D4V1D - In the long run those sponsors will do more harm than good for the fighters. They are just trying to keep things classy and have a consistent image for the UFC brand by keeping gambling and tough guy brands out.
What if the fighter himself was an owner in the brand? Would that be an exception Uptick, or should they fork over the $100k too, knowing full well that the fighter won't have that cash.
D4V1D - In the long run those sponsors will do more harm than good for the fighters. They are just trying to keep things classy and have a consistent image for the UFC brand by keeping gambling and tough guy brands out.
It's a slimeball move... but what does anyone expect anymore?
For the most part UFC events have turned into messy Ultimate Kickboxing fights where the only thing that matters to most of the fighters is the FOTN Bonus. Take away sponsorship revenue for a fighter and they will have no choice but to stand and Wang.
and LOL @ keeping the UFC "classy"... THIS IS THE ULT-I-MATE!!
The UFC has gone too far
But isn't the job of the promoter to promote fighters ticktick, not simply to provide a "platform" that is used to build its own brand, and those brands that pay in essence licensing fees to the promoter?
Isn't this one more step along the lines of saying, in essence, your privilege is to be part of our organization and your role is to build the promotional brand and its licensing partners--not any other, and to relinquish the promotional duties to the fighter?
If money provides privilege, and that is its role, what stops a promoter from simply selling slots on its show? Afterall, the "exposure' provided is without parallel. Certainly, there would be takers for those slots. Would this be acceptable?
Shouldn't we now be asking questions as to whether the "promoter" is in essence, taking on management functions (this is just yet another example), and shouldn't athletic commissions begin to look into this?
If MMA is governed, often times by the exact same statutes as boxing (with MMA additions in terms of gloves, weights, rules of participation), why do these same athletic commissions draw distinctions as to what is allowable and not allowable between MMA and boxing (and they do)?
I guess the gangster apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
"We don't want their shorts getting all nascar"
- But they don't apparently mind the ring, the time display, the period between rounds, and every 10th word out of Goldie's mouth getting all nascar.... hmmmm.... I wonder why... oh right it's THEIR money and not the fighters that's being affected!
"They just want to make a classier image"
spits out coffee WTF? Junie? Kimbo in advertising for TUF? Cum eating? Fuck fuckity fucking fuck fucklickity Dana?
"You don't see advertising like this in other sports"
1) Those sports you don't see advertising like that pay several orders of magnitude more.
2) Many undercard fighters barely make enough to scrape by as it is and their lifeline are sponsorships. This lifeline is apparently not important to the UFC.
"They don't have to fight... it's their choice... why don't they got a regular job if it's so bad" (common response to all complaints)
Actually they were doing OK with the UFC pay up until this point. Now they might actually have to work a full time job to cover training because apparently the "superbowl of mma" still doesn't have enough money.
The ONLY DEFENCE OF THIS could be:
They are upping the fighters salary significantly to counter-balance the effect of lost sponsorships.
This is the only way they could possibly defend this action.
Well, my thoughts are this, lets look at the salaries for UFC 98 for example
Lyoto Machida: $140,000 (includes $70,000 win bonus)
def. Rashad Evans: $200,000
Matt Hughes: $200,000 ($100,000 win bonus)
def. Matt Serra: $75,000
Drew McFedries: $34,000 ($17,000 win bonus)
def. Xavier Foupa-Pokam: $6,000
Chael Sonnen: $50,000 ($25,000 win bonus)
def. Dan Miller: $15,000
Frankie Edgar: $40,000 ($20,000 win bonus)
def. Sean Sherk: $40,000
Brock Larson: $42,000 ($21,000 win bonus)
def. Mike Pyle: $15,000
Tim Hague: $10,000 ($5,000 win bonus)
def. Pat Barry: $7,000
Kyle Bradley: $8,000 ($4,000 win bonus)
def. Phillipe Nover: $10,000
Krzysztof Soszynski: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus)
def. Andre Gusmao: $5,000
Yoshiyuki Yoshida: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus)
def. Brandon Wolff: $3,000
George Roop: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus)
def. David Kaplan: $8,000
Ok, most of the guys on the undercard are making what, at most 16 000. Who in this world can survive on that type of money. So yeah, you want more money, put more wins on the board, ok, do you think you have all that time to train and everything to do that, if thats all your making, I mean, people have families to feed. And now you want to take away one of their main sources of income, come on now, jump the salaries for fighters, seriously.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is two weeks away from posting the biggest year in the history of pay-per-view.
The company in 2008 has already drawn approximately 5,315,000 pay-per-view buys totaling $237.9 million, already well ahead of UFC’s previous best of $220-$225 million in both 2006 and 2007.
(pulled from a newspaper on the net)
I mean come the fuck on now, a compagny that is making that kind of money and cannot pay their fighters a decent salary is stupid. Ok, so you get on a card, how many fights are you going to see that year, you might see 3 at best, and if you are only getting 10 grand per fight, well, come on now, thats 30 grand, and I am sorry, thats not enough to live on, not in todays day and age
I really can't understand all the outrage when these things happen. This is perfectly consistent with the UFC's behaviour in general.
Horrible, horrible organisation, although as long as they have the talent, I'll be watching.
"Ok, most of the guys on the undercard are making what, at most 16 000. Who in this world can survive on that type of money."
Sorry, but this argument is useless. In all combat sports undercard and up and coming fighters don't make much money. It is even worse in boxing. Usually in boxing, unless you are a medal winning olympian, you barely make any money until you are at least 10-0 or better. Even then, it can often take 20 or more fights (with NO losses) as a pro boxer before you are making decent 5 figures. Boxing is HEAVILY weighted to the top top guys in the top notch weight classes.
It is much better financially to be a journeyman or up and comer in MMA than in boxing.
As for the likeness rights, this is one area where I greatly disagree with the UFC. It is one thing to get the likeness rights while a fighter is under contract (so long as the fighter is getting a % of the revenue!), but to keep those rights after they leave is pretty scary. Also, fighters should be able to be sponsored by whomever they choose.
Then again, you look at a guy like GSP who went and got himself a top sports agent (instead of some MMA agent). He kept his likeness rights. Maybe the top guys should just hire better managers from other pro sports.
bismanfightclub -KenBania - I guess in a way, you cant blame them. You dont see sponsers names on pro ballers uniforms during the game. Other sports dont show the players with verizon or adidas patches or tee shirts as they walk on to the field or court.
Actually they do. I know the NFL teams have sponsors on the jerseys I am not sure about NBA, MLB, but a few years back their was that controversy cause the NYY were going to put advertisements on the bases for the spider man movie but so many people bitched they axed the idea. I can see the UFC wanting a piece of the pie, but fuck maybe base it off of what each company is paying the athletes for that event instead of a flat fee for each company. Say if one sponsor is paying 4 athletes a total of $50,000 then say the UFC gets $5,000 on top of that, making each company pay $100,000 up front plus then whatever they pay the fighter? Lots of sponsors won't be able/willing to do that. This seems almost vindictive as opposed to just wanting a piece of the pie.
I have two questions, why were these particular brands targeted? I understood the Affliction ban, that made total sense to me, but this seems to be a random picking of sponsors.
And, what would happen if the fighters just didn't comply? One More Round sponsors Matt Hughes and Kenny Florian. Dethrone has all the AKA guys. If those fighters told the UFC to take a hike, they're going to wear those clothes, does anyone really think the UFC is going to cut those guys?
In general, I feel like a fighters union probably couldn't work, but in this case I would think the fighters could get together and just say no, we aren't adhering to this.
And, what would happen if the fighters just didn't comply? One More Round sponsors Matt Hughes and Kenny Florian. Dethrone has all the AKA guys. If those fighters told the UFC to take a hike, they're going to wear those clothes, does anyone really think the UFC is going to cut those guys?
Matt Lindland isn't Matt Hughes or Kenny Florian though. Lindland is a helluva fighter and didn't deserve what happened, but the UFC never pimped him.
I don't know, maybe I'm completely off base because I do think the UFC holds almost all the cards over their fighters, but I just have to believe that if Florian told the UFC that he was wearing OMR to the cage against Penn, there wouldn't be a whole lot they could say or do.
Wow, this is a big cry baby pussy thread.
ticktick -Macedawgg - What if the fighter himself was an owner in the brand? Would that be an exception Uptick, or should they fork over the $100k too, knowing full well that the fighter won't have that cash.
There are other channels of exposure that I'm sure you've seen. Like magazine's, websites, trade-shows, myspace, billboards, the UG etc etc...
You need to understand what it takes for company's like Tapout, Sinister, Hitman to build their brand and not have a lesser brand come and steal their sunshine.
Money should always get you privilege. Or else it would have no value.
fiercedragon - this is typical PRO SPORTS BUSINESS... most of you just don't understand...and if you think fighters aren't getting paid,you're just a dumbass...
rbl -D4V1D - In the long run those sponsors will do more harm than good for the fighters. They are just trying to keep things classy and have a consistent image for the UFC brand by keeping gambling and tough guy brands out.
This is hilarious and everything, but the UFC is owned by a casino company and the president calls people faggots and bitches and says fuck every time he draws breath. "Classy" is not really a priority, and you know this.
Craziness.