It’s obvious he was paid what he agreed to, that’s how contracts work. That’s not the debate here. We’re talking about whether or not he signed a contract that was below the market rate. Every fighter ever in the UFC was fighting for the wage they agreed to, yet dozens and dozens of guys get new deals every year that include pay increases, with the vast majority taking place while still under their old deal. That’s how it works. Very few fighters his free agency, and get new deals while still under contract.
If you want to take the stance of “he has a deal, he should fight for it” then we should just never talk about fighter pay on this forum ever.
So much misinformation, as usual. Jon never said anything about a guarantee. He’s been talking all along about wanting his piece of the pie to be bigger…so if the event does huge numbers, he wants a bigger % than he gets now…likely because his current % is smaller other big name fighters.
The only person saying $30M was Dana, and Jon immediately came out publicly saying that number was a lie, tagged Dana in the post and asked Dana to explain where the $30M number came from.
Jon’s trainers, who have nothing to do with the negotiations said some shit publicly about how the fight is gonna be huge, and it could easily justify a huge purse. I don’t remember what they said, but it doesn’t really matter. When a reporter asks a guy who trains Jon something like “Dana is saying Jon asked for $30M, Jon is saying that’s untrue, what do you think the fight is worth?” Their response doesn’t matter, they aren’t part of the negotiations. They’re just saying the fight is gonna be huge, and Jon should get whatever number is being talked about. If they reported said $70M, they’d be like “it’s gonna be a huge fight, he deserves every penny.”
Jones is the only one I know of who repeatedly burned the org with failed drug tests just before headlining events. Not exactly trustworthy behavior when millions are on the line.
You do realize the massive amount of work Dana put in initially to get the Fertitta Ufc brand up and going though don’t you? He’s reaping the awards and I have no problem with it
Yeah. Nothing could be gayer than trying to count another man’s money, while using a bunch of “he said, she said” bullshit to piecemeal together all the info you’re using to discuss it.
If Jon Jones wants to, he’s free to come out to the public with the exact amount of money he’s made for previous fights, and put out the exact number he wants for the Ngannou fight. Then the general public could make it known whether his request makes sense.
He won’t do that, because nobody is going to feel bad for a guy who’s made tens of millions of dollars who is now attempting to hold up his organization for an outrageous payday for a fight nobody asked him to participate in.
What Jon is doing right now is like me walking into work today and telling upper management “I’ve decided I’m ready to be the supervisor, and I want an extra $30,000 a year.” And they go “No, nobody asked you to do that, we’re not doing that.”, and I start bitching on twitter and trying to get everyone mad at the company for not going along with my plan.
As a consumer of the product I enjoy everything the way it is. I would be happy with the UFC getting rid of win/show money so that fighters can have higher pays and can budget themselves more appropriately but it is what it is.
I do know that fighters lie a lot of times about the money they make. I know a top UFC contender who went from making around $6k on the regionals to over $100k in 1 year with the UFC. I also know another big name fighter who avoided signing with the UFC for a very long time because he made more money on the regionals than the initial contract offered and this was 15 years ago. He finally signed when the UFC offered him a deal that would make him rich. Now, after a few big time fights the guy is rich and lives in a very wealthy suburb of the city I live in.
Does anyone remember when Randy Couture tried to sign with Affliction to fight Fedor behind the UFC’s back? He made up lies about not getting paid bonuses and other money owed to him. Dana and Lorenzo held a press conference and actually showed the cash checks that they signed to Randy and Randy finally dick tucked and played stupid.
Maybe avoid conversations about fair and market value.
It was worth it to sign the contract. Could you have negotiated for more? Maybe, but you didn’t. Do you have the leverage to renegotiate? If so, then good for you. If not, that’s just fucking life. If it’s not worth fighting for the money that you signed for, and you don’t have to leverage to renegotiate, then don’t fight.
More productive conversations would be about how a fighter can determine their own value or worth, find leverage and use it to get more for their effort.
What you’re saying makes sense, but when negotiating pay with someone like the UFC, who has several other guys producing similar numbers, a common thing discussed in negotiations is how well someone is paid relative to their peers who bring similar value.
So if you don’t want to use words like “fair” and “market value” in this conversation, I’m not sure where we go from here. Jon is doing exactly what you say he should be doing…he’s actively trying to use whatever leverage he has to negotiate a new deal…and if he can’t get the deal he wants, he’s not fighting. Seems like he’s doing exactly what you’re saying he should.
Gsp had the fan support of Canada. He won athlete of the year the same year Crosby and the Canadian won gold at the Olympics. If that’s not a huge sign of his popularity compared to Jones then I don’t know what is. Is Jon a better fight? I think so but that doesn’t mean you deserve more. Market Value. Will any of us stop watching if Jones doesn’t fight again? I doubt it. Will people buy the PPV instead illegally stream it if Jones is the main event. I doubt it. When I say I doubt it that based on my opinion and zero facts. Let’s be real if you were Dana would you want to deal with all the drama that comes with Jones. He is clearly a troubled soul due to his history and as someone very similar I sympathize with the demons some people deal with. With that being said I do hope to see him fight again but I can see why Dana is moving on from the Jones heavyweight talk.
I could be wrong but I thought Jon wanted the 8-10M as show money basically with points on top I just don’t know if Jon and Francis does big numbers without a solid undercard.
Chael called Jon on PPV numbers and he’s not best draw on the roster.
JJ couldn’t hold a candle to Chuck or Tito’s drawing power even though he’s topped them as a talent/fighter in the division they made popular. This should be considered.
