Why Does UFC Pay So Low?

[Blame Rasho]

Problem is though, major comps have all failed thus far. The RIP list is long and growing. I don't see Affliction, which is their top competition, at the moment doing very well, especially since they lost Couture.

Also, The orgs outside the US are all small potatos.

It was very disappointing to see EliteXC fail. We knew it was doomed when they were banking of Slice as their "it" guy.

It isn't good for the industry for there to be a monopoly. Competition makes a better product. White was way ahead of the curve and now banking of his foresight but it also gives his company unbelievable pull of what gets done.

[Cammo101]

Dana White is much more than just a lucky guy that got out ahead of the curve. He is still the only one who truly gets it. The Affliction's and EliteXC's come and go because they do not grow the right way. Dana built the UFC with patience and foresight, and all while losing money. These goofballs from Affiliation and Elite would have folded up show or gone for goofy short term gimmicks to try for a quick fix. Dana believes in the sport and he gets the best guys, not because of his wallet, but because he knows where to look for them.

It comes as no great surprise that the WEC took off like a rocket the minute Zuffa got involved. Not because Zuffa bought them talent and changed WEC, but because Zuffa just knows how to run an MMA company.

[damo[23]]

Problem is though, major comps have all failed thus far. The RIP list is long and growing. I don't see Affliction, which is their top competition, at the moment doing very well, especially since they lost Couture.

Also, The orgs outside the US are all small potatos.

Yeah right now its tricky to load up on competitions purely due to interest. I've seen a couple allude to the idea that while MMA is growing its not as big as it can/will be right now.

Its hard to have several top tier comps when right now your looking at a small pool of competitors and viewers. If you had a 2nd major to compete with UFC right now, it probably would just dilute the competition in both and make the events weaker [at least in viewing].

As it grows, the UFC wont be able to contain everyone, and it will just naturally grow. As it spreads to more countries, especially europe, more leagues will arise aswell out here and then you'll get a bit more of a mix.

For me I find it disappointing right now that boxing is this high reel popular sport when for me its pretty crappy fighting [imo, I know people love it and thats fair enough], when MMA which for me is just way more exciting for the very reason its literally to prove what can be the best fighting skill out there, just isnt as popular.

I think MMA has no where to go but up though, and as more people get involved, money on all parts will rise. Its certainly getting more popular in the UK, and we are predominantly a boxing nation [when it comes to any form of fighting] but starting to see more publicity / advertising for the MMA, so thats good.

[Cammo101]

The UFC really is pushing for global expansion right now. Give it time.

[damo[23]]

The UFC really is pushing for global expansion right now. Give it time.

Yup definatly, as I say, I casually saw it a few times in past few years, but just recently started to get into it hardcore and was surprised to see I had alot better access to it than I thought I would.

[cowboyronnie]

boxing is... pretty crappy fighting

[Blame Rasho]

boxing is... pretty crappy fighting

Yeah... extremely stupid comment just as bad or not worse when people call MMA human cock fighting.

I am sure he found it very disappointing that some 60K went and saw the Calazghe/Kessler fight in Wales or the 40K that went and saw Hatton in his most recent fight.

[damo[23]]

boxing is... pretty crappy fighting

Yeah... extremely stupid comment just as bad or not worse when people call MMA human cock fighting.

I am sure he found it very disappointing that some 60K went and saw the Calazghe/Kessler fight in Wales or the 40K that went and saw Hatton in his most recent fight.

Sorry, had to change two words to make it make more sense. Had had a couple of drinks when I wrote it.

For me its disappointing that a sport I really enjoy hasnt got as much coverage as a "similar" sport, but imo way more exciting. As I said without editing, I know that boxing is loved by more than millions and I wont take anything away from that, but I'd love to see MMA on par with it, and I see no reason why it shouldnt be [imo, it should surpass it, but I am more a fan of MMA than I am of boxing, its natural].

I didnt mean to cause offense with a personal opinion, and I think its pretty crappy calling a comment stupid just because someone doesnt share his preference for sport, come on now thats just childish, I hate it on my boards and just fustrates me to see it here.

[Blame Rasho]

Boxing has one thing over MMA that there is nationalistic pride that comes from competing in the sport. You have thousands of Welsh fans that will cross oceans to see Calzaghe fight. You have even more that will go see a Hatton fight in the states. You have Mexican and PR that go apeshit when a fight like Margarito/Cotto happens. Does MMA have that ability? I say no. In MMA you just don't have that. It is still more or less locked into their demographic if white males from 18 to 45 and is very successful in that niche. They might make strides in reaching a different audience but there bread and butter will always be white males, while boxing has always been an ethic/nationalistic/and minority driven sport.

[damo[23]]

Yeah already alluded to that point before myself.

[cowboyronnie]

How about the fact that the level of difficulty in boxing, both in competition and in the skill-set, is much higher in boxing?

[CPT]

Boxing has one thing over MMA that there is nationalistic pride that comes from competing in the sport. You have thousands of Welsh fans that will cross oceans to see Calzaghe fight. You have even more that will go see a Hatton fight in the states. You have Mexican and PR that go apeshit when a fight like Margarito/Cotto happens. Does MMA have that ability? I say no. In MMA you just don't have that. It is still more or less locked into their demographic if white males from 18 to 45 and is very successful in that niche. They might make strides in reaching a different audience but there bread and butter will always be white males, while boxing has always been an ethic/nationalistic/and minority driven sport.

Boxing is popular because it's popular.

Is that really the argument you're going with?

Just like how on a smaller scale MMA organizations need to grow the right way (more UFC/Strikeforce, less EliteXC/Affliction), MMA as a sport needs to grow the right way to get the level of mainstream worldwide appeal that boxing has.

The UFC's global expansion is a start, and maybe in 10-20 years time you will see thousands of fans flying across the world to watch their countrymen in MMA fights.

Maybe MMA will never get to that level because it doesn't have the same amateur system that breeds nationalistic pride in its fighters, but to say boxing is better because MMA doesn't have that now isn't really fair. And either way, do you really enjoy watching the sport itself because you know there might be 1000 Welsh people in the crowd?

I feel the same way about the level of difficulty argument. Does nothing for me. As long as the fighters are competing at a fairly high level in their sport, I don't think it makes much of a difference in terms of how much I enjoy watching it. I'll also throw in that out of all fighting styles/martial arts, boxing may be the most difficult to compete at the highest level in, but it's also the most likely to get you your ass kicked if you're in a fight with a master of another form, nevermind a master of several.

[Blame Rasho]

Boxing has one thing over MMA that there is nationalistic pride that comes from competing in the sport. You have thousands of Welsh fans that will cross oceans to see Calzaghe fight. You have even more that will go see a Hatton fight in the states. You have Mexican and PR that go apeshit when a fight like Margarito/Cotto happens. Does MMA have that ability? I say no. In MMA you just don't have that. It is still more or less locked into their demographic if white males from 18 to 45 and is very successful in that niche. They might make strides in reaching a different audience but there bread and butter will always be white males, while boxing has always been an ethic/nationalistic/and minority driven sport.

Boxing is popular because it's popular.

Is that really the argument you're going with?

Just like how on a smaller scale MMA organizations need to grow the right way (more UFC/Strikeforce, less EliteXC/Affliction), MMA as a sport needs to grow the right way to get the level of mainstream worldwide appeal that boxing has.

The UFC's global expansion is a start, and maybe in 10-20 years time you will see thousands of fans flying across the world to watch their countrymen in MMA fights.

Maybe MMA will never get to that level because it doesn't have the same amateur system that breeds nationalistic pride in its fighters, but to say boxing is better because MMA doesn't have that now isn't really fair. And either way, do you really enjoy watching the sport itself because you know there might be 1000 Welsh people in the crowd?

I feel the same way about the level of difficulty argument. Does nothing for me. As long as the fighters are competing at a fairly high level in their sport, I don't think it makes much of a difference in terms of how much I enjoy watching it. I'll also throw in that out of all fighting styles/martial arts, boxing may be the most difficult to compete at the highest level in, but it's also the most likely to get you your ass kicked if you're in a fight with a master of another form, nevermind a master of several.

Where the hell do I say that boxing is better?

If that is what you get out of that... then honestly you are a tool.

Boxing is engrained with the culture of people... if you can't understand that too **** bad.

[CPT]

Boxing has one thing over MMA that there is nationalistic pride that comes from competing in the sport. You have thousands of Welsh fans that will cross oceans to see Calzaghe fight. You have even more that will go see a Hatton fight in the states. You have Mexican and PR that go apeshit when a fight like Margarito/Cotto happens. Does MMA have that ability? I say no. In MMA you just don't have that. It is still more or less locked into their demographic if white males from 18 to 45 and is very successful in that niche. They might make strides in reaching a different audience but there bread and butter will always be white males, while boxing has always been an ethic/nationalistic/and minority driven sport.

Boxing is popular because it's popular.

Is that really the argument you're going with?

Just like how on a smaller scale MMA organizations need to grow the right way (more UFC/Strikeforce, less EliteXC/Affliction), MMA as a sport needs to grow the right way to get the level of mainstream worldwide appeal that boxing has.

The UFC's global expansion is a start, and maybe in 10-20 years time you will see thousands of fans flying across the world to watch their countrymen in MMA fights.

Maybe MMA will never get to that level because it doesn't have the same amateur system that breeds nationalistic pride in its fighters, but to say boxing is better because MMA doesn't have that now isn't really fair. And either way, do you really enjoy watching the sport itself because you know there might be 1000 Welsh people in the crowd?

I feel the same way about the level of difficulty argument. Does nothing for me. As long as the fighters are competing at a fairly high level in their sport, I don't think it makes much of a difference in terms of how much I enjoy watching it. I'll also throw in that out of all fighting styles/martial arts, boxing may be the most difficult to compete at the highest level in, but it's also the most likely to get you your ass kicked if you're in a fight with a master of another form, nevermind a master of several.

Where the hell do I say that boxing is better?

If that is what you get out of that... then honestly you are a tool.

Boxing is engrained with the culture of people... if you can't understand that too **** bad.

You said that in response to another poster who said MMA is more exciting than boxing. Unless of course you expect me to believe you just had to get this off your chest in a thread about UFC pay.

But while we are playing this game, where the hell do I say that you said boxing is better?

[Blame Rasho]

You said that in response to another poster who said MMA is more exciting than boxing. Unless of course you expect me to believe you just had to get this off your chest in a thread about UFC pay.

But while we are playing this game, where the hell do I say that you said boxing is better?

Where did I response to another poster? I made a post that is relevant, and it isn't my fault that you can't conceptualize properly.

I have said that one of the reasons boxing can get paid better is due to a more diverse fan support that can and will pay premium prices.

You wanted a quote here it is....

but to say boxing is better because MMA doesn't have that now isn't really fair

And yeah... having an invested and partisan crowd makes a great fight even better. It is just like any sport. Why do you think OU/UT game is so great? You know there is a difference between being there and seeing it on PPV. I have personal experience being in both boxing and MMA cards. There is no comparison...

BTW, It is more like 10,000 Welsh fans...

[damo[23]]

I think this has been side tracked from rasho not understanding what I said in the first place and going off on a rant about how boxing is a welsh national sport.

The point for me over all is that right now MMA doesnt quite have that level of competition there, the fan base isnt huge. I used boxing as my example assuming that people already knew things like its wages are immensely high and that its extremely popular. I then went on to say that for me, personally, I prefer MMA so would rather see it as the marquee' type sport. To use a reference for this, people might have seen how myself as a Englishman am loving how basketball is slowly but surely taking off in Europe and putting money in [not just our side, but also the NBA], for me I want to see that happen, and I want to see MMA / UFC etc.. take off because I personally prefer it, and while 12,000 welsh fans might love Calzaghe, I still think that people out there dont know about MMA.

There wont be a national pride ... yet with it. Boxing is kind of a "across all boundries" sport, much like football where it has no "home" so each nation kind of takes it upon themselves to support their own nation if you see my meaning.

I think rasho went off on about it because he saw 1 word of my paragraph in a quote and I also took offense to calling a personal opinion a stupid statement.

Hopefully clears it up, though I doubt it will because I'll have forgotten to state the obvious and it'll spark something else :/

[markdeez33]

I read Paul Williams got around 900k in the first fight with Quintana. Boxers would laugh at what ufc gets if they were to have the same salaries

I know Paul personally, my brother trains in the Peterson camp, and yeah, Paul got close to a mil for that fight.

For his fight against Margarito, he got a HUGE payday - I remember he bought an 85 Caprice, came to Wednesday Night FIghts in AUG, kicked it with us, then when we went out to the parking lot, somebody had stolen his car. We had to go find his manager, Mr. Peterson, and Paul's cornerman Don Williams, and let them know Paul's car had got stolen.... crazy night... but back to the matter at hand

Boxers get paid WAY more money than ANYONE on the UFC roster. Dana White is screwing folks over if you ask me.

[markdeez33]

My opinion on the MMA vs. Boxing topic,


Boxing is and will ALWAYS be the premiere fighting sport. MMA is just starting out and in 10-20 years, it might be as powerful as Boxing or even more powerful, only time will tell, but boxing for now, is the most popular sport and THE BETTER sport. For anyone who saw the Lesnar-Couture card, they have trouble filling up slots for their 3 hour PPV. They began to run prelim fights that took place earlier in the night to make up for this. Now boxing has done this IN THE PAST on many cards, but the thing is, boxing undercards, atleast for pay per views, are normally better. You don't have as much HYPE surrounding the card as you do in MMA, but the fight quality is generally better.

On the last UFC card, you had everything happen that Dana White says only happens in Boxing - short fights, less than a minute KO's, a main event that didn't live up to its hype (lets be serious - Lesnar devastated Couture, who really thought Couture had a chance!?) - we've got a bunch of fighters on the card that NO ONE has ever heard of. Who really wants to see that?

Another thing that the UFC needs to capitalize on is the HEAVYWEIGHT division. I know, I know - the boxing heavyweight division is somewhat down right now - but aside from Brock Lesnar in the UFC, who would I pay to see fight in the Heavyweight division? I'd much rather see a James Toney-Samuel Peter fight or the Klitschko brothers, or hell, I'll even take a 45 year old Holyfield vs. Valuev fight.... the UFC just DOES NOT have a premiere heavyweight division. Thats the one thing they lack.

If the UFC wants to overtake Boxing - yall better call up Fedor, yall better call up Arlofski (sp?) and put some asses in the seats. Everyone knows the premiere division in the sport of fighting is the HEAVYWEIGHT division. If somehow the UFC could put together a decent division of Heavyweights, they could really begin to draw in viewers, because the Boxing heavyweight division is subpar out of the top 5 or 6 in the division (as opposed to the 80s/90s when you had 20-30 guys who were contenders)

Boxing has the bigger names, the better fighters, the better overall card quality. UFC is improving, UFC has finally grown up (leaps and bounds over the simplistic gimmicks of the 90s cards), and I'm excited for the future, but I still think they have a LONG way to go before they can truly compete with boxing.

Outside of my white friends, NOBODY talks about UFC or MMA period. Blacks, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, etc. all love boxing. IDK I guess I'm just a diehard boxing fan - I was raised in the sport of Boxing - raised around it, raised in the gym, raised in the locker room of small arenas across the South, and to me, there's nothing more manly than standing toe-to-toe with another man throwing hands.

[cowboyronnie]

Aren't you a fat wigger?