Reebok payout tiers is pretty pathetic lol (yeah yeah we know this)

[scoobietoobie]

What I find funniest is that a couple of guys were sponsored by Nike. NIKE! The absolute pinnacle of all of sports known clothing. "Hey guys, I know that when you had Nike you were happy, so we are gonna sponsor you with REEBOK! Yeah guys. How do you like that???"

noticed this when i watched jones v gus on youtube...jon jones was sponsored by both NIKE and GATORADE. can't imagine the damage the reebok deal did to his pay

 

[Credo]

But all the money goes to the fighters.

 

[mmahorse]

Average NFL salary is $2.1 million
Average NBA salary is $6.2 million
Average Premier League(football) is 3.3 million
Top 30 guy Tennis ATP 2018 earnings is (1.1 Million + sponsorship)

Top 30 guy in UFC lightweight is Bobby Green
He been fighting for 10 years thats 29200 a year.

Meanwhile !!!

 

[PrepareForGlory]

ONE FC alone is potentially watched by 1.8 billion people and has 520 billion social media impressions. UFC clearly does not have a monopoly.

One FC is bleeding money. 1.8 billion people sounds great but the majority are SE Asians who on average make less than 5k a year. They don't have disposable income. You can get floor seats to OneFC events for like 50 bucks.

UFC has a monopoly.

 

[Tchernobog]

Who is that guy at the back left?

Dong Hyun Kim

 

[tithas]

Not quite following. You're telling me the fighters (the ones with some name recognition) in Bellator or One FC aren't getting paid by the sponsors that are on their shorts?

No I am stating that there are no restrictions on a UFC fighter having sponsors and shilling for their sponsors on every day of the year except fight week. Numerous UFC fighters have a ton of sponsors still and do work for them on social media and In real life. Foighters have to work now instead of giving them a sticker and a shoutout. I am also stating that because the UFC owns the content and has partnerships with sponsors the fighters have no legal entitlement to receive monetary compensation for anything within that copyrighted broadcast except what is within their contracts. The fact that the UFC allowed it for years was a favor, not a right. In the media world there is no such thing as free advertisement, even the old 50k sponsor fee was peanuts compared to what media advertising cost.

 

[tithas]

The Reebok "deal" is a scam to fuck fighters out of making some money on the side from their sponsors.

My thing is, the UFC makes millions upon millions, why can't the fighters make some money on the side?

Because the UFC is full of shit.

The fighters still can and the ones who have personalities and marketability still do. Cowboy has more sponsors than you can shake a stick at. Eddie was sponsored by clothing companies that were a direct competitor to Reebok.

 

[tithas]

This is absolute horse shit, period.

Combat sport athletes have been able to have sponsors for a long time and this is true across various combat sports across the world.

Comparing combat sports to anything other than combat sports is 100% meaningless.

This is entertainment and in entertainment there is no such thing as free advertising. There never should have been because it created false narratives and false demands form fighters that they had zero entitlement to as they do not own the content or the broadcast rights.

 

[tithas]

Average NFL salary is $2.1 million
Average NBA salary is $6.2 million
Average Premier League(football) is 3.3 million
Top 30 guy Tennis ATP 2018 earnings is (1.1 Million + sponsorship)

Top 30 guy in UFC lightweight is Bobby Green
He been fighting for 10 years thats 29200 a year.

Meanwhile !!!

That is every single for profit business in the world. A McDonalds worker makes 10/hour the CEO makes Millions. It is how for profit business (which the UFC IS) works. This is not a non profit association like the NFL, NBA, MLB etc.

 

[TidWell]

Fighters with
1-3 bouts receive $3,500 per appearance
4-5 bouts get $4,000;
6-10 bouts get $5,000;
11-15 bouts earn $10,000;
16-20 bouts pocket $15,000;
and 21 bouts and more get $20,000.

How many fighters do you know even reach 21 fights in the UFC? It would take anywhere from 8-10 years to get that many fights if you’re lucky to not get injured or cut. Most MMA fighters careers don’t even last 10 years.

And what’s even stupider is that the Reebok deal is only set for 6 years since its inception.

On top of all this, them shits are ugly AF.

The Reebok deal only benefits the owners not the fighters, before UFC got with reebok a lot of fighters were able to make six figures a year off sponsorships

I think it was Josh Koschexk who was making over 200 thousand a year off local sponsors and bidders wanting to bid for placement on his banner.

 

[jeff7b9]

This is entertainment and in entertainment there is no such thing as free advertising. There never should have been because it created false narratives and false demands form fighters that they had zero entitlement to as they do not own the content or the broadcast rights.

It is Combat Sports, and fighters are independent contractors.

There is no predetermined set of rules regarding advertising, it is determined by the contract between the fighters and the org.

The UFC decided to sign a contract which fucked over their fighters without consulting the fighters. While they may have the right to do so since it is their company they are still greedy unethical pieces of shit for doing so, especially considering that they made a choice that negatively impacted fighters and sponsorship companies and fans without consulting any of those parties and then tried to masquerade it as a good thing.

It was legal but absolutely unethical which is why they have received massive backlash and people are still pissed about it several years later.

 

[rjmbrd]

It is simultaneously true that 1) entry level overall compensation in the UFC looks good compared to regional MMA, and 2) the UFC should be paying a higher overall % of gross profit towards fighter pay.

When you see guys headlining Fight Night cards (and ESPN+ to come) for peanuts, and we know in black and white what the UFC gets for each show, its pretty upsetting.

Mid-career fighters probably have it worst, considering the guys moving up from the regional scene are still relatively green (most of the time) and getting a step up. I'd change that if I were in charge, but I'm just a jabroni on the internet and WME raised 4 billion to buy the UFC and they'll do as they like.

To get any type of fighter advocacy they need an association. Until that happens, we're going to see really bad participation in the upper weights (the UFC is clearly failing to attract enough new, high quality athletes at 205/265) and lower weight fighters who still work day jobs.

We'd get better prepared fighters, higher quality fights, better participation from high caliber athletes and an overall better product with even a marginal increase in fighter pay.

 

[BigBadKraken]

noticed this when i watched jones v gus on youtube...jon jones was sponsored by both NIKE and GATORADE. can't imagine the damage the reebok deal did to his pay

I THINK Anderson may have been the other?

Although in hindsight, I don't recall if Jones lost his Nike because of his coke diet.
Either way. What a downhill change.

 

[KeepItRealist]

The worst thing is that fighters are not even getting all the money they are supposed to from this shitty deal. And no one in the MMA media will touch the story. They aren't even keeping tally of the total Reebok payout towards the supposed $12 million a year the fighters are supposed to be getting.

 

[DizzyYeahYeah]

are you dense?

people signed with the UFC and had the rules changed a year into their contract. or do you believe the UFC nullified all contracts when they introduced the 50k sponsorship fee, and later again when they brought in reebok?

why anyone would defend the fucking league in a situation as absurd as this is beyond me. are NFL players making 70k a year? NBA? NHL? the UFC was sold for an unprecedented amount of money for a sporting entity, and fighter pay is a joke. yet fans of the sport side with the goofopotamus on this. jesus fucking christ.

What's a decent living?

 

[empsim]

$3500 is more then I’ve ever made from sponsors for a fight

everyone outside of the ufc easily makes 250k+ per fight just from sponsors, they must have ripped you off

 

[Super Shotgun]

I wonder how much they're actually making from fight kit sales, I've never seen a reebok full kit wanker compared to full kit wankers in football.

 

[randomg1t]

What's a decent living?

lol at you making this some philosophical question. let me guess, you're going to tell me it's impossible to objectively determine what a decent living constitutes of, therefore fighter pay cannot and should not be improved. right?

how about being able to afford a place to live, taking care of your family, being able to retire when your career is over? for an elite athlete competing in the premiere league of their sport, we don't really have to look that far. what's the minimum yearly wage in NBA, NHL, NFL? you can take the average, i'm fine with it.

anything else, chief?

 

[Trojanlegal]

everyone outside of the ufc easily makes 250k+ per fight just from sponsors, they must have ripped you off

I like how you ignore the comment from an actual fighter regarding sponsorship pay because it doesn’t fit the narrative. Fact is for most UFC fighters the Reebok deal makes more guaranteed, no hassle sponsor money that before. Plus it doesn’t stop from retaining sponsors for the rest of the year.

 

[randomg1t]

I like how you ignore the comment from an actual fighter regarding sponsorship pay because it doesn’t fit the narrative. Fact is for most UFC fighters the Reebok deal makes more guaranteed, no hassle sponsor money that before. Plus it doesn’t stop from retaining sponsors for the rest of the year.

you're telling me fighters can't make more than $3500 per fight for wearing sponsored clothing? are you kidding?

if this deal is so great for them, why is it mandatory? you could have fighters choose to be sponsored by reebok on these terms, or find their own sponsors. shit, if the company was doing this because fighters were being ripped off, you could implement rules that state any and all sponsors must be registered 30 days before the event, and the sponsor pay transferred to the UFC. if the money isn't there a month before the event, the athlete doesn't wear the sponsored attire. if the athlete pulls out of the contest for whatever reason, the sponsor is returned their money. it's not rocket science.

the only reason the reebok deal is in place and is mandatory for all fighters is because the UFC is keeping the vast majority of the money reebok is paying. they realized there was significant money going to athletes through sponsorship deals and decided it should be going to them instead.