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

TS back on his soapbox over fighter pay. This dude is so fucking annoying.

To the ignore list you go, TS. Later loser
So instead of just ignoring a poster you didn't wanna read, you went into their thread, commented, then clicked the ignore button. Wow, such efficiency.
 
After doing an exhaustive search (of under 1 minute), I actually found the opposite:

https://news.theopenmat.com/wrestli...restling-champ-makes-the-move-to-the-ufc/3138
"Yeah, I did some smaller shows and did well in those, and then I won a fight on HDNet, and then the WEC gave me a contract for five fights. After I fought one fight in the WEC, the UFC picked up the rest of the contract, in kind of a whirlwind deal that I didn’t really have much say in."

I didn’t mean if he had a say in it or not but simply it was in his contract.
 
So instead of just ignoring a poster you didn't wanna read, you went into their thread, commented, then clicked the ignore button. Wow, such efficiency.
Don't forget dedicating some of his schizo-sig to me lmaooo
(claims I'm a bellator shill when I think Bellator has been sucking ass lately)
 
lol totally forgot about him.

Dude had multiple UFC fights and like 4 fights against legit name fighters before they put him on the Contender.

Julian Erosa too.
 
Was there a reason for this?

To maximize exposure. Sponsors would pay more, fans actually got to know who you were, etc. Back then only the main card was televised. I’m pretty sure it was even before Spike TV starting showing two prelim fights before the PPV card.
 
lol @ these threads that make the UFC look bad getting moved.
 
Julian Erosa too.

There's been a few. Dan Spohn, Brendan Loughnane, Joby Sanchez, Kurt Holobaugh Nate Jolly and Bruno Korea off the top of my head.
 
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.
They are not fighting for nothing they are fighting for an opportunity, they chose to be there knowing what they would be paid.
If they were getting big money elsewhere they would be here trying to win a contract
 
They are not fighting for nothing they are fighting for an opportunity, they chose to be there knowing what they would be paid.
If they were getting big money elsewhere they would be here trying to win a contract
The point is that there becomes no other way to enter the UFC lol
Just like a draft in other leagues; it's setup to create control and reduce costs.
 
The point is that there becomes no other way to enter the UFC lol
Just like a draft in other leagues; it's setup to create control and reduce costs.

I still don't get how it reduces costs, these fighters would be getting the starter contract anyway.
 
I still don't get how it reduces costs, these fighters would be getting the starter contract anyway.
lol what?
Direct UFC signee:
-Gets multi-fight contract at higher rate and chance for big bonuses

Contender Series:
-1 fight UFC contract @ 5k and maybe a chance to get another shitty contract offered to them

how is this so hard for some people to grasp?
10 fighters on a DWCS card scrapping against each other= 75,000 in total purses paid and nobody is assured more fights. (10k+5k per fight @ 5 total fights)

10 fighters signed to prelim contracts on a UFC card to fight each other = $180,000 in total purses (24k+12k @ 5 total fights) and multiple fights in the organization.
 
lol what?
Direct UFC signee:
-Gets multi-fight contract at higher rate and chance for big bonuses

Contender Series:
-1 fight UFC contract @ 5k and maybe a chance to get another shitty contract offered to them

If they were just signing directly though most of the fighters on the show wouldn't get the chance to compete though. They're not going to sign additional fighters.
 
That 5/5 is probably better than most regional promotions. Most up and coming fighters pay to fight.
 
That 5/5 is probably better than most regional promotions. Most up and coming fighters pay to fight.
Not when a 5/5 fight in another league also gives you sponsorship money and a safer fight.
Holding the UFC to the standard of even shittier promoters isn't the point here. It's that guys who would have historically been given 4-fight deals at salaries over 100% higher than 5/5 before the Cantender series started are now being made to take one or more extra cheap fights despite the UFC wanting their talents enough to broadcast their fight and get control of their future.
 
If they were just signing directly though most of the fighters on the show wouldn't get the chance to compete though. They're not going to sign additional fighters.
Uhhh, yes they would lol
The number of direct signings is plummeting and they need cheaper bodies. It's the equivalent of hiring a bunch of temp workers at a company instead of having to pay full-time workers with benefits.
In free market capitalist sports like soccer, anyone can be signed to a club at any time for whatever rate they're worth based on their skills. In collusive monopoly capitalist sports in America, billionaire owners realized drafts are great because instead of all fighting to sign players and pay higher costs, they could create drafts with preset salaries and insane pay restrictions to force new players to accept lower pay, even if they were highly coveted.

How do you supposed any fighter in the history of the UFC came to fight there prior to the DanaSeries existing? By being offered a direct contract based on their skills, tape, record, and/or name.
 
Uhhh, yes they would lol
The number of direct signings is plummeting and they need cheaper bodies. It's the equivalent of hiring a bunch of temp workers at a company instead of having to pay full-time workers with benefits.
In free market capitalist sports like soccer, anyone can be signed to a club at any time for whatever rate they're worth based on their skills. In collusive monopoly capitalist sports in America, billionaire owners realized drafts are great because instead of all fighting to sign players and pay higher costs, they could create drafts with preset salaries and insane pay restrictions to force new players to accept lower pay, even if they were highly coveted.

How do you supposed any fighter in the history of the UFC came to fight there prior to the DanaSeries existing? By being offered a direct contract based on their skills, tape, record, and/or name.

Yes but there are 100 fighters on the show per season. They do not sign all 100 fighters. So some fighters who were on the show and got signed by beating someone else on the show wouldn't have got signed and would have had to fight elsewhere instead.
 
Not when a 5/5 fight in another league also gives you sponsorship money and a safer fight.
Holding the UFC to the standard of even shittier promoters isn't the point here. It's that guys who would have historically been given 4-fight deals at salaries over 100% higher than 5/5 before the Cantender series started are now being made to take one or more extra cheap fights despite the UFC wanting their talents enough to broadcast their fight and get control of their future.
What small regional shows give you sponsorship money? Those are the guys making 500 a fight. They make their money selling tickets. That is their "PPV" points. They might get percentage of each ticket they sold personally. Pretty much how many of your friends and family can you bring to come watch you fight? If you are part of a big franchise gym then people might come support you. Those are the popular fighters that get good matchups. The other guys with no following fight almost for free. They pay to compete.

There are definitely outliers but most of these guys on the show don't really take a pay cut. How many of these contender guys come from other big promotions? UFC takes a lot of fighters from LFA. It is one of the feeder orgs to the UFC. The promoter has given statements saying his fighters aren't going to make money with them. It's just an opportunity to get noticed by the UFC.
 
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