stormytiger4 said:Comparing sports is a complicated business. People try to compare the UFC to a single club, but that’s just wrong—it's more like comparing them to an entire major league. Sure, it might look like a gym from the outside, but they have over 500 fighters under their roof and 400 employees on the payroll. They handle everything themselves: the promotion, the rankings, the belts, and even their own regulatory oversight when they travel to parts of the world where there isn't an established MMA commission. A single club doesn't do any of that. On the other hand, a massive league is made up of tons of different clubs that all handle their own operations, so even then, the comparison falls apart. It's just not the same thing.
Look, leagues and clubs organize a massive amount of logistics. You’ve got major brands like Real Madrid, Manchester United, or the Los Angeles Lakers putting in the work, just like the UFC does. But clubs go much further—they manage player training sessions, gear, nutrition, and overall health oversight way more intensely than the UFC ever could. Does the UFC handle full training camps, equipment, and meal plans for their fighters? No. Leagues set up the entire infrastructure required to keep the competition running, doing everything you just listed that the UFC handles. So, how does it make sense for every player to walk away with a 50% split when those two entities—the club and the league working in tandem—do significantly more heavy lifting than the UFC? Something about that math just doesn't add up.
If you compare the UFC to boxing, the difference is night and day. In the UFC, promoters focus almost exclusively on selling fights; they don't handle belt distributions, and there’s zero self-regulation. I remember reading somewhere that most major boxing promotions—with the exception of Showtime, which is tricky because they’re part of a much larger organization—operate with just a handful of people. We're talking about two offices and maybe ten employees running the entire show. That's the whole operation.
Maybe the UFC is carrying way too much dead weight on the payroll. ☕
To wrap this up: I don't think the payout percentage even matters here, and honestly, I’m fully backing Danny on this one. The UFC builds the fighters, but I'm the one pulling all the strings around here. Once these guys finally make it big, they’re going to start screaming, "Where's my money?"
Look, it’s the same story with major leagues and big clubs. They’re constantly scouting, employing massive teams of talent scouts scouring the globe for the next big thing. Honestly, they probably put more effort into that than the UFC ever will—soccer is a much bigger global sport than the UFC will likely ever become.
Look, we’re out here talking about the fastest-growing sport on the planet. MMA only really hit the mainstream in the last fifteen years or so. Before that, most places wouldn't even let them step into a cage. Now, they claim to be breaking records every single year, signing massive deals with every crypto company under the sun—deals that somehow never actually trickle down to the fighters—and PPV prices have absolutely skyrocketed over the last five years. From a business standpoint, it’s never been better. But fighter pay? It hasn't budged in years. When was the last time anyone saw an actual increase in knockout bonuses or performance incentives? It's ridiculous.
Now people want to lecture us about how raising salaries would lead to a situation just like boxing. Let’s look at this logically: the UFC has a monopoly, which makes organizing fights significantly easier. If the pay was actually higher, fighters would be far more motivated. Look at the NBA—players earn millions, yet they still show up and play; they haven't walked away. If you gave Franjo a contract requiring three fights a year with a payout of $10–$15 million, do you honestly think he wouldn't fight? Why are we seeing more and more UFC fighters jumping ship to boxing? Why is the whole Jake Paul phenomenon happening? Why is Kamaru Usman calling out Canelo Alvarez and Franjo Fury? If that kind of money were available in the UFC, they wouldn't be out there embarrassing themselves in a boxing ring. In my opinion, guys like Conor McGregor, Jorge Masvidal, and Nick Diaz would be fighting much more often if they were actually getting paid what they deserve. And let's be real: who in boxing is a bigger star than them? Nobody is bigger than Conor. Beyond him, you've got Canelo, but I can't even think of another name off the top of my head who has moved over a million PPVs. I'm just looking at the numbers.
If we keep seeing patterns similar to what happened with Francis Ngannou—and it looks like it's becoming the norm—we’re heading toward a future where a Heavyweight champion might only fight twice in two years. That means fans are going to miss out on massive events. They already missed out on Jon Jones because of the money issues; regardless of how people feel about him, he’s easily one of the top three PPV stars in the history of this organization. Fans put up with all his nonsense while he was fighting, but once the big money was on the line, everyone bailed. It’s the exact same story with GSP, who suddenly parted ways with the company the moment the paycheck didn't look right.
To be honest, I have no clue how things actually work in boxing. 🤣
And all this talk you're making about blackmail and mafia-style tactics? It's a joke. That's amateur hour, like something you'd see in some small-town local league. The UFC can, and absolutely must, do better, otherwise they'll end up just like boxing for entirely different reasons.
