MMA Hot Stuff

UFC 88 Fighter Payouts

Today MMAJunkie reported the fighter salaries from UFC 88 this past weekend in Atlanta. Not only was Chuck Liddell the recipient of the most brutal KO of the night, but he was also the recipient of the most lucrative salary of the night.

Here are the reported payouts from the Georgia Athletic and Entertainment Commission:

Rashad Evans: $120,000 (included $60,000 win bonus)

Chuck Liddell: $500,000

Rich Franklin: $50,000 ($50,000 win bonus)

Matt Hamill: $10,000

Dan Henderson: $250,000 ($150,000 win bonus)

Rousimar Palhares: $7,000

Nate Marquardt: $56,000 ($28,000 win bonus)

Martin Kampmann: $15,000

Dong Hyun Kim: $46,000 ($23,000 win bonus)

Matt Brown: $8,000

Kurt Pellegrino: $24,000 ($12,000 win bonus)

Thiago Tavares: $13,000

Tim Boetsch: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus)

Mike Patt: $5,000

Jason MacDonald: $44,000 ($22,000 win bonus)

Jason Lambert: $17,000

Ryo Conan: $30,000 ($15,000 win bonus)

Roan Carneiro: $9,000

Fighters Unite!

Excuse me while I get on my soap box but I have something to say!

To all the fighters out there please pay attention... you must must must start to rally around the idea of a MMA Fighters Association. The other sports have it.

Baseball - Major League Baseball Players Association.

Boxing - Joint Association of Boxers

Basketball - National Basketball Players Association

Okay you get the idea. The whole point in having these "Associations' is to protect the physical and financial rights (salary scale) of athletes.

Looking at the payout from last weekends EliteXC fight is just shocking and another example of why fighters need to have at least some sort of minimum salary scale. Check it out.

The Main Card aired on CBS:

Robbie Lawler: $90,000 (which included a $45,000 win bonus)
def. Scott Smith: $14,000

Nick Diaz: $60,000 (no win bonus)
def. Thomas Denny: $8,500

Jake Shields: $45,000 ($10,000 win bonus)
def. Nick Thompson: $25,000

Cristiane Cyborg: $6,000 ($3,000 win bonus)
def. Shayna Baszler: $8,000

The Main Card aired on Showtime:

Antonio Silva: $200,000 ($100,000 win bonus)
def. Justin Eilers: $20,000

Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante: $20,000 ($10,000 win bonus)
def. Travis Galbraith: $5,000

Okay, EVERYONE that tuned in to watch "Unfinished Business" tuned in to see the unfinished business that was between Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith. I'm guessing 95% of the crowd in the Stockton arena came to see Nick Diaz (the local boy who is a celebrity in Stockton) and those of us that traveled from San Francisco came to show support for our local celebrity, Jake Shields. And yet Antonio Silva was paid more than Jake and Nick put together. How does that make sense?

I know there's a large amount of business experience and contract negotiation skills that are exercised when salaries are being discussed but shouldn't there be at least a common starting point?

The guys (and girls) that are on these major cards like this train their asses off and for what? $5,000? That doesn't even pay for the private boxing lessons.

This is the fastest growing sport and money is being made. Fighters are tested for drugs just like other athletes so they should demand the same type of respect and recognition. Fighters unite and unionize.

Affliction debut proves successful, but...

This past weekend Affliction made it's MMA promotional debut with "Banned", a card featuring some the most talented heavyweight fighters in the sport, and they did so successfully. Facing many challenges such as it being their first promotion, having a few fighters not well known to US fans, and most importantly a free UFC fight card at the same time, Affliction managed to garner a live gate of $2.1M and in-person attendance of 14,832. Not bad for their first show, right?

No, not bad at all. But could they expect anything less given the high dollars they were paying this all-star line up of fighters? As reported by MMAJunkie, the payroll for their first promotion topped a whopping $3.3M! Not only that, but they had two other things in their favor:

1. They had Fedor Emelianenko in a title fight. First, Fedor is considered to be one of, if not the best pound for pound fighters on the planet, and certainly the top heavyweight in the world. Second, not many in the US really know Fedor or have seen him fight but have only heard of his triumphs, so they had the element of mystery on their side.

2. They had Tim Syliva as the sacrificial lamb for Fedor. This was great in a number of ways, first and foremost being that the majority of MMA fans can't stand Sylvia and would gladly pay to see him get his ass handed to him (which everyone suspected would happen, and in the end did happen), and second he is a legitimate opponent for Fedor (or at the very least the most legitimate opponent Fedor has had in 2 years). Even for those fans with an extreme disliking for Sylvia, they must admit it presented exciting possibilities given Tim's experience, size and skill.

Along with Fedor VS Sylvia, they had a host of other talented fighters to make up the rest of the card like Vitor Belfort, Andre Arlovski, Josh Barnett, Matt Lindland and Ben Rothwell. This was a great card, and the production was not bad for their first time out of the gate. The lighting was a little awkward, the announcers could use some polishing, and I don't exactly care to see Megadeath perform at an MMA event but again not bad for their first show.

The question that remains to be answered is, can they do it again? We may soon find out as there are rumors of another Affliction show coming this November. I believe the key to continued success will be the same as the key to the UFC's success, the number of talented fighters they can get under contract. At the end of the day, MMA fans pay to watch great fights. Most of us can put up with sub-par commentating if we get to watch a fighter like Fedor, or two great fighters battle it out. However, I don't believe Affliction will have continued success if they have the same stable of heavyweights play a game of round-robin and just fight each other. They'll need to infuse their organization with other talented fighters at other weight classes and offer MMA fans a variety of high quality fighters. They also need to find and develop some talent they can call their own, and not just rely on disgruntled former UFC fighters. MMA fans want to hear about and see "the next big thing". With the salaries Afflicition seems willing to pay fighters, they shouldn't have much trouble attracting them but they also may have set a very high bar for themselves with this first promotion.

All in all, I would say Affliction "Banned" was a success, and I'll never complain about more MMA. So here's to hoping that Affliction can continue to threaten the UFC and push them to become better, as well as becoming better themselves, because at the end of the day that just means more MMA for us!!!!

If I were a betting girl...

Welcome to the first installment of "If I was a betting girl" (which I am by the way... did I mention I won $230 on Forrest's victory over Rampage?)! In this post I'll be discussing the odds on some upcoming fights that I find too hard to resist. Now mind you, when it comes to MMA I like to bet on the underdogs. First off, it makes it more fun and second I find it hard to lay down $100 to win $20 on a sport where anything can happen (see Matt Serra over GSP).

I decided after my win last weekend on Forrest vs Rampage to share my thoughts on upcoming fights for those of you looking for some help in placing your bets.
** These odds were taken from Sportsbook.com on 7/10/09.

Here we go, let's start with the July 19th UFC event feature Anderson Silva:

• Anderson Silva (-600) VS James Irvin (+400) - I have to put some money on Irvin here. This is Anderson Silva's first fight at light-heavyweight, so who knows how he'll adjust to the bigger and stronger opponent. Plus, Irvin is a guy that likes to stand up and bang so he always has a shot at landing something, and, he's got power in those punches. Although standing with Anderson Silva isn't always advised, when it's James Irvin at +400 I'll take some of that action.
• Brandon Vera (-625) VS Reese Andy (+425)- Vera is definitely the favorite in this fight, but Andy is a great wrestler and a very powerful fighter. He's the kind of fighter that could take Vera down, hold him there, and land some decent shots for 3 full rounds. Although it wouldn't make for a very exciting fight, it could produce a victory fo Andy. This is Vera's first fight down at 205, but he was never that big of a heavyweight so I don't see him having a huge size advantage over Andy. I think the odds on this are so skewed because it's Andy's first fight in the UFC, but he's 7-1 with 6 fights in the IFL and was a high caliber NCAA wrestler, so he's no newcomer to competition. If Andy can get the fight to the mat consistently, I think this is a great underdog bet.

On to UFC 87 in August:

• Brock Lesnar (-275) VS Heath Herring (+215)- To be honest, I'm not quite sure why Brock Lesnar, at 1-1 in his MMA career, is favored over Heath Herring at 28-13. I would be all over this. Heath has fought the best and toughest at heavyweight, and often made it very close. He's on a new strength and conditioning program and is coming off a victory over a very big and strong Cheick Kongo, so he knows how to fight bigger and strong opponents. Herring did have some problems with a wrestler when he lost to Jake O'Brien over a year ago, but I think his experience and toughness will win this fight for him. I don't think Brock has what it takes yet to compete with a veteran like Herring.
• GSP (-265) VS John Fitch (+205)- The odds on this one aren't "great" and GSP is the man, showing he can deal with wrestlers in his victory over Josh Koshchek, but I think Fitch has the talent to make this fight really close. For that reason, I wouldn't mind dropping some money on Fitch. This isn't as good of a bet as the others, but a gut feeling.

Affliction: Banned:

• Fedor Emelianeko (-450) VS Tim Sylvia (+300)- Yes, Fedor is considered by many to be the best heavyweight ever, and even the best pound-for-pound fighter ever. But Sylvia has serious reach and a very awkward style. We saw him beat up on Nogueira's face for a few rounds before being caught in a submission, so we know he can cause a fighter fits. Sylvia definitely has the ability to use his jab and create a very slow paced fight on the feet, and thus eake out a boring victory. But a boring victory at -300 when I've got money down is pretty exciting to me. Fedor hasn't fought a quality opponent in about 18 months (disclaimer - Matt Lindland is a quality fighter, but the size difference was a little silly), so look for him to have some rust when it comes to dealing with a quality fighter as awkward as Sylvia.

So there you go, installment #1 and some thoughts on good underdogs to lay some money on. You can let me know what you think by leaving a comment! I'd love to hear your thoughts.

UFC 84 payouts

Here's the breakdown for UFC 84 payout:

The total disclosed payroll for the event was $1,098,000.

The full list of salaries included:

• B.J. Penn ($250,000) def. Sean Sherk ($35,000)
• Wanderlei Silva ($150,000) def. Keith Jardine ($10,000)
• Goran Reljic ($6,000) def. Wilson Gouveia ($18,000)
• Lyoto Machida ($100,000) def. Tito Ortiz ($210,000)
• Thiago Silva ($50,000) def. Antonio Mendes ($4,000)
• Rousimar Palhares ($10,000) def. Ivan Salaverry ($20,000)
• Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou ($80,000) def. Kazuhiro Nakamura ($20,00O)
• Rich Clementi ($40,000) def. Terry Etim ($10,000)
• Yoshiyuki Yoshida ($12,000) def. Jon Koppenhaver ($8,000)
• Dong Hyun Kim ($40,000) def. Jason Tan ($3000)
• Shane Carwin ($12,000) def. Christian Wellisch ($10,000)

All of the winning fighters' salaries included 50 percent of the total to show and 50 percent as a win bonus -- except Wanderlei Silva, who received a flat $150,000 for the fight.

I still can't help but scratch my head at Sean Sherk only getting $35,000 and poor Keith Jardine with his sad $10,000. The argument is, people came to see their opponents and they're not what gets butts in seats. But, aren't they? I mean Sean gave BJ a run for his money, and Jardine walked away with the best knock out award. He was out cold for what felt like minutes.

While I don't think all of these guys should get paid equally, I do think there needs to be more of a structure in place.