How wrong is Kevin Iole in this video?

[RSBonos]

GSP headlines 700k buys PPVs. He should be making a minimum of $5 million and that's already taking into account the brand influenced of the UFC. Even without the brand GSP could sell PPVs by himself. He is one of the few who could shake things up if he wanted. Though I don't see him trying and the majority of indoctrinated Dana White acolytes would turn on him quick.

[The Evil 1-2]

your not telling me one single piece of new information ... ufc 94 which i referenced gsp's purse was actually only 200k he got a 200K win bonus. that same nite in boxing he prob woulda gotten upwards of 5million maybe more. theyre not getting paid what they could be if it wasnt for the monopoly. and zuffa is going to pay them as little as possible for as long as they can. eventually it will change but who nows how long that will be. the ufc is smart enuf to buy up all the comp.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the top MMA stars are getting anywhere remotely close to the top boxing stars. Boxing's advantage, in terms of pay, is that it has been around for a long time. MMA has only blown up within the last 6-7 years. As you stated, "eventually it will change, but who knows how long it will be."

Now as for the "middle class" that Iole is referring to, this article may lend some credence to that. http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2011/3/15...boxing-and-mma

As you can see, in these comparisons, there is more of a decrease in pay from the top to the bottom on a Boxing card than the top to the bottom on a UFC card. Now these are just a few comparisons. An annual chart from some third party would really help to answer our questions.

[RSBonos]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the top MMA stars are getting anywhere remotely close to the top boxing stars. Boxing's advantage, in terms of pay, is that it has been around for a long time. MMA has only blown up within the last 6-7 years. As you stated, "eventually it will change, but who knows how long it will be."

Now as for the "middle class" that Iole is referring to, this article may lend some credence to that. http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2011/3/15...boxing-and-mma

As you can see, in these comparisons, there is more of a decrease in pay from the top to the bottom on a Boxing card than the top to the bottom on a UFC card. Now these are just a few comparisons. An annual chart from some third party would really help to answer our questions.

Guys like Miguel Vazquez getting $150,000 (from the article^) disprove Iole. Boxing is a much bigger sport and spread to many more areas then MMA. Good luck getting a decent payout in MMA if you aren't under a ZUFFA promotion, and those guys get shafted as it is.

[The Evil 1-2]

Guys like Miguel Vazquez getting $150,000 (from the article^) disprove Iole. Boxing is a much bigger sport and spread to many more areas then MMA. Good luck getting a decent payout in MMA if you aren't under a ZUFFA promotion, and those guys get shafted as it is.

As you stated, it will eventually change. Keep in mind that the recent popularity of MMA is relatively young. Boxing has enjoyed many years of building a solid fan base.

Now as for the Cotto/Mayorga vs. UFC 126 comparison, let's look at the first 3 fights.

Cotto/Mayorga:
Eric Molina ($8,000) TKO-6 Joseph Rabotte ($4,000)
Jesus Rojas ($3,000) UD-6 Isaac Hidalgo ($3,000)
Tommy Zbikowski ($50,000) TKO-1 Richard Bryant ($1,500)

UFC 126:
Paul Taylor: $36,000 ($18,000 win bonus) def. Gabe Ruediger: $8,000
Kyle Kingsbury: $20,000 ($10,000 win bonus) def. Ricardo Romero: $10,000
Mike Pierce: $28,000 ($14,000 win bonus) def. Kenny Robertson: $6,000

As you can see, there are discrepancies in pay in terms of proportionality. Iole isn't arguing that the top MMA fighters make as much as the top Boxers. He's making the argument that there is more proportionality in terms of pay in the UFC. You may rebut this by saying that UFC 126 was a Zuffa event and Zuffa is the top dog. However, the Cotto and Mayorga event was a Top Rank/Don King Productions event, which begs the question, why do is there such a drop-off in pay if these two promotional companies are some of the best in boxing?