am i alone on this....?

or did the espn outside the lines piece BASHING the ufc come REALLY close to when they lost out on the bid for the tv rights to fox?

espn, who i never truly liked in the first place, just sunk to a new low of sore loserness

The article has truth to it in all honesty, it brings up a lot of points that MMA fans really do need to understand actually. They were not bashing MMA fighters, simply the management. Please, instead of trying to simply bash ESPN.. why not try talking about what you don't like about the article.

In all honesty, it was a pretty damn good article, perhaps you should link it in the main post to give people an idea to what you're talking about.

( The fighter wage scale is pathetic... )

it is Disney's fault 
They own ESPN

first, im pretty sure most everybody here knows the piece i refer too...

second, the fighters get paid as well as they perform... not to bad imo

third, the fighters pay will continue to increase as the sport goes global and more and more people pour money in

fourth, **** ESPN!!! haha

Sure, and while you're letting other people dictate how you present your thoughts and ideas, please pull together the fighters' interviews (current and former UFC) who thought the ESPN piece was off-base and biased. I'd also think it would be neat to add Lorenzo's cut piece where he notes that a professional boxer boxing on ESPN made approximately $200.00.

I'd also like another beer, while you're up. Thanks!

A MILLION THUMBS UP TO @BLACKWORK

If the UFC is considered the.. 'Big Leagues' then why can't management afford to give fighters decent wages? These men are trying to make a career in MMA.

For the top paid fighters they won't have a problem considering that they will rake in money from PPV sales, along with Advertisements, however not everyone is Anderson Silva, or GSP.

I'm pro union for UFC fighters, and I'm not sure why people wouldn't want to hear about the problems that persist in MMA.

Get off your high horse Huckabye. First the ESPN piece was blatantly bias. They hauled in washed up Ricco Rodriguez who is going to say whatever he can to hurt the UFC because he hates Dana. Same with Gross, and he was the one they had to SUPPORT the UFC, lol. 

Second, the pay scale in the UFC is like every other job in the world. If you perform you make more money, if you can't perform to he degree where you can live the life you want, well then I suggest you go find yourself another job.

@hush: please tell me how much you think an undercard UFC fighter whose fight is televised for free on Facebook or viewable with a basic cable subscription should be paid per fight. Please give me numbers for 1.) a first fight and 2.) a third fight, assuming the fighter goes 1-1. Thanks.

@hushabye Somebody else can probably find it, but there is an article compiling three different interviews by fighters (Roop, Phan, and another who I can't quite remember right now) and all of them said that the pay in the UFC is fair. The lower-middle tier fighters are making a middle class living. The lower tier fighters aren't making too much, but they're making a hell of a lot more than they would anywhere else.

@hushabye do you forget that the fighters also get sponsorship money and they get a cut of the PPV buys?
If you aren't a big name fighter you shouldn't make HUGE money, if people won't pay specifically to see you fight you shouldn't he shouldn't be making $500,000 a fight. And when people will pay to see you fight then you will get paid the big bucks.
Not to mention if you but on a great fight or make a great finish then you can make up to another like $70,000 a fight!

* Edited at 01.19.2012, 10:20 PM ET *

In addition, you have no ******* clue about all the under the table bonuses they get, nor their sponsorship money they get which in some situations can be on par with what you get from the UFC.

@hushabye hahaha! intentional my dear tapologist.... if u listen to espns side of the story without doing ur own homework...then u deserve to be called dumb

im a writer...sports writer at that.. i know the savages that work with a pencil and paper, and they'll cut someones hand just to get a popular story...

espn just did an anti ufc piece...ufc is the fastest growing business....do the math

The ESPN piece was somewhat reasonable.  Dragging out Ken Shamrock and Ricco Rodriguez was a joke and hurt their credibility. Otherwise it's a good topic that should be discussed.

However, there is an issue with UFC fighter pay and the structure that the UFC have managed to put in place. It's in many ways to the UFC's benefit and not to the fighters.

People getting so bent out of shape here against Hushabye is a little ridiculous.

Sean McCorkle and Michael Bisping also released statements in the last couple days discrediting ESPN's accusations.  the

I already argued it in another thread, and Blackwork said it here, but the starting pay in the UFC per fight is more than a lot of people make a year, and it gets better from there.  If it doesn't get better for you (i.e. if you don't win), maybe you don't belong in the UFC.

I love ESPN and I love MMA. 

I don't think there is any real controversy when it comes to fighter pay as far as what fighters earn.  I think anyone fighting in the UFC is getting well compensated for it.  The pay structure is interesting, though.  The seemingly arbitrary discretionary bonuses were a real eye opener for me.

The UFC is so different from other sports leagues, you can't really compare them to the NFL or NBA.  The UFC is a relatively smaller scale business that does virtually everything itself production wise.  I think the really interesting question is what percentage of revenues are the fighters actually getting, and how much do they deserve?  

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sWrUkmhITOSdgT0KYfUGfH1ZOBbabH9RbYqe0m64xVo/edit?hl=en_US


just something on why you can't compare UFC and the "big four"

this is the fighter salaries, total gates and ppv buys.  It doesn't have the particulars of fighter salaries just the show/win aspect.  The percentages don't include UFC expenses or the OTN Bonuses.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PAN9W1W1xuCYXoJgU3tveZRFB7yiMUS05zBVCikMm68/edit?hl=en_US

@Hybrid - Here's the article you were talking about:

http://mmajunkie.com/news/27015/with-fighter-pay-in-spotlight-ufc-vets-shed-light-on-life-in-octagons-middle-class.mma

First, people complain that athletes make too much money, now a piece on how little athletes make. It gets a little ridiculous. While the UFC pay structure is interesting, its not what should be investigated. Go investigate bxing; the story will be much greater.

Way too many conflicts of interest going on in connection with that piece for someone at ESPN to even think it would be a good idea to run with it. Nothing wrong with examining the issue, of course, but people need to keep some perspective here. I generally agree that assuming Zuffa is making obscene PROFITS (not revenue) hand-over-fist, the UFC fighters helping to generate those profits should be paid a reasonable and fair amount for their services. Problem is people have wildly ranging views of what is fair and reasonable.

If you think fighting is dangerous and that all who "risk their lives" deserve to be making hundreds of thousands dollars, if not millions, per fight, I'd ask you if you generally think police officers and fire fighters are underpaid. Because I'd be willing to bet that most cops -- and I am talking about the good ones who risk their lives for the public everyday -- make less than an undercard UFC fighter in a year. Fair comparison? Maybe or maybe not; point being it depends on whom you compare these folks to. They seem to be doing well compared to pro boxers. Also, I think, and I could be wrong, that someone recently tweeted DFW that he would fight for free as a stand-in? That guy obviously understands that being a UFC fighter opens doors that otherwise might not be open. Hard to put a price on that.

So, examine the pay structure all you want. Nothing wrong with a fair and objective discussion of the subject, and in the end, such discussions are how the world becomes a better place, generally. That ESPN piece, however, was neither fair nor objective.