC continues it's exponential growth over the next ten years and their pays scales don't change, then yes something needs to be done to change the fighter salaries. Right now the sport is so young and just getting to mainstream that to judge this early is a tad premature on ESPN's part
All the other orgs died on their own for over paying fighters, making shitty business decisions, and getting involved with organized crime. All Zuffa did was come in and salvage those wrecks and make something of it. And how is the UFC a monopoly since they aren't they aren't the controlling form entertainment(movies, videogames), aren't the only sport(baseball, basketball, football, soccer), aren't the only combat sport(boxing), and even aren't the only MMA org(Bellator, SF, ICON, W-1, Tachi Palace, Shark Fights, Shine Fights, KOTC, Dream). The UFC is in competition with all of these for viewership and money.
@Krogan: Really? No differences?
Microsoft- creates, develops, and utilizes technology that has been interwoven into daily life for virtually everyone in America. You have to seriously go out of your way to avoid partaking of Microsoft products in daily life, and doing so limits your options in many situations.
Big Oil- Supplies gasoline to virtually every major gas station in America, as well as providing the raw materials to make many objects made of synthetic rubber or plastic. Refusing to partake of products from Big Oil is very difficult to avoid and seriously limits your options in daily life.
UFC- A brand of mixed martial arts sports entertainment. Easily avoided if you do not wish to partake, other options are readily available in the form of other sports and MMA organizations. Choosing to not partake in UFC products will not affect your daily life in the slightest.
Exactly, I dont know how it ent down when they bought pride. But as faf as I know sf was up for sale so zuffa took it.
Although it's great for the UFC to monopolies MMA it's terrible for the fighters. Zuffa should really invest in building up lower tier fight organisations to keep feeding the UFC with top fighters. With lower Tier organisation the expansion of MMA through out the world will EXPLODE. BUT you can't have too much different fight company or else it will all end up like boxing where there are WBO, WBC, IBF, KFC, IBM, WWF, WWE, and all the letters under the sun.
yea! give money to your competition! that makes sense... -_____-
It does if you completion will grow your talent pool for you. and beside it wont be a competition per se more like a feeder league.
Honestly, Zuffa/UFC hasn't tried to monopolize MMA. It may seem like they're the only good organization around, but tell me this: When's the last time you saw a commercial for Bellator? Shark Fights? Any other MMA organization that isn't the UFC? Zuffa is spending ridiculous amounts of money promoting product awareness, of both UFC and MMA in general. Commercials are everywhere, there's PPV events, video games, partnerships and cross-branding with nutritional supplements and exercise paraphenalia, etc. Zuffa is heavily promoting their product in order to expand their market and it is working like a charm.
This may be hard to believe, but other MMA orgs actually benefit from Zuffa's practices. How many of us were first introduced to MMA in the form of UFC's brand? If it weren't for Zuffa's advertising, many may never have heard of Strikeforce, Pride, Bellator, or MMA in general. The big difference is that other organizations are not promoting their brand. They are content to front little to no advertising cost and be one of those other companies that "is kinda like UFC". You get out of your business what you put into it.
Good to see this debate is finally making it to the main stream sites.
Great coverage Trent.
The UFC got where it is by fighting off mud slingers. If ESPN thinks Zuffa is a little guy afraid to stand up, they are sadly mistaken.
This will end up being bad PR for ESPN amounting to nothing more than jealousy and the lack of insight to invest heavy in MMA.
Hmmm, do elaborate.
I will never forgive the UFC for buying out Pride. Pride cared much more for the fighters. I like the UFC, but they're hiding stuff from us and some fights look completely set up. You never know. Pride inspired their fighters to go out and give everything they have. UFC poster boy Chuck Liddel, even in his prime was unsuccesful over there.
Pride cared much more for the fighters? By giving them two days notice for fights? By asking people to take dives?
Liddell went there after losing to Couture. Wanderlei was supposed to do the move over to fight Randy after, but the angelic PRIDE staff decided to renig on the deal.
Wait a minute...you talk about Chuck Linddel...
What about The Axe Murderer who was successful at pride but really wasnt successful in the UFC. He had a great fan following but he wasnt winning titles in UFC...
Love the scene when Dana is talking about the bonuses for knockouts, then the camera stops on Fitch. The look on his face says it all.
Yeah cuz Fitch never wins by knockout....decision only
thanks for explaining that one.
maybe they can make a Decision of the Night bonus just for Fitch
to an extent the reporter has a point. ive seen some guys only get paid $4000 for a fight. The ufc buys up any real competition and takes all of their best fighters. Look at SF they only have 2 champs left. Then the ufc starts to play favorites with guys like Brucelee roy... he looked terrible in his first 2 losses but kept his job cuz dana likes him. Then the little guys get paid barely anything, cruz (champ) doesnt make half as much as JDS or GSP...mighty mouse just fought for the belt and only makes 6k per fight....Cung le comes in for 1 fight and makes more than all the WEC guys combined
I agree.....Cung should have only made that if he won...That was BS to pay him that much. If I were the other fighters, I wouldn't like him. ..He has no legence to UFC...Guys like Cruz should be paid more no doubt just because they are champions.
The guys that make that little are one and done guys that usually only have like one fight then move on or are still tied to their old WEC contracts which at the time were very weak ESPECIALLY for the undercard guys.
I guess you missed that part about the UFC just giving Cruz a 100,000 dollar car, and you dont see his ppv percentage.
I'm confused on this whole monopoly thing. Now I understand what a monopoly is but if the UFC is being investigated for having a monopoly what about the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL wouldn't they also have a monopoly?
exactly
All of those have an athletic union where that union gets paid an equal share in the profits. Plus all revenue is common knowledge. Many other differences also.
Much different.
I don't get this, what is the purpose of this story? ESPN has become the foxnews of sports broadcasting. Then on top of it all, they pay boxers in the hundreds of dollars, which has been known for years. Between the hypocrisy of this story and the way they shoved Tebow down the throats of America, i'm down with those fools.
HAHAHA.
They boxers hundreds of dollars for a program that gets aired on ESPN 2. The comparison between friday night fights and any of UFC's events doesn't hold water. It's like comparing the last Cotto-Margarito PPV to Legacy fighting championships.
the point is, hardworking fighters that train to get beat up are only paid $400 by a network worth billions. that same billion dollar network is also owned by an even bigger multi-billion dollar company. the hypocrisy is so thick you can it can choke a 20 year whore.
No that's actually not the point at all. that's a garbage comparison used by Lorenzo Fertitta to throw out numbers to try and make Zuffa look better. ESPN is not the promoter, nor do they conduct purse bids for the fights that take place on ESPN 2.
It's actually sad that people are taking that comparison and running with it. Do some researce, FNF is no where close to a top tier boxing program.
ESPN are but hurt about Fox deal
So fighters are supposed to get a cut of the Copyright revenue for the words "The Octagon" that ZUFFA was smart enough to make money off of?
Damn close to 50 grand a year to START if you do pretty well (Not including any FOTN bonuses) is WAY more than almost every other professional anything makes in it's first year. (When you get drafted by an NFL or MLB team you go to farm league and make like 120k a year TOPS and it costs about 75k just to live that lifestyle of eating out all the time)
This is terribly Biased.
That last part of the post isnt true at all.
By the way, I am a cyclist also and in that sport, Good luck making 100k/year unless you're Lance or one of the next 10 best cyclists EVER in the world. They have enough time on their hands in between fights, be smart and write a book (ie. forrest griffen) or make a T-shirt company (Stefan Bonnar) and find revenue elsewhere if you're not quite the biggest draw on the market,
Haters are just envious of what the UFC has accomplished in the last 10 years and secretly wished that they were part of that bandwagon (Shamrocks, etc).
At the end of day, UFC gives fighters a chance to make it big doing what they love to do (unlike most of us who cannot do that), and they have successful fighters to show for that.
The problem with people is they think that the idea of fighting in a cage is enough reason to get paid but you still have to perform and earn some fans to get to where GSP, Silva, etc. are now. People pay money to see these people fight in the cage. A lot of the UFC fighters are not even known by the paying public so I understand why Cung Le got paid that much (I would guess more than 50% of the people buy PPV to watch the main event and could care less about the other cards). I'm sure SF paid him that much as well.
The UFC is one of the only sports that I DON'T talk about when it comes to players being paid way too much. They have one of the most brilliant compensation programs of all mainstream sports.
A valuable lesson in life: Nothing is guaranteed.
Work Hard, Play Hard, Fight Hard and win the money that is available. Nobody else can make 30k a night. lol
ESPN is coming after the wrong people & writing the wrong story. If anyone wants to see the whole un-edited interview, here it is:
http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/news/378269/Dana-White-responds-to-ESPN-Theyre-dirty-and-they-lie/
classic attempt at bully journalism by espn here
Why would anyone take ken shamrock seriously the guy stated in an interview once that they should legalize steroids in the sport, "and let the games begin"
That's because ESPN doesn't pay attention to the sport at all. They had no idea who was a credible piece of input and who was Ken Shamrock. Pretty typical Chop and edit Journalism.
ESPN talking about a MONOPOLY? LoL!!!!!!!