SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
June - 2015
41
numbers. To date, each and ev-
ery fighter in the UFC has gone
out and signed their own con-
tract, each has gone out and
secured their own sponsors, via
managers and the like.
They do have a voice, but ulti-
mately, they’re at the mercy of
their employer.
When the UFC saw a number
of fighters struggling to secure
sponsorship, and struggling to
get paid even when they did
have sponsors, they decided to
act. Rather than eliminate the
ridiculous “sponsorship tax”
that charged potential spon-
sors an upfront fee, pocketed
directly by the UFC itself, be-
fore a company could begin
backing a fighter (with some
exceptions for smaller enti-
ties like Dynamic Fastener),
they eliminated sponsors all
together, by getting into bed
with Reebok. Reebok was to
provide UFC uniforms. It would
be their name on all the gear.
And that included fight week,
media events, everything right
down to the socks and undies.
Initially, fighters were to get
a cut of the six year, $70 mil-
lion dollar deal based on their
ranking within the promotion.
However, that proved unpopu-
lar and problematic: the rank-
ings are based on input from a
select number of media mem-
bers, a process that is not ex-
actly transparent. Far too of-
ten, names in the top fifteen
are there based on name value
and popularity. Rafeal Caval-
cante remains ranked tenth at
light heavyweight, despite be-
ing 1-2 (1NC) in his last four
fights dating back to 2012. He
hasn’t fought since June 2014,
and his only win in those four
fights came over Igor Pokrajac,
who has since been released
by Zuffa. With no disrespect
meant to the former Strike-
force champion, speaking in
terms of sponsorship payouts,
he’s taking up the spot of a
more active fighter who could
probably use the money more,
not to mention the fact that at
this point, he’s probably a bit
over-valued.
So the rankings idea flopped,
and the UFC opted to go with
tenure. Again, that’s all well
and great — if you have suf-
ficient tenure under the Zuffa
banner. While that includes
promotions like the WEC and
Strikeforce, ultimately, it still
creates issues. Pride fights will
not be credited, and only Zuffa-
era fights under the WEC and
Strikeforce will. That makes
sense financially for the UFC,
and when considering that
they aren’t necessarily obligat-
ed to credit fighters for fights
in a promotion at a time they
didn’t own it, but it also does
a disservice to the history and
name value of certain fighters.
Then there’s the fact that some
big name fighters could still
land in the bottom tiers of the
payout scale. Those with 1 to
5 fights under Zuffa will be
paid $2,500 per fight. For 6 to
10 fights, a fighter would get
$5,000. Consider this: Paige
VanZant has just two fights
in the promotion. Conor Mc-
Gregor has five. Does anyone
believe those names deserve
five grand or less? Now, the
UFC and Reebok have found
a way around that, by signing
them to deals directly, above
and beyond the UFC uniform
deal. That’s all well and great,
but no way will that happen
for every fighter with a little
name value. Mark Hunt has
nine fights under Zuffa. His
tenth will be this weekend,
against Stipe Miocic. Given his
Pride fights are not taken into
consideration, he’d stand to
make just $5,000 in sponsor-
ship money for the bout.
Does anyone believe Hunt is
worth just five grand? Bren-
dan Schaub, arguably lower
on the totem than Hunt, has
stated he makes six figures per
fight from outside sponsors.
On Twitter, he wrote that “I’ve
made six figures in sponsorship
in each of my last 6 fights” —
but he will now plummet to
just $10,000 per bout. While
the UFC argues that fighters
can still be sponsored outside
of the octagon and fight week,
and uses Ronda Rousey as an
example, how many compa-
nies are looking to a guy like
Schaub to be the poster boy
for their latest product line
without fight night exposure?
Rousey, as a champion and
cross-over star in the acting
and pro wrestling worlds, is in
a unique situation, and an ex-
ception, not the norm.
UFC flyweight Ray Borg has
been one of the few fighters
to speak out in support of the
deal so far. Also on twitter, he
commented “If you want more
