Curly Howard
04-08-2004, 09:55 PM
At first I was pissed too. I mean a guy finally gets a title shot and when he becomes champ he splits to Japan.
You got to look at it from the fighter's view point. In any combat sport with the exception of a few gifted guys, you only have a few years in your prime and on the average five to ten years total in your career. After this you usually take some time off then go in to something else like training other guys or open a restaurant or whatever. Then money starts to get a little tight so you go back to the promoter and ask for work. You think a top promotion is going to sign you to a match at 40 or 50? (Again there are a few exceptions).
You have to make money when you can and how you can.
MMA in Japan has been compared to baseball here in America as far as popularity. Do you really think that a Japanese baseball player is going to stay in Japan and play for $20K a year when he can come here and make millions just because that club was the one who gave him his big break?
How many of you still work at the same job you got out of college just because they hired you first?
MMA Weekly did an interesting bit on the salary differences between promotions
http://www.mmaweekly.com/this_week/news/4_wednesday.html
Alex Steibling in America--- $1,000 to fight and $1,000 more to win in the WEC
Alex Steibling in Japan--- $15,000 to fight and $15,000 more to win in Pride
Dan Henderson in America--- $20,000 to fight and $20,000 more to win in the UFC; this was at UFC 17 when the UFC was owned by SEG; this salary is probably still the most Henderson could expect to make in the UFC today as a middleweight
Dan Henderson in Japan--- $65,000 to fight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at Pride 24 in December 2002
Din Thomas in America--- $12,000 to fight and $12,000 more to win in the UFC (this was the high point of his UFC contract)
Din Thomas in Japan--- $25,000 to fight on the Antonio Inoki New Year's Eve show; win bonus would have been an additional $15,000
Jens Pulver in America--- $11,000 to fight and $11,000 more to win in the UFC (this was the high point of his UFC contract, even when he was the UFC Lightweight Champion)
Jens Pulver in Japan--- $50,000 to fight in Shooto
Jeremy Horn in America--- $6,000 to fight and $6,000 more to win in the UFC
Jeremy Horn in Japan--- $50,000 to fight (was paid this salary by two different organizations in Japan)
Matt Lindland in America--- $18,000 to fight and $18,000 more to win in the UFC (this is excellent pay for any mixed martial artist in the United States)
Matt Lindland in Japan--- Pride executives offered him $50,000 to fight Kazushi Sakuraba last December before abruptly changing their plans
Rich Clementi in America--- $2,000 to fight and $2,000 more to win in the UFC (this is what almost all UFC rookies make mmaweekly)
Rich Clementi in Japan--- $15,000 to fight in the ZST lightweight tournament; win bonus for winning the tournament would have been an additional $50,000 mmaweekly
Rich Franklin in America--- $5,000 to fight and $5,000 more to win in the UFC
Rich Franklin in Japan--- $25,000 to fight on the Antonio Inoki New Year's Eve show
*information from www.mmaweekly.com
What about honor and pride? It should be about the sport and not about money.
These fighters bust there ass training. Most work 9-5 jobs or abuse their bodies fighting every month just to make ends meet. They sacrifice their personal lives just to get a shot at the big show. After all of that can you really blame a guy for taking a big pay day?
We all know that the promoters in North America don't have that kind of money.
MMA ranks somewhere around bowling and indoor football as far as mainstream popularity in North America.
This is why selling the sport to the public is important. Getting the big name sponsors and TV contracts and selling out the fights in the large venues. This is where us as the "hard core" fans have to help if we want to keep top name fighters in North America.
You got to look at it from the fighter's view point. In any combat sport with the exception of a few gifted guys, you only have a few years in your prime and on the average five to ten years total in your career. After this you usually take some time off then go in to something else like training other guys or open a restaurant or whatever. Then money starts to get a little tight so you go back to the promoter and ask for work. You think a top promotion is going to sign you to a match at 40 or 50? (Again there are a few exceptions).
You have to make money when you can and how you can.
MMA in Japan has been compared to baseball here in America as far as popularity. Do you really think that a Japanese baseball player is going to stay in Japan and play for $20K a year when he can come here and make millions just because that club was the one who gave him his big break?
How many of you still work at the same job you got out of college just because they hired you first?
MMA Weekly did an interesting bit on the salary differences between promotions
http://www.mmaweekly.com/this_week/news/4_wednesday.html
Alex Steibling in America--- $1,000 to fight and $1,000 more to win in the WEC
Alex Steibling in Japan--- $15,000 to fight and $15,000 more to win in Pride
Dan Henderson in America--- $20,000 to fight and $20,000 more to win in the UFC; this was at UFC 17 when the UFC was owned by SEG; this salary is probably still the most Henderson could expect to make in the UFC today as a middleweight
Dan Henderson in Japan--- $65,000 to fight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at Pride 24 in December 2002
Din Thomas in America--- $12,000 to fight and $12,000 more to win in the UFC (this was the high point of his UFC contract)
Din Thomas in Japan--- $25,000 to fight on the Antonio Inoki New Year's Eve show; win bonus would have been an additional $15,000
Jens Pulver in America--- $11,000 to fight and $11,000 more to win in the UFC (this was the high point of his UFC contract, even when he was the UFC Lightweight Champion)
Jens Pulver in Japan--- $50,000 to fight in Shooto
Jeremy Horn in America--- $6,000 to fight and $6,000 more to win in the UFC
Jeremy Horn in Japan--- $50,000 to fight (was paid this salary by two different organizations in Japan)
Matt Lindland in America--- $18,000 to fight and $18,000 more to win in the UFC (this is excellent pay for any mixed martial artist in the United States)
Matt Lindland in Japan--- Pride executives offered him $50,000 to fight Kazushi Sakuraba last December before abruptly changing their plans
Rich Clementi in America--- $2,000 to fight and $2,000 more to win in the UFC (this is what almost all UFC rookies make mmaweekly)
Rich Clementi in Japan--- $15,000 to fight in the ZST lightweight tournament; win bonus for winning the tournament would have been an additional $50,000 mmaweekly
Rich Franklin in America--- $5,000 to fight and $5,000 more to win in the UFC
Rich Franklin in Japan--- $25,000 to fight on the Antonio Inoki New Year's Eve show
*information from www.mmaweekly.com
What about honor and pride? It should be about the sport and not about money.
These fighters bust there ass training. Most work 9-5 jobs or abuse their bodies fighting every month just to make ends meet. They sacrifice their personal lives just to get a shot at the big show. After all of that can you really blame a guy for taking a big pay day?
We all know that the promoters in North America don't have that kind of money.
MMA ranks somewhere around bowling and indoor football as far as mainstream popularity in North America.
This is why selling the sport to the public is important. Getting the big name sponsors and TV contracts and selling out the fights in the large venues. This is where us as the "hard core" fans have to help if we want to keep top name fighters in North America.