Brian Ortega asked Dana White to be paid for UFC 226

I’m starting to wonder what an Ortega championship reign would look like.
 
Welcome to the realities of "independent contracting".

Maybe a meeting with Leslie Smith is in order.

Ortega can complain just like Dillashaw did. Ultimately, they will do what the UFC says cause they are weak.
The only way to not be weak is to get huge before you enter the UFC (Brock) or be a unicorn like Conor that gets bigger than the UFC. Conor got that way by being the perfect contractor tho, helping out the UFC and they would help him, so it is a double edged sword. UFC 200 revealed just how willing the UFC was to scratch his back in return after he totally destroyed himself meeting their demands.
 
What’s ironic is Ortega said he didn’t want to throw away his title shot but that is exactly what he did.

The ufc handed him an interim title fight where the title holder may never fight at 145 again.

Damn Ortega, the ufc handed this to you on a silver plate and you ran away.

Yeah he should be as dumb as Frankie Edgar shouldnt he?

Ortega had the number one contender spot, already knocked out Frankie on a short notice fight before this, annddddd offered to go up in weight to fight Khabib previously in another short notice fight..You get one shot in this sport and Ortega had already put himself on the line
(risk wise) twice recently..
 
On one hand, the fighter he trained and prepared for pulled out so in that regard I feel like he should get some expenses.

But then he also turned down a fight which kinda counteracts the whole thing. I think I actually agree with Dana on this.
I agree. I rarely stand behind Dana, but this time he is right. I also think that to deserve a contract with UFC, you as a professional fighter should fight whom ever they put in front of you in your weight class. There should be no asking who you wanna fight. And if you refuse to fight... well, you should face the punishment.
 
baloney. If you read a tweet by him saying he only got 25% you'd be bitching he didn't get 50%.
conjectures
This is pretty much what I thought.
25 - 35% seems fair.

Plus, honestly sometimes I feel like there is collusion - Dana manufacturing a situation to try to force a fighters hand
oh yeah, these guys have all the leverage unless you are a big star.
Expenses for flying out and accommodation are covered by UFC unless he decides to bring more than his coach and corner men.
Most other expenses for top tier athletes such as training, management etc are % of purses so he wouldn't incur too much there. I do agree though that they should be entitled to a specific amount not necessarily a % in recognition of them doing media and workouts if their opponent pulls out within fight week.
that's why I'm talking about just a small percentage of his show money. he has all his training camp that he needs to pay. how expensive it is? I don't know. and let's remind ourselves the ufc only pays like 13% of the revenue to the fighters. it's not like they would go broke doing that
 
that's why I'm talking about just a small percentage of his show money. he has all his training camp that he needs to pay. how expensive it is? I don't know. and let's remind ourselves the ufc only pays like 13% of the revenue to the fighters. it's not like they would go broke doing that

it jumped to a whopping 17% in 2016 (no idea about 2017 yet) lol

But I agree
Thing is, in this instance they had a fighter on standby ready to go.
Then Ortega still said no.
It was pretty known they had a backup plan ready.
So in this case WME said "f-him"
Of course they could easily throw him $25k without hurting the bottom line, but that is the difference between sole proprietors (Fertittas) & a conglomerate (current day owners).
But Dana said they will talk in another week.
My guess is whatever next fight they make, he will get a small bump in pay.
that dana can do
Paying a fighter for not fighting is on WME
 
The audacity of this guy... I'm quickly not liking Ortega. The first post nailed it.

I literally went from singing his praises to a f*** that guy attitude. He all but ruined a card I was very, very excited for. Him vs a last minute replacement Jeremy would have all but made up for Max falling out and that card would have still been as intriguing but no, he’s big time now and can’t be bothered. He’s got RDJ’s phone number people.
 
He could've accepted a fight and got paid, instead he sat on the sidelines THEN expects pay? What a dunce.
 
because he asks to be treated fairly. gtfo
Treated fairly? They gave him a chance at a payday. He said no, I went to college (training camp) to prepare for a new job but I don't show on the first day (fight night) do I deserve to get paid?
 
If UFC pays fighters when their opponent pulls out, no fighter will ever accept a replacement fight again.
Right, but the fix is simply to add the caveat, you will be paid show money for involuntary fight cancellations if a replacement fight was not offered.

It’s complete bull shit to not pay fighters for canceled fights for no reason of their own.
 
Right, but the fix is simply to add the caveat, you will be paid show money for involuntary fight cancellations if a replacement fight was not offered.

It’s complete bull shit to not pay fighters for canceled fights for no reason of their own.
But there was a fight available...,
 
Since when do you have to take a replacement on 3 days notice? He trained for max but expected to fight anyone they pick or no pay? Gtfo
It’s in the standard UFC contract.

When max pulled out, they owed him nothing more than a replacement. If there was no replacement he’d get paid, but he turned down two replacements.
5F01B27D-6B04-4834-A98D-B2751E1B42D1.png
 
That's what he gets for not being a company man.

UFC, just like any other enterprise, is a business that requires its members to sacrifice a portion of their individual needs for the benefit of the company as a whole. If the members comply with such demand, they are usually compensated handsomely in a various form monetary rewards or promotion. In the case of Ortega, he could've positioned himself as Dana's new favorite fighter which would've lead him to an endless opportunities in terms of obtaining a title shot when its available as well as signing a better contract in the future. However, he let these slipped through his fingers, because he was too blinded by the fear of losing what was in front of him at that moment.
 
Last edited:
Ortega is doing it the wrong way. Dana won't give him favors if that is how he does business.
 
If UFC pays fighters when their opponent pulls out, no fighter will ever accept a replacement fight again.

Pretty much. If he wanted to get paid, he should have fought. If you're really the best, you should be willing to prove you're the best. If anything just ask for an immediate rematch clause.
 
The audacity of this guy... I'm quickly not liking Ortega. The first post nailed it.
You are asked to create a promo video. You are given a product, the message, etc. The agreement is you will get paid once the promo is shown to the public. You are given a 3 month deadline.
So you get everything ready, demo the promo to the company, do all your due diligence.
Then 2 days before the showing, you are told, the message will be the same, but the product label has changed, so you need to redo a bunch of the stuff. For what took you weeks to prepare, you are expected to change in 2 days. Does that seem fair to you?

Now yeah you can say how life is not fair and the person shouldn't have signed the contract if he didn't agree to the terms, but that doesn't make the contract reasonable. The problem is it's the only contract available. So either take it, or find another line of work. The UFC monopoly has essentially given them authority to mistreat fighters.

Ortega should absolutely compensated for his work. Maybe not the full amount, but at least his show money or part of it. The issue is that they are paid entirely to fight, and not to make weight, or fill other media obligations.
 
Treated fairly? They gave him a chance at a payday. He said no, I went to college (training camp) to prepare for a new job but I don't show on the first day (fight night) do I deserve to get paid?

unless they offered to pay him more for taking another opponent on short notice that is BS. He trained and prepared to fight Holloway. He promoted fighting Holloway. Changing up opponents on someone at the last second and then having them say no should not be grounds for not paying them. UFC contracts are shit.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top