De La Hoya's purse was a guaranteed $8 million; with his share of the "Pay-Per-View" revenues, he reportedly earned around $20 million combined. Mayorga's purse was $2 million.
In UFC66 (Liddell Ortiz II) the fighters made:
The disclosed fighter payroll for the event was $767,000 according to MMA Weekly.
Total revenue gate plus ppv for De La Hoya/Mayorga ~$43mil
Total revenue gate plus ppv for UFC66: Liddell Ortiz II ~$46mil
I see a problem here.
I'm not a big fan of unions but I think the UFC fighters better make one. I'd be willing to bet that the undercard fighters on Delahoya/Mayorga made more than Liddell and Ortiz.
that is the problem with having an org like the ufc with no major competition... .Until ALL of the fighters refuse to fight for crappy pay, the ufc will continue to blackball its fighters. and there is always going to be people desperate enought to fight for 2 & 2 or less
I guess my point is the biggest boxing event of 2006 saw approximately 51% of the gate and ppv revenue paid to the main event fighters. Approximately 23% paid out as a GUARANTEED amount.
The UFC event which grossed $3million more than the boxing event saw a wopping 1.7% of it's total revenue paid out as guaranteed salary to the entire card.
I would say it is definately a sad state of affairs.
he probably got about 100 grand after Don King got done with him
boxing and MMA are backwards from each other anyway. in boxing, the fighter is the draw, and the UFC has been really smart about making the UFC the draw. Its apples and oranges
DLH owns his own promotion company. Mayorga has to pay the promoter 30%, plus 10-15% to his manager and has to reimburse any training expenses paid by the promoter and/or manager. 2 million just got a lot smaller.
Ali was the biggest name in boxing for 20 years though
try asking what guys on the undercard of Ali fights were making, that's a better question. I know Aaron Pryor made his pro debut for like $500. Marvin Hagler didn't get much more than that for his first fight either
Larry Holmes fought on the undercard of the Rumble in the Jungle for either 5 or 10 grand, and he was a pretty well established, undefeated HW
Elite XC has guys on their undercards making $1500, its not like Zuffa is the only show with this pay structure anyway
Somethings gotta be done. All the other major sports get paid a lot more money and they aren't going in a cage and trying to kill each other. Randy leaving the UFC might help out fighters pay days as a whole in the MMA world.. That kid from Notre Dame Zbikowski boxed his first pro fight and he made $25,000. A lot of MMA guys don't even get that..
"I'm not a big fan of unions but I think the UFC fighters better make one. I'd be willing to bet that the undercard fighters on Delahoya/Mayorga made more than Liddell and Ortiz."
You are extremely stupid if you think all boxers on tv make big bucks. Some pros are still making $2000-$5000 and some champions, are making about $50,000. DLH has a huge following, he puts asses in seats, and that was Mayorga's biggest payday yet.
I'm not saying that a pro debut is worth more than $500. I just think the largest draw in the sport (Liddel or Ortiz at the time and I don't want to debate that) should be paid more that his cut of the $750K total purse.
These guys are worldclass athletes and Zuffa is making world class money off of their blood and broken bones.
It's not like fighters aren't told what they're going to be paid before they actually fight.
Do what I do when I feel I'm not being paid enough. I go find another employer who will pay me more.
If I couldn't find one, I'd change professions.
take a look at Don King's history and i think you might change your mind. Mayorga threatened to pull out of that match the week of the fight because King was screwing him out of money. He even asked DLH to help him get away from King
Rahman and Tyson and Larry Holmes and Ali etc etc all got pennies on the dollar from King contracts. look into it some
"That kid from Notre Dame Zbikowski boxed his first pro fight and he made $25,000. A lot of MMA guys don't even get that.."
alot of MMA fighters don't bring as many PPV buys as that guy did either. he got money because he's worth money. Your average fan doesn't care who is on the undercard, or to be honest, who is on the main card half the time. They're watching the UFC to watch the UFC, end of story
whereas in boxing, they still don't care about the undercard but they're watching for 1 match or 1 fighter, so the headliners command the money. Its a totally different system than what MMA uses. In boxing, the fighter is the attraction and in MMA the sport is the attraction
And like I said, you see guys in boxing all the time fight for nothing. JMM fought for 15 grand in a parking lot in Thailand his first fight after drawing with Pac, and some people were saying he was the top fighter at his weight in the world
in MMA and boxing, your pay = your drawing power. No one will buy a PPV just to see Chris Brennan or Jerry Bohlander or Jardine or whoever, so those guys don't make as much money as boxers who ARE draws. it makes perfect sense
Do I deserve a cut of the profits from my employer? My employer makes millions, if not billions of dollars a year. I'm guessing yours does too. If everyone got a cut, no one would be in business.
Read That. Sound like there were many more asses in the seats to watch Liddel/Ortiz II than there were for DLH/Mayorga
Look at the gates on the the NSAC web site.
The arguement that boxers make more money because there is more money in boxing is a lie.
OK fine the statement about the undercard fighters making more than the headliners of UFC66 may be false and I can not prove it either way because I can not find the payscale for the fight. But that is beside the point and I fear it has only provided people who want to cloud the issue with an easy avenue.
I realise the fighters are told what they will be making before the fight. That does not mean that they are being paid fairly.
"take a look at Don King's history and i think you might change your mind. Mayorga threatened to pull out of that match the week of the fight because King was screwing him out of money. He even asked DLH to help him get away from King"
Fair enough but if we are only going to hold the management of the UFC to a level of fair play equal to Don King then the situation is sadder than I thought.
"Do I deserve a cut of the profits from my employer? My employer makes millions, if not billions of dollars a year. I'm guessing yours does too. If everyone got a cut, no one would be in business. "
My employer pays out a hell of alot more than 1.5% of it's total revenue in salary each year.... I'm guessing yours does too.