Mixed Martial Arts: Compensating Athletes Who Risk Their Lives For A Living!
How much would I have to pay you to fight a 205 pound former lightweight champion, Tito Ortiz? How does 1 million dollars sound? Before you answer, I will also tell you the organization promoting the fight would stand to make 42 million dollars in revenue. I will also add that if you win the fight , the contract would automatically extend. Let's remember that during the fight you could be seriously injured, permanently paralyzed, or even killed. Still interested in the cool mill? Recently, top stars, like Ortiz, have publicly voiced their opinions about The Ultimate Fighting Championship(UFC), and have accused the UFC of being a parasitical company thriving off of new athletes that risk their entire existence for the growing sport that they love.
Robert Massey, an attorney and MMA enthusiast, has been trying for over 10 years to urge fighters to work together to form a fighters union. Rob points out the fact that the UFC's contract are ridiculous, but realizes that with the UFC buying up all major organizations such as Pride and recently the WEC, they have monopolized the fight game. Thus, by gaining total control over fighters they are left with no other options and have nobody arguing in their favor.
Dana White, President of the UFC, has been labeled a street-brawling, trash-talking, street hustler who has forced fighters into "playing his game, or no game at all!" says Randy Couture. Randy is a five time heavyweight champion and a three time light heavyweight champion who "knows the UFC's ropes". Randy was one of about 20 fighters who met with Robert Massey in 2003, with the agenda to form a strike against the UFC. This started as a good idea, the only problem was that they needed all the big named fighters in the UFC and they needed all of the title holders. "There were too many holdouts" to proceed says Rob. The bottom line is that anyone in the UFC has signed the same contract, and it's "water tight" says Couture. Currently with the UFC buying all of the smaller organizations(competitors), the fighters have no where else to turn.
Tito, Randy, and now Ken Shamrock have been publicly disputing the amount of money that they were paid compared to what the UFC made. Since none of the three currently fight in the UFC, they are all trying to warn the young talent, and make it known that they have other options and they don't have to fight in the UFC. Randy and Tito are both currently fighting for Bellator MMA and hope one day that it will grow bigger than the UFC. "With all of the controversy surrounding the UFC it shouldn't be very difficult", says Tito. All three men say that they are well off, they just think the people who are in the ring risking their lives should get paid a better percentage of what the company brings in. Furthermore, the fighters should be able to re-negotiate the terms of the contract after winning fights and their popularity grows. With popularity comes following and following creates revenue. "UFC's contracts control fighters top to bottom. And if anyone makes waves they'll be dropped and black-balled in a heartbeat" says Randy.
When asked about the disputes, Dana defends the UFC saying the fighters are well-compensated for fighting, and "Tito is a moron, the worst kind of moron. He(Tito) keeps talking about Mayweather making 42 million a fight. Dumb ass this isn't boxing!" Dana points out the fact that HBO puts all the money up promoting the fight and pays the fighter and they keep everything else. The UFC is different. "We assume all the risk for our fighters". He also says that his and Tito disputes are mostly personal stemming from years and years of constant head-butting about the ins and outs of the fighting world. He also tells reporters that Tito is jealous of him for making so much money without having to risk his life.
When it comes to any job, the "risk" factor should always be taken into consideration. If someone were to ask me how much it would cost for me to fight against a professional, I would have to say that it would be way more than the top organization is willing to pay! The evolving level of competition demands fighters to train longer and harder than ever before. It takes constant dedication depriving fighters of everything from food to family. Risking their lives for a company who only cares about the money they make and not the lives they take. It is time for all fighters to take action against the parasite named the UFC!
