It is one of those things that fighters and fans have been complaining about fighter pay forever. We have never seen something like this before. Nobody of his star power could make this kind of cash outside the octagon. So we don't know how others would act once they did? But he did and the UFC allowed it to happen. So he is taking a break or making demands far out of reach for the UFC. If he never fights again in the UFC it will always IMO be the fault of the UFC. He had contract they could have held him to. They did not.. Now they regret it..
Ortiz was always vocal about fighter pay, but his run ins with Dana and maybe the fact that he was a bit of a polarizing fighter/personality probably didn't help. And the UFC did put it out there that he was being too 'greedy' That was a very different time in MMA when he was probably at his best.
I always thought GSP could have set the bar higher in terms of fighter pay. Ortiz made a claim that the fighters made 9% of the money the UFC made from PPV buys. When it comes to money, the UFC and it being discussed out in the open - it always makes Dana/the UFC uncomfortable.
Anyway, back to GSP: he has a similar following with Canadian fans like Conor does with the Irish fans. I was always disappointed he didn't fight Silva and he may well have being up for doing it, but didn't feel he was getting the lion's share of the potential money to be made* It was the same with Silva and Jones not fighting. Silva blabbered on about having too much respect for Jones and them being friends. Jones would say similar, though I remember him being asked about the fight and mentioning how if he fought Silva and lost, it would have being damaging for sponsorship deals (I can only assume he may have got some sort of win bonus from NIKE at the time)
*I think GSP came back in part from looking at Conor and seeing the potential to make more money. The fan base is there. Canadians will travel to watch or buy his PPVs. Conor probably came along at the right time and with his personality and being outspoken about his worth, he probably forced the UFC to up his pay, but not to the amount he felt he deserved.
I'm not sure about the whole co-promotion idea he seems to be keen on - that may be a negotiation thing. I don't think the UFC would want that. Conor has mentioned the Ali Act and possibly looking in to it. But he makes more money fighting under the UFC.
That fighter type union thingy GSP and the other fighters set up;
- GSP got a title shot straight away when he came back.
- Dilashaw the same.
- Velasquez before he got injured.
- Kennedy, nothing really happened there.
- Cerrone was told to pipe down and was reminded by Dana that he paid for his lawyers over some incident that happened.
It seems a bit coincidental that 3 of those fighters got what they wanted and we haven't heard a thing from the group. GSP and other fighters were probably hesitant about outspoken about the money situation when he was fighting at WW. Conor probably kicked the door down and forced the UFC to reevaluate how they deal with their big money earner - which I think GSP would have being watching closely and maybe thinking; 'I was being underpaid'
Conor probably didn't do things smoothly by calling other fighters bums and bragging about how much he loves money. Though in a roundabout way, it does make folk sit up and think fighters are still getting paid almost nothing after taxes, paying sparring partners and other expenses.
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