Money Doing Evil Things To UFC

By E. Spencer Kyte
Love of Sports Correspondent

A lot of news has been coming out of the UFC this week with Jon Fitch’s one day firing from the organization and contractual negotiations over video game likeness rights being the center of attention.

The reported basics are this:

The UFC has a game coming out in May ’09 and presented Fitch, among others, with a contract asking them to sign away lifetime rights to their likeness to Zuffa, parent company of the UFC.

Fitch said no. Dana White hates the American Kickboxing Academy team Fitch trains with and basically said “see ya” to the guy who most recently went five rounds with GSP for the welterweight title.

One day later, after a conversation with UFC and Zuffa owner Lorenzo Fertitta, Fitch is back.

While the issue that set all this off is Zuffa’s ridiculous desire to have lifetime likeness rights on their fighter’s video game images, the bigger issue getting talked about is money in general.

Many people feel the UFC underpays their fighters and something needs to be done about it.

While I agree the bulk of the business cashes too small a paycheck for taking the beatings they do, the cold hard truth is that nothing’s going to change anytime soon.

As much as there are things I dislike about Dana, the way he handles the UFC’s money isn’t one of them.

He’s taken an organization that was on death’s door and made it into the biggest name in the fastest growing sport in the world, and he hasn’t done it by handing out fat stacks of cash to everyone and their mother.

Calling White and Zuffa shrewd would be an understatement; they’re cheap bastards when you consider that some of the guys who lost on last weekend’s UFC 91 card earned a meager $4,000 for their efforts while the company raked in millions. But that’s the business.

If you want more money, there are two options: be a better fighter or go try to get it somewhere else, because the UFC and MMA in general will never have a fighter’s union arguing for equal pay and profit sharing, so it’s take it or leave it.

And really, if you’re a fighter, where else are you going to go?

EliteXC gave Kimbo Slice big bucks to get knocked out in 14 seconds by a nobody, then folded like a tent shortly thereafter.

Affliction has some big names, but they’ve already cancelled Day of Reckoning once and had to team up with Golden Boy to even think about competing with the UFC.

There are options in Japan, but what good does going to Japan do you when the biggest organization in the business operates mainly in North America?

And it’s not like we’re talking about Pride Era Japan, either; organizations like World Victory Road and M-1 Global are much smaller and don’t have the financial power to compete with the big boys. Why do you think Fedor made his way to Affliction?

A fighter’s union would be the only way to change that and, as I said, I don’t see that ever happening.

These guys don’t compete as teams like in the NFL or NBA. There is no collective bargaining agreement. Hell, there isn’t even a group health plan.

Why?

Besides the fact each fighter operates as a sole entity, it’s a business predicated on the idea that the more you win, the more you make. While people will argue that Brock Lesnar makes huge bank despite limited experience, the other part of the financial equation explains Lesnar’s hefty price tag. Sometimes, it’s not about whether you win or lose, but how many butts you put in seats, and the new heavyweight champion does a great job in that department.

While it’s true that all the fighters in the UFC who feel they’re getting underpaid could revolt and demand more money, not only would they be breaching their contracts – contracts which they agreed to I might add – but they could be replaced.

And that’s why the UFC – embodied for better or worse by Dana White – has most of these guys by the short hairs. If a guy like Josh Koscheck steps up and says “I want more money,” the UFC can find three guys to replace him with and probably at less money.

The guys making the top dollars aren’t going to stump for the younger guys to get more money, because they didn’t get it while they were coming up, building the brand and the sport into what it is today, and they sure aren’t going to give up some of the money they’re earning now to balance the scales either.

Seriously, you think Chuck Liddell’s going to hand over a couple hundred grand to be spread amongst the guys fighting on the undercard?

Through all of this, here’s the thing that gets me the most: the fighters know that everything stated above is the case and while most would love more money, they play the hand they’ve been dealt and work towards getting those bigger paychecks through improved performance.

The people kicking up the most stink about the pay inequality? The same people who spend $55 a pop on Pay-Per-View or up to 10 times as much watching the event from the front row, that’s who.

Don’t like it? Stop watching, because for the foreseeable future, nothing’s going to change.

(You can read more of Kyte’s work at http://spencerkyte.blogspot.com.)