In a special press conference today, the UFC announced a six-year deal with Reebok that will begin on July 6th, 2015.
The biggest thing that I took away from the press conference was not fighter pay or the loss of sponsorship, but the initial reaction that MMA media members had about the deal.
Here are some reactions from different members of the MMA media, as well, my response to their reactions.
2 questions: 100% of contract $ going to fighters def. sounds good, but a) what does that = & b) what does this do to MMA apparel economy?
— Luke Thomas (@SBNLukeThomas) December 2, 2014
This was by far the most insightful comment I read from a media source. It was not throwing bricks at the UFC before even knowing the details, but was a question that many of us do not know the answer to, but eventually do need to find answers to.
MMA apparel companies like Badboy will obviously take a huge hit in sales because of this deal. This is one of the biggest negatives from this deal with Reebok, but not one that will directly hurt fighters, unless they have a stake in the apparel company (Urijah Faber and Torque).
So the guys at the bottom, the guys who need the money the most, get nothing and have their sponsors taken away. Am I right? — Carlin Bardsley (@CarlinBardsley) December 2, 2014
Well, I wouldn’t say that the guys at the bottom were making a lot off of sponsorship to begin with. No company is paying fighters hundreds of dollars to wear their logo on their fight shorts while fighting on Fight Pass. It will be interesting to see how much these lower fighters get paid, but before we say they get nothing, let’s wait until we get reaction from these fighters, and if they make more from the Reebok deal than they would have other sponsorships.
In 15 minutes we’ve been told fighters get “every penny”, “vast majority” and “20%” of the revenue from this deal. Yeah, I got questions.
— RJ Clifford (@RJcliffordMMA) December 2, 2014
This was the most common thing that I saw repeated by MMA journalists. The fighters will not be making only 20% from this deal, and the UFC will not be making 80%. The vast majority of the money from the initial deal will go to the fighters. Reebok will now sell UFC merchandise in stores and online, and if a fighter has their name and face on it, then the fighter will make 20% of the profits from that item. That does not sound like that bad of a deal, especially for fighters who know how to market and sell their own brand.
Remember when the UFC un-ranked Nate Diaz out of spite? So now, if the UFC doesn’t like you, they can directly fuck with your income. — CagePotato.com (@cagepotatomma) December 2, 2014
Nate Diaz being removed from the rankings would have had no impact on Nate Diaz, since Nate Diaz did not fight, which is why he was removed. A fighter’s rank will determine how much they are paid, and their UFC ranking by the time they weigh-in will affect what they are paid due to this deal.
Nate Diaz has not fought unranked. He is fighting in Decemeber, and has already been put back into the ranking system. If anything, removing Diaz would have benefited the fighters in his division, and would now get paid more, since Diaz was not fighting and taking up a possibly ranking spot.
I have covered MMA for four years. I am looking through the UFC rankings and do not recognize 90% of the journalists. This is a big problem.
— Adam Martin (@MMAdamMartin) December 2, 2014
This is a giant problem. The UFC ranking system is not a joke, but like Adam said, the rankings are filled with people that I have never heard of. Get the professionals and the journalists who have dedicated their life to the sport, as well kick out media that abuse the ranking system.
Fighter Rankings will determine pay??? Fighters get 20% of sales of sales with a fighters name on it. WTF?? Actually, this is so MMA/UFC. — MMA Supremacy (@MMASupremacy) December 2, 2014
How else would we determine the fighter pay? Would you rather the UFC decide who gets paid more, or would you let a semi-neutral outside source, like MMA journalists, to dictate which fighters deserve the most pay due to their performance inside of the octagon.
Also, I haven’t found any huge mistakes in the current UFC rankings. Other than Nate Diaz being ranked 14th due to inactivity, are their any fighters who are ranked way out of place? The fighters will get paid differently for rankings 1-5, 5-10, 10-15 and unranked. I don’t see any huge mistakes in the rankings that would affect the pay of the fighters.
There’s a strong case to be made FAN voting makes more sense in determining reebok payouts than media. Fans’ money makes this go round.
— FrontRowBrian® (@FrontRowBrian) December 2, 2014
For someone who blasted the UFC for the terrible idea, Front Row Brian somehow came up with an even worse idea. Having fans vote on the rankings or who deserved the most pay is a horrible idea. This would make the pay based on popularity, and not actual skill. I trust the media with rankings more than I do fans. If fans had their way, Anderson Silva, Nick Diaz and Conor McGregor would be the #1 ranked contender in their respective divisions.
For all of the media and fans that are jumping on the hate bandwagon, let’s wait and see how the fighters react to the deal. For all we know, this could be the best thing for the fighters in the long run. There is no point in making quick judgements and assume that this deal will ruin fighters financially.
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