- Joined
- Mar 31, 2007
- Messages
- 42,611
- Reaction score
- 24,192
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.
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.
Last edited: