Contender Series as a proxy equivalent to Sports-Drafts suppressing salaries+foreigners

brackis1

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Last night anyone who tuned in saw some extremeley talented guys throw down. One of the fights felt like a matchup of Top-25 ranked guys. Were they able to get a 50k bonus for their war? No. They fought for $5,000 and had funny foreign names that casuals hadn't heard of.
This is very similar to the mechanics of drafting that other sports league have created to benefit the owners/franchise to ensure companies don't have to negotiate open-market contracts that pay more or less based on skill. They want cheap, flat-fee labor for as long as possible.

It's really quite brilliant how Dana and the UFC have turned this show into a gatekeeping mechanism that forces new UFC entrants through a series of underpaid exercises.
We see this in other sports like Baseball and Basketball where athletes have very little control over the salaries+teams they compete against when they are drafted. If you want into the league you basically agree to play for a flat fee, not what your actual skills dictate.

For example, foreign-born NBA players often make more money playing overseas, but then are forced to enter the NBA draft in order to compete in the NBA, rather than get free-agent offers from individual teams that would be much higher. That draft selection slot comes with a bland generic minimum contract and gives control to the team for numerous years with no ability to negotiate.
For many European players that means saying "fuck the NBA, I'd rather stay in Europe where I get a great check already and don't have to deal with the bullshit" and much seems to be the same for the UFC. Even the wealthiest most popular athletes get scammed by this method. While he is hated by many, even Lebron James wasn't the highest paid player on his own team until he had been in the league for TEN years.

When top guys like the Bonfim brothers are made to go through the contender series, are we going to assume that basically ANY fighter requires being "drafted" through winning Dana's praise on this reality show?
I would be curious to chart going forward what % of new fighters are signed directly to the UFC vs. being made to go through this show.
It seems like the only folks they sign directly are replacement body cans and a few rare marketable guys that have UFC-allied agents.
 
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Completely agree. Let's not kid ourselves, the UFC has always been about money first. But it's gotten worse since their listing through Endeavour. It almost appears as if they're not even trying to protect their position as the worlds best MMA organization. They're just after the profits and if you're not paying shit for what you getting from the fighters your gonna have a damn good margin.
I have no idea why some morons decide to participate in the DWCS. It's so obvious that they're just gun fodder. The actual good fighters like Paddy, JIri, Alex Pereira, Cedric Doumbe don't need to go there. Neither would they. That's the main reason Jiri got his title shot after 2 fights, he's expensive as fuck for the UFC because he knows what he's worth.
 
Completely agree. Let's not kid ourselves, the UFC has always been about money first. But it's gotten worse since their listing through Endeavour. It almost appears as if they're not even trying to protect their position as the worlds best MMA organization. They're just after the profits and if you're not paying shit for what you getting from the fighters your gonna have a damn good margin.
I have no idea why some morons decide to participate in the DWCS. It's so obvious that they're just gun fodder. The actual good fighters like Paddy, JIri, Alex Pereira, Cedric Doumbe don't need to go there. Neither would they. That's the main reason Jiri got his title shot after 2 fights, he's expensive as fuck for the UFC because he knows what he's worth.
It seems like Jiri signed with Paradigm Sports Agency after his 1st UFC fight. Not sure who repped him before that.
 
UFC pay has pretty much always been tenure based unless you bring in huge interest from the get go.
 
Also just by the sheer number of guys that get signed like that now it appears the UFC is either trying to trifold their roster (which seems pointless) or they are actually trying to establish DWCS as the only way to get signed at all.
 
What does this even mean? lol.
the longer you stay with the org the more perks and money you get.

they don't pay new comers proven product money. you'd have to be someone that brings a great deal of interest with you (Brock lesnar, CM punk, Micheal chandler) You have to give a lot for the UFC to give you more.

It's not until you have 7+ ufc fights before they really start paying. old dogs that aren't that good and have been around for a while get good treatment from the company. fighters like miller, guida, sanchez aren't the best fighters the the ufc treated them well and gave them many many chances.
 
the longer you stay with the org the more perks and money you get.

they don't pay new comers proven product money, You have to give a lot for the UFC to give you more.

It's not until you have 7+ ufc fights before they really start paying. old dogs that aren't that good and have been around for a while get good treatment from the company. fighters like miller, guida, sanchez are the best fighters the the ufc treated them well and gave them many many chances.
DWCS: 5k/5k fight pay with no chance of multiple bonuses
Actual UFC card: 12k-100k + chance for 100k or so in bonuses+sponsorships.
 
It's ridiculous and sad. Straight up highway robbery. The best part about for Dana about DWCS is not only does he get to show off entertaining fights for dirt cheap, desperate fighters looking to get their foot in the door almost always accept shitty ass low 5 figure contracts (usually around $10,000 show/win) until they work their way up or lose our and get cut. And he gets to hand select talent he wants biasedly. One of the worst things to happen to the UFC and MMA as a whole, even if it produced some solid fighters.
 
DWCS: 5k/5k fight pay with no chance of multiple bonuses
Actual UFC card: 12k-100k + chance for 100k or so in bonuses+sponsorships.
Okay so what kind of contract do they get signed to after their contender series fights?

you don't fight for money on contender series. just like tuf, you fight for the chance to win a UFC contract. Then you look to perform well on that starting contract and negotiate from there.
 
Okay so what kind of contract do they get signed to after their contender series fights?

you don't fight for money on contender series. just like tuf, you fight for the chance to win a UFC contract. Then you look to perform well on that starting contract and negotiate from there.
You're literally agreeing with me and supporting the position that they're not being given a full contract to start and instead have to do unpaid fighting/damage-taking lmao.
 
Completely agree. Let's not kid ourselves, the UFC has always been about money first. But it's gotten worse since their listing through Endeavour. It almost appears as if they're not even trying to protect their position as the worlds best MMA organization. They're just after the profits and if you're not paying shit for what you getting from the fighters your gonna have a damn good margin.
I have no idea why some morons decide to participate in the DWCS. It's so obvious that they're just gun fodder. The actual good fighters like Paddy, JIri, Alex Pereira, Cedric Doumbe don't need to go there. Neither would they. That's the main reason Jiri got his title shot after 2 fights, he's expensive as fuck for the UFC because he knows what he's worth.

Loads of good fighters go through DWCS these days. Ismael Bonfim would beat Paddy Pimblett with utter ease.
 
Lol at fighters parading around in front of Dana trying to stand and bang while flaunting their social media potential. All that just to get a 10/10.

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Who the fuck actually believes the UFC has the best mixed marital artists anymore? You have to be an absolute can to believe this shit.

They probably have on average 25-30 of the top 50 in every division, so not all the best but the most concentrated in one place with Bellator and ACA a fairly distant 2nd and 3rd.
 
You're literally agreeing with me and supporting the position that they're not being given a full contract to start and instead have to do unpaid fighting/damage-taking lmao.

They’re not being paid on the Contender Series?
 
It's weird when they have established guys (who don't have can-crushing padded records) on the show

Like, I get it with someone like O'Malley, Nickal, and a lot of the women who are forced to beat up cans before they get into the UFC...but next week there's Aliskerov LOL so weird. How can they do that to a guy who was going to be signed already if he would have beaten Khamzat? Not only has he won a few fights since then, now he has to go through Contender Series? Very silly.
 
They probably have on average 25-30 of the top 50 in every division, so not all the best but the most concentrated in one place with Bellator and ACA a fairly distant 2nd and 3rd.

Stop pulling numbers out of your ass like you know what you're talking about. Go monitor social media metrics or some nonsense. Making Dana blush doesn't mean you're at the top of a division.
 
Anyway as for the purpose of the thread I agree that making some guys go through the show is a bit silly but I'm not sure I buy the wages argument. There's always been a starting rate for new fighters who don't already have a name and most signings haven't had any wiggle room.
 
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