News Thiago Santos explains move to PFL,$1 million prize is ‘more than I made all these years in the UFC'

[corrupted]

I swear PFL is a money laundering operation. How can they afford these payouts with such low viewership and coverage? Nobody I know, including hardcore MMA fans, watch PFL at all.

They're a listed company. Under the name Pimco Income Strategy Fund. I think most of the answers are there. LOL

 

[careto]

Fighters and fans need to come up with something different to shit on the UFC, other then "i make more money in one fight here than my entier career in the UFC". Like, shit dude then dont sign those slaving contracts. Figure out your contracts better next time. Plus, I think it should be obvious by now that the general consensus is that we dont care. We just want to watch some good fights.

Dont get me wrong, I too want to see the fighters get paid but whining about it after the fact is pointless. Get a better manager and negotiate your contracts better. You wanted to "fight the best in the world and prove you are the best in the world" and accepted a shit contract for it. Nobody forced you to sign it.

 

[Yrat]

Of course I want money to make my nest egg. I don’t want to wait until it’s too late [in my career], like almost retiring, to fight one last fight and try a lot of money. No, I really want to fight. I know I still can do great things in MMA, I still have a few more years of fighting. The moment had to be now. New opportunities, better purse. Everything made me opt for the change

An another unthankful UFC fighter.

 

[CC27]

PFL will pay him more than that. They pay Kayla $500k to show.

Even if they only paid him 200-300k you know you are gonna get two fights atleast within two or three months and then if you win and make playoffs you'll get another fight or two. So you're gonna make a nice amount off fighting a few times plus chance at mill. Even if you dont win you can do this for two or three tournaments, maybe get a spot on PPV one off events.

Now question is for older guys who have injuries can they make it through all these fights and win? If they can they'll be able to clean up and get alot of fights in compared to maybe fighting two times in UFC in a year, three if you're lucky.

 

[careto]

That's 10 million on average per show. Horrible economics behind the promotion but these are the same people who were behind WSOF so are we surprised?

Wait, ONE was behind WSOF? I thought that was PFL.

 

[TorontoTO]

Fighters and fans need to come up with something different to shit on the UFC, other then "i make more money in one fight here than my entier career in the UFC". Like, shit dude then dont sign those slaving contracts. Figure out your contracts better next time. Plus, I think it should be obvious by now that the general consensus is that we dont care. We just want to watch some good fights.

Dont get me wrong, I too want to see the fighters get paid but whining about it after the fact is pointless. Get a better manager and negotiate your contracts better. You wanted to "fight the best in the world and prove you are the best in the world" and accepted a shit contract for it. Nobody forced you to sign it.

Exactly, a guy like Edson Barboza was making 79K/79K while Darren Elkins was on a 62K/62K. They would easily make double or triple that if they tried to actually look outside of the UFC, because let's be honest, those two guy are never gonna be title contention or even in the top 5 ever again but they deliver fun bouts

 

[TorontoTO]

Wait, ONE was behind WSOF? I thought that was PFL.

Whoops sorry thought the comment was about PFL. But the former ONE Head PR guy is now running PFL PR.

 

[MMAProfessional]

It isn't like everyone is getting that. There is much bigger divide between the have and have nots there. It is great for fans however as they are legit option for many fighters. If you can win your fights and million, outside of being a UFC champ you are likely earning more than anyone else.

Is you are a relatively popular UFC fighter they pay a lot more. Ironically their own talent who ends up beating their overpaid UFC fighters don't get paid much but I get it. I watched Rory's and Pettis' fight but Stevie Ray in the finals isn't as interesting to me.

 

[DestinedAussie]

Is you are a relatively popular UFC fighter they pay a lot more. Ironically their own talent who ends up beating their overpaid UFC fighters don't get paid much but I get it. I watched Rory's and Pettis' fight but Stevie Ray in the finals isn't as interesting to me.

It is about marketing power not skill. It is the thing a lot of fighters struggle with even in the UFC. Winning isn't enough for the big $$$ you need to be popular too. Winning usually helps popularity but isn't a guarantee.

 

[SalvadorAllende]

Damn.. this dude hasn't made a million in the UFC? Dude fought a shit ton of times, headlined a lot of cards and even fought for a title.

 

[FIghtxIQ]

I think Thiago could get something like 500k per fight as a former UFC title challenger. Kayla is getting that amount so I think he could make a million with 2 fights but i'm just guessing, we"ll have to wait and see

Kayla is different though, she's viewed as the possibly the best wmma fighter not signed to the UFC and she's a gold medalist. That high fight purse was to keep her at PFL and not have her switch over to UFC or Bellator. I think Thiago Santos will most likely do under 100k fight purse, but he's banking on winning the tournament. It's really hard to negotiate a solid fight purse on a losing streak if you aren't a big name in the free market.

 

[FIghtxIQ]

I'm among them. I moved to Europe so ONE puts cards on that I dont have to stay up until 6am to watch. Girlfriend approved! Their cards are awesome, and they're obviously doing things right, but still, they have high production value, liberal 50k bonuses, decent contracts and relatively few big-name draws.

I'm very glad they are occupying the space they are, we as fans need strong secondary competitors to the UFC so we can hope to see a fair amount of money poured into the sport which will attract more and better athletes.

I agree. I think they are UFC's real competition for global mma and combat sports market. I think actually think they surpass UFC in certain regions globally.

 

[FIghtxIQ]

Do we have any numbers on Santos's UFC earnings, and any numbers on some notable or noteworthy PFL fighters to draw a comparison?

I'd bet Santos will be paid pretty well. Pettis may have been on a 2 fight win streak but he'd lost pretty convincingly multiple times to relative nobodies and his title reign was short and a long time ago; the shine was pretty worn on Pettis by the time PFL took him on.

Compare that to Santos who's a bigger guy, and has the intriguing story (and footage) of having taken P4P standout Jones to the limit (many people think he should have won) on two blown knees before losing a bunch of fights, mostly to the current top of the UFC LHW division.

I dont think its too unbelievable to imagine Santos would have a roughly equal bargaining position as did Pettis.

Pettis was a draw by his name though. Santos isn't really a draw by himself, he's known mostly for his fight with Jones. Pettis was UFC's star fighter while he was the champion and was still a fighter with high name value after losing the belt. Pettis had an exciting fighting style and he got higher fight purses with UFC and promotions hoping to see more of the fancy kicks he does. Santos doesn't do flashy moves and he's not really a big name by himself and on a losing streak. I think he'll get paid more than staying with UFC but I don't think he'll be getting anything close to what Pettis and Harrison is getting paid. I doubt Pettis will get the same pay after his contract is up either, his stock has gone down and so will his fight purse in future contracts.

 

[John12]

Kayla is different though, she's viewed as the possibly the best wmma fighter not signed to the UFC and she's a gold medalist. That high fight purse was to keep her at PFL and not have her switch over to UFC or Bellator. I think Thiago Santos will most likely do under 100k fight purse, but he's banking on winning the tournament. It's really hard to negotiate a solid fight purse on a losing streak if you aren't a big name in the free market.

Under 100k seems too low, I would be surprised if he accepted that

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Kayla is different though, she's viewed as the possibly the best wmma fighter not signed to the UFC and she's a gold medalist. That high fight purse was to keep her at PFL and not have her switch over to UFC or Bellator. I think Thiago Santos will most likely do under 100k fight purse, but he's banking on winning the tournament. It's really hard to negotiate a solid fight purse on a losing streak if you aren't a big name in the free market.

Omari Akhmedov gets paid over 100k to show, I'm sure they'll be paying Thiago more than him.

 

[FIghtxIQ]

Omari Akhmedov gets paid over 100k to show, I'm sure they'll be paying Thiago more than him.

Sounds good then, definitely more than what UFC would probably offer so it's a smart choice.

 

[FIghtxIQ]

Under 100k seems too low, I would be surprised if he accepted that

I meant around 100k or more base pay with maybe a win bonus type of contract where he could have a higher fight purse if he wins.

 

[STAY GOLD]

You've got a relatively-recent title challenger who chooses to leave the by-far largest MMA organization in the world to go to a clear second-fiddle organization because the pay is much, much better.

There’s no guarantee the pay is much better in PFL than the UFC. If it was, more guys would be picking the PRL over the UFC in a heart beat. It maybe better for some ex-UFC fighters and the oddball like Kayla, but not everyone else. Sure there’s the chance of getting the $1M if you win the tournament, but that’s a big if.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

There’s no guarantee the pay is much better in PFL than the UFC. If it was, more guys would be picking the PRL over the UFC in a heart beat. It maybe better for some ex-UFC fighters and the oddball like Kayla, but not everyone else. Sure there’s the chance of getting the $1M if you win the tournament, but that’s a big if.

To get the PFL big pay you generally have to go and make a name in the UFC first and then leave.

 

[Wrestler160]

Good luck Thiago. Dana starving fighters while wiping his ass with hundreds is nothing new. UFC needs stronger competition.

Dana literally gave $250K to a YouTuber as a birthday gift while that YouTuber doesn’t need that money