UFC Merchandising Agreement - Fighters Get Scammed

[cerfani]

Originally Posted by branvan16

if it was that bad, fighters would have stood against it a long time ago. we as fans have nothing to worry about. its the fighters. they sign their contracts knowing full well all of their obligations. i dont seee why people are so bothered by this crap? the fighters will fix it and adjust it when it bothers them. until then just shut the fuck up. let them deal with it. it is no concern to us fans.

fuckin canadians (except GSP, well... ok GSP too)

[BigCharlie_GNP]

Armature businessman hour on sherdog. hilarious. Dont you losers have pizzas to deliver?

.

[Macedawgg]

Totally random, but it just came to my attention that Zuffa is actively lobbying against the Ali Act's application to mixed martial arts.

Hmmmm.

[cerfani]

Is UFC gonna make money off Sylvia still, if so that sucks for Tim, I would probably say fuck it, walk into Lorenzo's office, demand i be released and if he said no, i would break every joint in his body, then i would smash his face, then call a lawyer

[cerfani]

Originally Posted by BigCharlie_GNP

Armature businessman hour on sherdog. hilarious. Dont you losers have pizzas to deliver?

.

please share your thoughts smarty pants or do you have some masturbating to do

[imabel2]

OK, before you criticize, yelling noob etc., I will say yes, to posting I am, but not to training, judging, promotion and most of all business. 10% of gross! That is one HELL of a deal. Break down overhead, marketing cost, promotion, RISK and other variable cost and the fighters are actually making out like bandits! If Zuffa spends $100,000 promoting an item and they sell $200,000 in merchandise, the fighter gets $20,000 (for those of you in Loma Linda that is 20% of the profit) with no risk! What if Zuffa spends $100,000 and only sells $50,000? Well the fighter gets $5,000 and Zuffa LOSES $55,000! Talk about being screwed! Maybe if the fighter would agree to “share the loss” if a promotion or item fails they should get more, but who would?

For a fighter to make money he needs to be good, yes that is a given, but more importantly they must be MARKETABLE. Can the average fighter afford to pay the upfront cost to support themselves? No way. The UFC does not sell fights or merchandise on the likes of Eddie Sanchez (good fighter but no marketing power). Even Gumby, who is one of the best fighters out there (overall, heart, class etc.) he will not sell out an arena. Without the “marketing machine” called the UFC, these fighters would still be fighting in Rage in the Cage for $1,000 a fight! Would you be willing to lose $40,000,000 (wait no fighter or gym rat has $1,000 let alone that much) just to get a business venture off the ground?

Even Tito, would he have made the money he has without the UFC? No way! We would all be saying “Tito who?” and he would not be the head of a “multi million dollar empire” (Tito at least show a little respect to the people who made you).

It’s not to say that now that that the UFC is making cash the TOP fighters should not get paid, but the person who took the risk, spent the money and made the sport DESERVES to make killer cash. Oh and before you say UFC nut-hugger, I liked pride a hell of a lot more.

[ocfightfan]

Originally Posted by TheFoo

It's another example of the control freaks the UFC are, and the reason they can't get the top fighters, and why their HW division is in shambles.

You make a good point. And I agree that sometimes the UFC are too controlling for their own good. I wish they would at least ease off the stick, so to speak. There are definatly some top names that refuse to fight for the UFC because of that exact problem.

But I'd like to point out that the MMA landscape is littered with corpses of orgs that claimed to be fighter friendly and whatnot.

Pride, Bodog, WFA, M-1 Global, etc.

All of these guys did business the way so many people on this board say it should be done, and now they are out of business. And I'm concerned that Affliction will face the same fate.

I would hope that there is a balance point. It would be nice to have the best of both worlds, but so far that hasn't shown itself yet.

[Bill_Carson]

Originally Posted by FortheLoveofMMA

DNA4421 -

Please dont take this question with any sort of hostility


Are you an MMA fan, or a UFC fan?

The biggest UFC nut hugger alive. Not to mention, probably the furthest things from a "fighter" so he is most likely a Dana White nut hugger as well. He wants to be Dana and worships the "holy ground" he walks on.

You've given stats, and well thought out point, after well thought out point. All he can say is "Hail Zuffa."

Leave the little boy alone.

[theSQad]

Originally Posted by cerfani

Is UFC gonna make money off Sylvia still, if so that sucks for Tim, I would probably say fuck it, walk into Lorenzo's office, demand i be released and if he said no, i would break every joint in his body, then i would smash his face, then call a lawyer

lol you are such a fucking tool

Its good to see how you would handle business in the "real world"

[WAP58CD]

Thanks Macedawgg and p0id0g, learned alot from your exchanges.

Originally Posted by p0id0g

I still don't know how a licensing agreement would result in lower bids for a fighter on the market. if anything, it would drive up the asking price for an elite fighter under the agreement because it would take more incentive for a fighter to leave the UFC. but just like the rest of life, the asking price is ultimately determined by supply and demand - as in the supply of fighters at your level and the demand for them by the orgs.

Could driving up the price of an elite fighter, through licensing, eliminate other orgs. ability to sign top fighters, indirectly lowering the fighters value?

An org. without licensing agreements for fighters have that many less ways to pay or attract elite fighters to their org, while the UFC can meet the fighters demands though many different channels - licensing agreements, etc.