It's not only boxers who get ripped off--check out UFC salaries

i dont think its more dangerous beucause boxers hands are at another level

According to Dave Meltzer, no one in professional wrestling this year will make more money than Tito. Ortiz is making more than the top, top WWF guy. The early number for Shamrock/Ortiz II on PPV was 775,000 buys (that will rise when the final number comes in). That isn't the only PPV this year where Tito got a cut of buys. He also, according to reports, earned $200,000 every 30 seconds for the Shamrock fight on free TV. It worked out that way anyway. Plus, Ortiz/Liddel will probably do the biggest buy rate in UFC history, and it takes place in December. Tito is making massive money this year. No one in MMA or professional wrestling, according to Meltzer, is making more than Tito will this year.

that is life. now you know life could be a bitch sometimes but this is how it is. that is why Roy Jones and many other boxers are opening up there own promotional companies because they what to be the top. now only Gary Shaw does this but i bet nearly most of the promoter do it. they put the life expan for the fighter anf make a contract for him, hypen him up and give at the beging bum to KO and then give him a title shot. another thing why baldomir only won the WBC belt from Zab and the others were taken away? because i guess he didnt want to pay 100K he is already happy for what he got.

I don't really care for UFC, but i have to say that this is the reason why Gary Shaw is now taking part in UFC and getting a stable of fighters to promote and manage. So Shaw can make more profite and screw over the UFC fighters. In an article i read Shaw actually said, "boxers ask for too much money" what he really mean "i don't make enough profite" even though i ain't taking in the punchs or the difficult training that boxers go through".QUOTE] You serious? If true, FUCKING SON OF A BITCH NEEDS TO BE KNOCKED THE FUCK OUT...FIGHTERS ARE GETTING SCREWED, THEY ALWAYS HAVE BEEN...FIGHTERS BACK IN THE DAY, LIKE MARCIANO, HAD 50% TAKING OUT OF THEIR PURSE FROM PROMOTERS/MANAGERS, AND THAT ISN'T EVEN INCLUDING WHAT UNCLE SAM TOOK OUT, which isn't so bad as long as the money is going to good use. I remember reading an article way back about Fighters in the 20's and how they could get screwed out of their entire purse, or maybe get a few bucks when it was all said and done. Look at my Name, ABE ATTELL, he was a knockout artist early on, but found out that it is better to make bets on yourself because that is how you are going to make money, not through the Promoters...he would actually hold guys up, wait till the round he bet on, say the 8th, then knock the guy out.

The UFC main eventers are getting decent money. According to reports for the smaller shows the the main eventers get $1 each from every PPV buy as well as their guarantee. For the larger shows the main eventers get $2.50 each from every PPV buy as well as their guarantee. Those figures were reported by Dave Meltzer who writes the "Wrestling Observer" and who is a very respected source in both the pro-wrestling and MMA worlds. Also, there's tons of money from sponsorships. According to some reports last year Josh Koscheck, who's not a top guy, was making $5,000 a week from sponsorships alone. The lower card guys are getting poorly paid. Pride and other MMA promotion pay the mid card guys much better, but no one in MMA is going make more than Tito Ortiz, with his cut of the PPVs he's headlined , this year.

Give me 10% of gross merchandise sales and we'll talk ... 5k is bs

its all business. most of the top fighter in ufc get money from their advertising deals

INSIDE THE NUMBERS FOR UFC SALARIES The popularity of mixed martial arts in the United States continues to grow at a rapid pace, and for much of 2005 many people (including myself) have been waiting to see the hugely increased revenue and popularity of the sport pay off for the fighters in the form of increased salaries. The year is just about over, and we're still waiting. So, prior to offering a full breakdown of all the recent UFC salaries, the general trend in UFC salaries needs to be addressed. In early 2005, The Ultimate Fighter television show was first airing on Spike TV, and the UFC's mainstream recognition went through the roof compared to 2004, when you could only see first-run material on pay-per-view. When the salaries of UFC fighters did not increase in early 2005, I brought this to your attention but naturally felt that the pay scale wasn't going to increase overnight and that it would take a little while for the higher revenue to be reflected in higher salaries. Over the summer of 2005, this concern grew as more shows took place. As a general trend, the salaries were still not increasing, even with the extremely lucrative contract that Zuffa scored for The Ultimate Fighter 2. I expressed concern about this and proposed a new minimum salary for UFC fighters (an amount that would still be fairly low: $5,000 to fight and an additional $5,000 to win). However, the possibility still existed that Zuffa was just being a little bit slow in the process of making its fighters' salaries more proportionate to the company's own huge increases in revenue. Now, with the UFC having run its last event of 2005, the fighters' salaries have still not increased, and on the whole they appear to have actually decreased slightly. MMAWeekly has been bringing you the full scoop on fighter salaries for several years, and throughout that time, most everyone associated with the sport has agreed that MMA fighters deserve to be paid a lot more than they actually get paid. However, in the period of 2001 through 2004, Zuffa could legitimately say that it was losing money on most UFC events, and it honestly couldn't afford to pay the fighters more. In 2005, that simply isn't the case anymore. The UFC is now a mainstream fixture on cable television. It draws higher advertising rates per-viewer than WWE programming. Zuffa had drawn a million-dollar live gate less than ten times from 2001 to 2004, and it now draws a million-dollar live gate for every PPV event even if there is no marquee main event. Pay-per-view buyrates and revenue are up, as is sponsorship revenue. Zuffa gets paid a "rights fee" from Spike TV for every single episode that is produced of UFC Unleashed, The Ultimate Fighter, or a live fight special. On top of that, the Wrestling Observer has reported that Zuffa gets approximately half of the advertising revenue that is derived from The Ultimate Fighter, which would easily be a seven-figure dollar amount on its own. All of this additional revenue that simply didn't exist in late 2004 is now in abundance in 2005, and yet the UFC just put on a live TV special in October with the lowest Total Fighter Payroll of any UFC event since Zuffa bought the UFC. Just a couple of weeks ago, the UFC 56 pay-per-view had the lowest Total Fighter Payroll of any UFC PPV that Zuffa has ever held in the state of Nevada. The top-level fighters are making practically the same amount of money per fight that they were making before the Zuffa revenue boom of 2005, and in some cases they are making literally the same exact amount. One example is Matt Hughes, who got paid the same exact amount by Zuffa in late 2005 that he got paid in 2004, 2003, and 2002. The entry-level fighters who used to be making peanuts are still making peanuts, and as I wrote earlier this year, Zuffa should be embarrassed to be paying any fighter $2,000 to fight and $2,000 to win, given how mainstream and lucrative the sport now is compared to where it was. Many fighters make a lot more money from sponsorships than they used to, but then again, so does Zuffa, which is just one of the half-dozen aforementioned reasons that they can afford to pay fighters a lot more. The time is over for fans, fighters, and managers to merely wait and hope that Zuffa does the right thing at some point, because Zuffa has now had a whole year to ratchet up the pay scale and they have failed to do so. When I get e-mails following the publication of one of these salary articles with readers saying that they can't believe how little UFC fighters actually make, I used to be able to tell those people, "Well, Zuffa isn't making a lot of money, so you can't realistically expect to see UFC fighters make what they deserve until the UFC starts to make a lot of money." What is there for anyone to say now in response to such e-mails? "Actually, Zuffa is making a ton of money now, but they would apparently rather keep that money to themselves rather than sharing a larger percentage of it with the fighters who put their bodies on the line in the cage"? I don't want to hear that this is some kind of anti-UFC bias or that I'm not "supporting the sport." Facts are facts: Zuffa's revenue has drastically increased over the past year, while the average fighter salaries have not. There is no pro-UFC bias or anti-UFC bias in the world that is going to change that basic truth. As for "supporting the sport," don't you think the first thing that a true fan of MMA should want is for the fighters to be compensated fairly for their services? Would it be better to smile and pretend that Zuffa's revenues are the same now that they were in late 2004, or to draw attention to the fact that revenues are up drastically while fighter salaries remain largely unchanged? How "supportive" of the sport is it to watch a UFC event knowing that at least half of the fighters who compete in the UFC have to hold down non-fighting jobs to make ends meet, when that doesn't necessarily have to be the case for many of those fighters? None of us can precisely determine that "X fighter deserves to be paid X amount per fight" and then do the same thing for the entire UFC roster. However, all it takes is common sense and the slightest bit of business knowledge to come to the conclusion that with Zuffa's revenues at an all-time high, the average salaries of UFC fighters should not be staying the same as they were before the revenue boom, and they sure as hell shouldn't be decreasing. What follows is a complete salary breakdown for three recent UFC events, followed by my commentary and analysis on each event's salaries. "UFC Ultimate Fight Night 2" Fighter Salaries Event took place on October 3, 2005 -Evan Tanner: $20,000 ($20,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $22,000) -David Loiseau: $10,000 ($5,000 for fighting; $5,000 win bonus) -Chris Leben: $10,000 ($5,000 for fighting; $5,000 win bonus) -Drew Fickett: $8,000 ($4,000 for fighting; $4,000 win bonus) -Brandon Vera: $6,000 ($3,000 for fighting; $3,000 win bonus) -Josh Koscheck: $5,000 ($5,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $5,000) -Spencer Fisher: $4,000 ($2,000 for fighting; $2,000 win bonus) -Jonathan Goulet: $4,000 ($2,000 for fighting; $2,000 win bonus) -Jon Fitch: $4,000 ($2,000 for fighting; $2,000 win bonus) -Fabiano Scherner: $3,000 ($3,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $3,000) -Edwin Dewees: $2,000 ($2,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $2,000) -Thiago Alves: $2,000 ($2,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $2,000) -Jay Hieron: $2,000 ($2,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $2,000) -Brock Larson: $2,000 ($2,000 for fighting; win bonus would have been $2,000) Total Fighter Payroll: $82,000 (average of $5,857 per fighter) Commentary and Analysis: -This event had the lowest Total Fighter Payroll of any event in the history of the UFC since it was purchased by Zuffa. There were no huge names on this card, but this only draws more attention to the fact that the bottom rung of UFC fighters is making an embarrassing amount of money. I have written before that the minimum salary for any UFC fighter in any given fight should be at least $5,000 to fight and an additional $5,000 to win. Certainly, it would not put Zuffa out of business (or even put them in the red) to have a minimum salary of $10,000 to fight and an additional $10,000 to win, but it would be a huge step in the right direction even if half that amount were to be implemented. In the past, one could honestly say that the fighters making less than the "$5,000/$5,000" figure were fairly rare in the big picture of the UFC pay scale, but that can no longer be said. With the UFC running more shows and bringing in more fighters than ever before, there are all too many fighters who are fighting for peanuts. Looking at this event specifically, only four of the fourteen fighters met the $5,000/$5,000 standard, and only one fighter surpassed that amount. It should be even more embarrassing for Zuffa that with the UFC's mainstream media credibility at an all-time high and with the company's revenues increasing dramatically, they I don't really care for UFC, but i have to say that this is the reason why Gary Shaw is now taking part in UFC and getting a stable of fighters to promote and manage. So Shaw can make more profite and screw over the UFC fighters. In an article i read Shaw actually said, "boxers ask for too much money" what he really mean "i don't make enough profite" even though i ain't taking in the punchs or the difficult training that boxers go through".

any one got updated #

these guys r getting riped off

That was a great article on the UFC salary politics. I disn't see Tito ortiz or Chuck Liddel on the list. Any idea how much they are pulling in a fight? Any thoughts regarding the May event on the UFC? Royce Gracie vs. Matt Huges. Should be an interesting match up.

In terms of being destructive to your body, nothing is worse than pro wrestling (WWE). Ken Shamrock has done mma, toughman, WWE, etc. He said that by far pro wrestling is the worst for your body. Another thing about pro wrestling is this: in boxing or mma if YOU screw up, YOU can get KO'd or tapped, etc. In pro wrestling if your 'OPPONENT' screws up, YOU could easily be the one injured.

do some fighter take it as there part time job, or is it a full time? Fakes like WWE get paid $50K for a normal wrestler that is less likely to get injured There are lots of injuries in Pro Wrestling. It's a fact. Unlike boxers, wrestlers have to perform 4 or 5 nights a week and suffer concussions, broken joints, lacerations, and much more. It's not as easy as it seems.

wow! i'm shocked :eek: the pay they get is merely peanuts, that's not compensation to the sort of violence they get themselves in.

do some fighter take it as there part time job, or is it a full time? Fakes like WWE get paid $50K for a normal wrestler that is less likely to get injured

boxing is alot more dangerous dat ufc for long term damage, u make the decision for uself. 12 rounds of punches to ur head and body or 3 rounds of punchs,kicks,grappling to legs,body and head

That is shit money for the kind of danger they are putting themselves in. To be fair, it is more dangerous than boxing, because so much more can go wrong, and they get paid less! The top guys probably don't get paid as much as the top boxers do. Then again, boxing has real history behind it, and more of a following, even though that's fading. It's also less violent, so it's more likely to draw viewers. I hate MMA because of the roughness of it. Boxing... there's real art to it, finesse, if you will. It's amazing to watch. The top guys don't get paid as much as the top boxers? Thats very true, this is exaggerating but maybe not. Oscar could fight three fights in a year, and still make twice as much as every UFC fighter made that year COMBINED.....just chew on that tell me how it tastes. :)

One thing you forgot to mention was the cutting out of the 'shouts out to sponsors'. Fighters in their post fight interviews used to give 'shouts out' to sponsors who paid them good money to do this. This is no longer allowed. Anyone who knows anything aboout sports knows that some athletes (Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods) actually make more off sponsors than they do playing their sport. UFC guys are some of the lowest paid in the sports world. I think cutting off the 'shout out' money really hurts these guys alot.

That is shit money for the kind of danger they are putting themselves in. To be fair, it is more dangerous than boxing, because so much more can go wrong, and they get paid less! The top guys probably don't get paid as much as the top boxers do. Then again, boxing has real history behind it, and more of a following, even though that's fading. It's also less violent, so it's more likely to draw viewers. I hate MMA because of the roughness of it. Boxing... there's real art to it, finesse, if you will. It's amazing to watch. I know what you're saying regarding MMA. The thing I don't like about MMA is that they have a large number of untalented fighters. You know, the guys who hump each other for the entire fight, or sit on other guys' face for the entire fight without much action. Pride is much more fun to watch than UFC because if their is too little action they restart the fight in the center so you get less man-humping. That being said, there are a small number of very talented MMA fighters: Fedor Emelianenko (surprisingly fast for a fat guy), Sakuraba (in his prime), Vanderlei Silva (not really super talented but very aggressive), Rampage Jackson (in his prime a real action fighter), Shogun, Takanori Gomi, BJ Penn, and a few others. Pride Fighting Championship is much better than UFC in terms of talent pool and scale (they get like 70,000 people in the stadium for big events). Also, Pride pays the fighters MUCH better than UFC.

It is a six figure contract over 3 years (9 fights total). They start off getting paid low and slowly increase as long as they keep winning. The 6 figure doesn't amount to much though. I think it's something like around $300,000 for 9 fights? That is shit money for the kind of danger they are putting themselves in. To be fair, it is more dangerous than boxing, because so much more can go wrong, and they get paid less! The top guys probably don't get paid as much as the top boxers do. Then again, boxing has real history behind it, and more of a following, even though that's fading. It's also less violent, so it's more likely to draw viewers. I hate MMA because of the roughness of it. Boxing... there's real art to it, finesse, if you will. It's amazing to watch.