Jon Fitch is no business man.
Personsally I think Fitch was paid a pretty embarrassingly low amount of money by the UFC for a guy who was one of their top fighters for as long as he was. MLB is full of utility infeilders that make more in one season then he was paid in 8 years with the UFC. The UFC is probably more profitable then any MLB franshise out there also. Not to mention other sports leagues pay for the training, coaching, equipment etc.
Considering all that goes into being a pro MMA fighter and the risks these fighters take they are seriously under paid. I honestly don't know why any young kid would want to mess around working his way up through the ranks of MMA. You take a lot of big risks put in the time, the money and everything into trying to make it. You finally get to the big time and they pay you 5K to show and 5K to win. The payoff just isn't there only the very elite of the elite are making any real money.
hendofanforlife -JStrongMMA -hendofanforlife - Wow you rode others popularity on ppvs. How many people bought it cause he was on it? Near zero.Gsp vs. Fitch was a huge ppv. Fitch was riding an insane winning streak.
Yea he had a good streak but that's not why that ppv sold well. Again, Fitch riding gsp popularity.
I guess I can only speak for myself but I actually bought it because of Fitch, I thought he stood a really good shot and I wasn't ever really a fan of GSP.
Triangle Choked - I should go ask for a raise because what they pay me is before taxes, expenses to get to work and maintenance on my car to get to work. Think ill get it?
LOL THIS!
I'd imagine Fitch could write off/deduct many of his gym/equipment fees as well, but whatever. These arguments get old, either learn to manage your money better or go find yourself a higher paying job since apparently this is low pay relative to his other career options. Hard to feel bad for someone that is making $175k+/year yet bitches about some of the costs that are associated with maintaining that career choice.
ophusker - Personsally I think Fitch was paid a pretty embarrassingly low amount of money by the UFC for a guy who was one of their top fighters for as long as he was. MLB is full of utility infeilders that make more in one season then he was paid in 8 years with the UFC. The UFC is probably more profitable then any MLB franshise out there also. Not to mention other sports leagues pay for the training, coaching, equipment etc.
Considering all that goes into being a pro MMA fighter and the risks these fighters take they are seriously under paid. I honestly don't know why any young kid would want to mess around working his way up through the ranks of MMA. You take a lot of big risks put in the time, the money and everything into trying to make it. You finally get to the big time and they pay you 5K to show and 5K to win. The payoff just isn't there only the very elite of the elite are making any real money.
Yea if you compare the UFC to the other major leagues the pay is beyond pitiful. It's like they want all the benefits of exclusive talent with none of the downsides such as player unions. Just as an example of the pay differential, the human victory cigar known as Adonal Foyle made $63 million in his NBA career.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkoNgq-O3R4
That's what a players union can do for you.
The UFC is making money. It's just that Dana and the rest of the non-fighters are getting it all.
LOL at you wankers defending U Fight Cheap. I suspect some of you guys are managers at iPhone plants.
Fan of fanboys - Also UFC is still trying to establish themselves. NFL just 40 years ago guys had jobs in offseason. That didn't really end until 1970s. UFC is really only 10 years old or so, looking just modern version. Heck it's not even legal in every state yet. They're pay and fighter benefits continue to increase. Could it be faster? Maybe. I don't know all their numbers. But it's growing and getting better.
UFC is like NFL in that its the largest org for its sport. But that's it. It's not the money machine, doesn't have the sponsors, doesn't have Fox and ESPN bidding billions to have rights to air it's events, isn't as ingrained in our society.
Don't hurt yourself trying--
It's not the money machine? LOL. By their own statements, it is a cash producing gold mine and the most valuable sports franchise on earth.
Are you kidding?
It seems like his point is "They make a lot of money so I should have made a lot more solely based on how much they made."
Personally I loved Fitch fights and would watch every one of them. I'd like to say "I wish he made a million dollars a fight" but that's simply unrealistic at the moment. The notion that they make lots of money so I should too simply isn't how things work.
Cindy Crawford put it in her own perspective. She said something to the effect that yes, she makes millions of dollars a year for Revlon, but look at the amount of money Revlon makes using my face for everything. So millions wasn't that much in the big picture according to her.
JustTheTip - To add to that, you guys keep throwing out the $175K number as if it was his pay. Gross income is not his pay/net income when you are talking about an independent contractor. It's like saying a business makes $5M a year if their net sales are $5M a year but there annual expenses are $4.5M. In reality, they profit $500,000, not $5M.
The last time you interviewed for a job or accepted an offer was the number they threw at you your gross or your net?
Using Fitch's numbers, he made $176k/year.
He'll get taxed on that amount (income and payroll, state and federal). I believe he is married, so his top tax rate for federal income tax is 28% and 9.3% for California. That's a combined total of 37.3%. Given the marginal rate, he will likely pay less than 25% after his tax return.
For payroll taxes, he pays 6.2% up to the limit. A rough estimate would be about 4% of his income.
His total tax bill is likely about 27% (he could very well be pouring money into tax deferred accounts to lower this rate even further).
He said 20% goes to the gym/management. I assume that's 20% gross rather than 20% net which means with taxes, he nets about 53% of his gross.
He made an average of $176k/year which would net him $93.28k/year. That's he made from his income directly from the UFC. It doesn't count sponsors, appearances, seminars, gym deals, etc.
I agree with his overall point of the fighters being underpaid given the revenue of the UFC, but this guy is earning a comfortable living. He made enough to support a family, save for retirement (he will likely need another source of income after he is done fighting and before he can fully retire), avoid debt for the most part, and enjoy a few extras out of life that most people don't have the luxury of.
There are other guys in the UFC that don't receive a livable wage. I think that should be addressed before making sure the mid-to-upper payscale guys get rich off of a handful of years of working.
Fan of fanboys -Macedawgg -Don't hurt yourself with a logical response.Fan of fanboys - Also UFC is still trying to establish themselves. NFL just 40 years ago guys had jobs in offseason. That didn't really end until 1970s. UFC is really only 10 years old or so, looking just modern version. Heck it's not even legal in every state yet. They're pay and fighter benefits continue to increase. Could it be faster? Maybe. I don't know all their numbers. But it's growing and getting better.
UFC is like NFL in that its the largest org for its sport. But that's it. It's not the money machine, doesn't have the sponsors, doesn't have Fox and ESPN bidding billions to have rights to air it's events, isn't as ingrained in our society.
Don't hurt yourself trying--
It's not the money machine? LOL. By their own statements, it is a cash producing gold mine and the most valuable sports franchise on earth.
Are you kidding?
Lets simplify: do they make a lot of money? Yes
Do they make NFL money? No
(Still with me? Trying to use simple words)
Is it reasonable to assume a business like UFC, trying to grow and cement itself (again, still not legal everywhere, still referred to negatively as human cage fighting) might embellish just how great it is doing? Maybe as a bit of bravado and marketing?
And once again, entry level and new guys most certainly should be paid more. But I think Fitch was paid fair market value based on what he brought to the table.
LOL!
They are FAR more profitable on a % basis than the NFL.
Further, the NFL paid low amounts in its infancy, because there was little revenue. You concede that is not the case with the UFC, yet you still attempt to use the analogy.
Don't try to hard.
Bottom line is jon is one of the best fighters at 170 but is too boring for people to get excited about. If jon was more exciting he'd still be in the ufc and making loads more money. See dan hardy. 
Bottom line, yes or no question:
Should being one of the best fighters in the world(and consistently demonstrating it) earn you a high enough salary that you dont have to worry about money?
If you feel "yes" then Fitch's situation sucks after 18 fights in the UFC and winning, what 15 of them?
If you feel "no" then stop pretending that the UFC is some elite org of only the best talent. If it's all about being an asshole loudmouth with tattoos then guys should stop training 10 times a week and take acting classes or focus on social networking and making youtube videos because it isnt worth the years of work to make 1/20th of what real professional athletes make.
This was an infomercial for the WSOF fight.
-Promotes the WSOF fight
-Gives some numbers he earned (leaves stuff like advertisement profits and undisclosed bonus)
-Gives admittedly incomplete info on UFC earnings.
-Promotes the WSOF fight.
If the hot topic in MMA today were to be glove sizes we would have the same video but with gloves in it.
JustTheTip -Saltyballs - I like Fitch, but the standard question to anyone who complains about how much they got paid is, "if you thought this was too little money, then why did you sign the contract?"
I mean he obviously found it to be somewhat agreeable since he signed it and continued to re-sign with the UFC. There are a lot of guys who wish they could be making $176,000 a year.
Best of luck to him in WSoF.
With sponsors, he was probably paid close to $200,000 per year, but it's not near what he made. As he pointed out, 20%, or $40,000 went to his gym, so that leaves $160,000. That is a high tax bracket in California where they rape you in taxes. He likely paid out close to 50% but of course had write offs so he probably made $100,000 a year. That is great money for your average Joe but not for a one of the best athletes in the world at his weight class and fighting in the UFC.
Everyone pays taxes, and lots of people live in California. Saying he has to pay taxes is silly. Every job offer is based on the amount before taxes, and to act like taxes are something rare that only contractors have to pay is a strange argument.
MMAtador -UFC is a Money machine driven by Dana and they will run over any fighter that tries to turn there business into baseball or basketball where players get a ton of money. Just can't see how someone can make 8-15k (minimum) for taking a ass whooping.
They cant. Thats why so many people retire quickly from boxing, mma and related combat sports.
The ones who dont get their asses whopped are the ones who stay.
The NFL didn't make that revenue--the franchises did.
The franchises are NOT tax exempt. Afterall, the NFL is merely a partnership of the individual franchise owners.
Further, of that revenue, players receive 49%--and that is of gross revenues--not net. How do we know? The CBA agreement.
We also know that from the years 2005-2011, the UFC paid out in total approximately $250 million to athletes. Source? Lorenzo Fertitta.
So yes, on % basis, the UFC is indeed FAR more profitable than the NFL (a non-profit) and ALL of the individual franchises.
HELWIG -
Bottom line, yes or no question:
Should being one of the best fighters in the world(and consistently demonstrating it) earn you a high enough salary that you dont have to worry about money?
If you feel "yes" then Fitch's situation sucks after 18 fights in the UFC and winning, what 15 of them?
If you feel "no" then stop pretending that the UFC is some elite org of only the best talent. If it's all about being an asshole loudmouth with tattoos then guys should stop training 10 times a week and take acting classes or focus on social networking and making youtube videos because it isnt worth the years of work to make 1/20th of what real professional athletes make.
Why so black and white? No grey for you ?
MMA is 'sports-entertainment'. Its a show people pay to see. And People didn't pay to see Fitch fight. This was a reality and I even remember people being upset at his paycheck after being forcefully visually molested with 15 minutes of his snuggling.
JustTheTip -Rickmassmma -JustTheTip -Saltyballs - I like Fitch, but the standard question to anyone who complains about how much they got paid is, "if you thought this was too little money, then why did you sign the contract?"
I mean he obviously found it to be somewhat agreeable since he signed it and continued to re-sign with the UFC. There are a lot of guys who wish they could be making $176,000 a year.
Best of luck to him in WSoF.
With sponsors, he was probably paid close to $200,000 per year, but it's not near what he made. As he pointed out, 20%, or $40,000 went to his gym, so that leaves $160,000. That is a high tax bracket in California where they rape you in taxes. He likely paid out close to 50% but of course had write offs so he probably made $100,000 a year. That is great money for your average Joe but not for a one of the best athletes in the world at his weight class and fighting in the UFC.
Everyone pays taxes, and lots of people live in California. Saying he has to pay taxes is silly. Every job offer is based on the amount before taxes, and to act like taxes are something rare that only contractors have to pay is a strange argument.
The #2 WW in the world for many years made an average of $100K/year (or less) from the largest organization in MMA after 8 years of service. The #2 athletes in other major sports make $20+ million.
If you know a little soccer you know Cristiano Ronaldo.
He got signed by Real Madrid FC for like 90 millions. You could say about him that he is a number 2. If you seriously think Fitch earns 90 millions worth of money for any company you are delusional.
If you think he earns 10 million worth of money you are delusional too.
I can go lower....
According to Jon Fitch, he can only find figures for 15 shows that he fought on and in total for those 15 shows, the UFC made a little over $36,000,000 in gate sales.
Jon Fitch fought on 14 pay per view cards but can only find figures for 4 events that he fought on and out of those 4, the UFC made a total of over $208,000,000.
"Fuk u and ur dollar" - Dana