$40,000 per fight for a MMA fighter, is that alot of money?
 

A buddy of mine got an exclusive contract offer with the UFC. They will pay him $40,000 per fight for 4 fights per year, but he cannot fight in other federations. I think he's being cheated and should not take the offer. Am I right?

If you win The Ultimate Fighter reality TV show, you get a 6 figure contract....but that's 6 figures over 3 years.

Sounds like your guy is going to get paid well and only has to fight 4 times a year

sounds like he has a good deal and most people would take 180 grand/year in a heartbeat. Yeah, they aren't training like your buddy or fighting etc but that's some good money

Don't forget, he cannot fight in other federations. The max he will make is $160,000 per year. That doesn't seems much for a professional athlete!

professional athlete ? ? ? ? loooool :1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

What's so funny!

Can he not get sponsorship deals on the side? I am sure they must make some kind of extra money to walk into the ring with their Xyience shirts and whatnot, unless UFC is taking all that ad money.

mma is one of the hardest sports out there, think you can hack it with someone wearing 4oz gloves that can kick you, knee you, elbow you, punch you, choke you etc etc.

theres a lot more skill in being a well rounded MMA fighter than there is in being a boxer.. you need to master brazilian jujitsu, kickboxing etc

If the guys are reasonably sucessful than they can get endorsement deals etc, Xience etc. They can probably double, or even triple thier income.

160k beats working as a bouncer or in a warehouse

Thats a years wage for 1 fight.. thats a shit load of money.. 160,000/yr.. that comes out to 13,333$/mo who else is making 13k per month! lol

That's more money than their top guys make per fight, seems unlikely to me.

$160k / year sounds good and then the next year I guess if he does well he renegotiates?

Its terrible imo. These guys take tremendous damage and it just isn't worth it for that amount of money. Plus if you look at the total earnings of these events you will see that the fighters are getting screwed big time.

Out of that 40k he still has to pay his corner, manager, and trainers. I'm sure they all take a percentage. Even the top fighters earn dog shit in the UFC. These guys should form a lockout and refuse to fight so they can negotiate a larger percentage for themselves.

he is going to get paid 160,000.00 per year to fight 4 times?
will he win some extra money if he wins the fights?
(I think that is the average for the beginners - I am sure that if he wins his fights he will get a better offer)

Professional athlete? Ok, he might be one! BUT, this is MMA, it's not Golf, Football, Tennis, Boxing or Baseball or any other sports where there are tons of unknown athletes making millions.
It is not an very known sports, or as popular as others. It's a lot harder to make 7 digits in MMA. Yes it's getting more and more popular, but as of right now, if he's not taking the 160K, it would be a horrible choice. If you're thinking that he should wait to get the kind of 5,10 or 20 million dollar fights like in boxing, he might be passing a great opportunity.

The start of a fighters career don't get paid well, but if you start win more and get more well know you'll be paid good. If he is not getting offers from other orginizations I'd take it, then start winning those matches in an exciting way.. (no laying and prying)

Im pretty sure the bench warmers in MLB, NHL, and NFL make about the same.

ur jokin right?

http://asp.usatoday.com/sports/footb...s/default.aspx

definately people paid under that.

This is a tough but not a popular sport. I think he's getting a good deal considering both factors.

Out of curiosity does it come with medical benefits?
I would be worried if medical was out of pocket.

Ummm a lot of gallery submitters make that and more. It's not THAT much.

Alot?

Cough, cough bullshit!

nope, boxed for six years before getting into mma, a friend of mine fights at cage rage.. boxing is one dimentional and i actually spar with an amateur middleweight boxing champ, its best not to comment if youve never tried it..

keyword being amateur..

I'm pretty sure you don't know what the fuck you're talking about if you are suggesting that they all make c) $160k per year.

The ignorance of that statement begins with the fact that you don't know that NHL salaries are not inline with those from the other two leagues. And it continues in that you don't know how high the minimum salaries are and how much more than $160k per year most guys you've never heard of are making in these leagues.

Why comment on something you know nothing about?

MMA fighters get fucked and it does seem pretty shameful, considering how brutal the sport is and how much the ppv's seem to take in. That said, this guy's friend should probably take the deal- not sure how much more money there is out there for most MMA fighters. Pride, in Japan, pays better than the UFC, but there's only so many dollars out there for these fighters and there should be more.

hey dipshit... look it up for yourself. plenty of people earning less than 160k

http://ask.yahoo.com/20030904.html

Apparently you are so dumb that it reaches truly sad proportions.

If you had half a wit or knew anything about what you were talking about, you would have realized that the pool of players you might identify from that link who make less than $160,000- which, by the way, is TINY- well that pool exclusively represents players who played a game or two of the season and were not with teams for the full year. Thus, not a full salary. For example, you might have found a cowboy's kicker making less than $160k. But you might have noticed, had you a clue or a map, that they had like 4 or 5 kickers come in for them during the course of that year.

Trust me, you're the dipshit.

Doesn't sound like the best deal ever to me.

where did I say that everyone earns less? the median salary for a NFL payer is 500k. The only thing I did say is that there are plenty of bench warmers who earn LESS. learn to read:1orglaugh

1. The UFC is the big show.
2. The usual pay for new guys coming in is anywhere from 2k to 4k to fight, and 2 to 4k for the win.
3. If he's that good, the UFC is the only place to be. He can get into Pride FC if he makes a good showing in the UFC which pays alot more.

Good luck to him.

edited...

Not a lot then, but of the ones that I know. There's many months I made over 13k submitting, some months less, some months right on the dot. I'm not living exactly large either.

He made it seem like NO ONE makes 13k, so I was like ummm ok.. whatevers. Maybe he personally doesn't, but that doesn't mean that others don't.

Most people are failures in general, including submitters so I guess my phrasing of "a lot" was inaccurate. I guess I'm talking about people I know and of myself.

Btw who is your friend, and why as a fighter he's asking you about if it's a good deal?

Dude, you're missing it. NO ONE earns less, unless they don't play a full season.

MINIMUM salaries for NFL players (the longer you've been in the league the higher the minimum salaries):

Exp. Minimum salary
R $225,000

1 $300,000
2 $375,000

3 $450,000
4-6 $525,000

7-9 $650,000
10+ $750,000

I'll take those over $160k, any day of the week, not to mention all the extra stuff that goes with an NFL contract, like pension pay-ins and the like.

You're really not on solid ground here.

To say nothing of one of your initial statements which compared the salaries in various leagues- each league has totally different salary structures- in some leagues the non-stars make more, but there are fewer superstar-level salaries, in other leagues, there are some great fat contracts, but the run of the mill guys, who do quite well, aren't making near what an NBA benchwarmer makes.

And in all these leagues, no one who has an actual full salary makes $160k or less. Sorry.

He could, but he needs to make a name for himself first. Chuck Liddel makes 7 figures with his sponsorship.

What damage are you referring too?

What top fighters earn dog shit?

Do you know what you are talking about?

have you ever boxed bushwacker? or taken part in any full contact sport? im guessing no..

These guys take tremendous damage. I can only imagine what Wanderlei Silva felt like after his match with CroCop. Yikes.

I just don't know what the best of these guys make when you factor in endorsements (no idea what these endorsement deals bring in), but you have to admit that when Dana White talks about "life-changing" amounts to the TUF fighters and you realize that six figure contract he's talking about is multiple years, he does seem kind of full of shit, doesn't he?

WRONG! He may not be able to fight, but he can get sponsors to pay him for wearing thier clothes, etc.

yes, yes, and i also stayed at a holiday inn last night.

I'd take it just to get your name out

New fighters are lucky to make $1000.00 for a fight in a sanctioned event, usually work the Bouncer job, etc. To some of these guys, YES it is life changing.

As for damage...

How many deaths do you think in the past 10 years MMA has, say versus Boxing?

How about I do it for you?

Boxing Deaths from 1998 until 2006 MMA Death Rates from 1998-2006
1998 = 2 Deaths in the ring 1998 = 1 Death in the ring
1999 = 6 Deaths in the ring 1999 = 0 Deaths in the ring
2000 = 10 Deaths in the ring 2000 = 0 Deaths in the ring
2001 = 12 Deaths in the ring 2001 = 0 Deaths in the ring
2002 = 10 Deaths in the ring 2002 = 0 Deaths in the ring
2003 = 10 Deaths in the ring 2003 = 0 Deaths in the ring
2004 = 9 Deaths in the ring 2004 = 0 Deaths in the ring
2005 = 7 Deaths in the ring 2005 = 0 Deaths in the ring
2006 = 4 Deaths in the Ring 2006 = 0 Deaths in the ring

There is no standing count, you get knocked out and can't defend, you lose.

Since there is also a chance of submission, knockouts are not the only way to win.

Alex, who is your friend, what is his name?

Alex,

Your friend must be the next coming of Fedor.

This is a sample payout for Ultimate Fight Night 2. It has a former Champion who made 20k.

-Evan Tanner: $20,000 ($20,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $22,000)

-David Loiseau: $10,000 ($5,000 for fighting; $5,000 win bonus)

-Chris Leben: $10,000 ($5,000 for fighting; $5,000 win bonus)

-Drew Fickett: $8,000 ($4,000 for fighting; $4,000 win bonus)

-Brandon Vera: $6,000 ($3,000 for fighting; $3,000 win bonus)

-Josh Koscheck: $5,000 ($5,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $5,000)

-Spencer Fisher: $4,000 ($2,000 for fighting; $2,000 win bonus)

-Jonathan Goulet: $4,000 ($2,000 for fighting; $2,000 win bonus)

-Jon Fitch: $4,000 ($2,000 for fighting; $2,000 win bonus)

-Fabiano Scherner: $3,000 ($3,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $3,000)

-Edwin Dewees: $2,000 ($2,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $2,000)

-Thiago Alves: $2,000 ($2,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $2,000)

-Jay Hieron: $2,000 ($2,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $2,000)

-Brock Larson: $2,000 ($2,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $2,000)

Anthony, your point is a good one about deaths- I was thinking about that before posting.

But come on- dying isn't the only sort of way you can take damage now, is it?

Most boxing deaths don't come from one punch situations- it's repeated concussive blows in round after round. And in MMA the end usually comes faster.

But these guys break arms, ribs, orbital bones- the training required involves major repeated stresses and bumps, bruises and other injuries- and the knockouts can have a level of brutality that you rarely even see in boxing. In the fights they often get their heads split open- small gloves and the fact that elbows are allowed- again, you see some stuff you don't even see in boxing.

It's a tough, tough sport.

If it were me I would tell him to take it. Worse case scenario he doesn't do well and hates it and in a year he leaves. Best case he does well, gets some endorsements and a better contract. Here is a little comparison to thing about.

These are the minimum starting salaries for the big sports:
NFL - $260K
MLB - $316K (minor league minimum $52K)
NBA - $398K
NHL - $450K

So no, he's not going to make as much as other pro athletes, however you have to factor in a few things. First he is only going to fight 4 times that year. Hockey players and basketball players play over 80 games a year. Baseball players play over 160 games a year and football players will play 16 games a year. All of these sports have a preseason and post season if the team makes it. Also, your buddy didn't have to go to college or get drafted or have to wade through the bullshit that is in a lot of pro sports. For example, you may be a great outfielder, but you get stuck in the minors and never get a shot because the major league team already is full of great outfielders.

I am a fan of MMA and I will admit that I don't know a whole lot about who makes what, but I can assure you there are a lot of guys out there that make a whole hell of a lot less than that in the sport and would crawl through broken glass for that contract. If he passes it up, unless he really is something special, he may never get another shot. Like someone else posted the UFC is the big time, he's been invited to the dance. The opportunity is now there.

Mos of the undercard ufc fighters get paid less than 10k per fight according to the Nevada Gaming commision. Some are even at the 4k level. 40k per fight is a damn good start, and is even good for a seasoned pro. Hell, some of the champs only get 75k for big PPV Title shows.

160k per year, starting out, seems like a LOT for pro fighting. Afterall, this isnt boxing. UFC is just starting to get big, I;ve been going to live events since 2003. Some fighters only fight 1 pro fight then quit. 40k is better than a sharp stick in the eye. or kick.

if it was offered to me i would take it in a heart beat...

alex who is your friend.. sherdog has stats on everyone in mma.. or at least that i know of
http://www.sherdog.com/fightfinder/fightfinder.asp

I'm not sure I should be giving his name yet, but I can tell you he's pretty much know in Montreal and train in the same gym as David Loiseau in Montreal. And BTW, David Loiseau makes considerable more than $10,000 per fight now:winkwink: