The Fighter Pay Debate

Most MMA fans are probably aware of the recent debate about fighter pay in the UFC provoked by a critical episode of their OutsideThe Lines programme. Here's my take;

1. You may criticise me for being overly pro-UFC but I really don't think that Dana and the Fertitta's are in it for the money. It's clear these guys love the sport and if anyone can help MMA grow into the sporting mainstream it's them. The Fertitta's sunk millions of dollars into the UFC when it wasn't making money, they didn't do that so that they could rip off fighters for a few thousand later on.

2. As discussed in the UFC's official response to the programme, not all fighter pay is disclosed, discretionary bonuses are common, the bottom line is that if you perform you make money, who can argue with that?

3. The top guys get percentages of pay per views and earn millions, exactly as it should be, it's a meritocracy, but even middle ranking fighters can make money. Chris Lytle earned 10 fight bonuses in his career, that's over $700k just in disclosed bonuses and this guy never fought for a title.

4. Being part of the UFC gives fighters incredible exposure. The millions of dollars spent on marketing does filter down to the men in the ring. It allows them to sell banner and clothing sponsorship for thousands of dollars. It gives them access to deals with clothing companies like Tap Out and Affliction. How many fighters own their own gyms or schools? What better publicity for your gym then being a current UFC fighter.

5. UFC fighters get paid for publicity and PR events. Matt Mitrione talked on the MMA hour about getting a cheque in excess of $10000 (which he accidentally left in a taxi) from a UFC corporate event.

6. The UFC has just introduced free health care for all fighters, purely at their own expense. Is this the move of a ruthless corporate giant that takes advantage of its employees?

7. The report claimed that they spoke to 20 UFC fighters (none of whom wished to be identified) who criticised UFC pay. Firstly, even if this is true you can get someone to "criticise" almost anything depending on how the question is phrased. Secondly I work in recruitment, and I guarantee you that every company I deal with has at least 25% of its employees that feel they are underpaid. It's human nature

8. They used Ken Shamrock to validate their argument.....enough said.


Don't get me wrong I think that it's an interesting debate, but this programme seemed vindictive and half assed.

UFC 142 A Crazy Night

There's no wonder that MMA is the fastest growing sport in the world with crazy action/incident packed cards like UFC 142! Here are some of my thoughts.

1. Anyone at middle weight fancy tangling with Rousimar Palhares? No seriously, any takers? What no one? This guy is a little gorilla who can beat anyone in that division if he can grab hold of a limb.....a scary human being.

2. Barboza's KO will be replayed for years to come. Etim fell like a toppled statue, it was terrifying and hilarious at the same time. If this guy can prove he can handle the attention of an elite wrestler he'll be in title contention before too long.

3. The Belfort v Johnson fight was a little weird following all the antics at the weigh ins. I loved the fact that Vitor overcame some adversity to win the fight. I think he'll get another shot at Anderson eventually, he's a top fighter. It's being reported that Johnson has been cut from the UFC. This might do him some good. He's undoubtedly talented but needs to learn some professionalism and humility, this might just be the catalyst. One thing that needs mentioning in a night full of controversy is the two "stand ups" from Dan Miragliotta. The first one was earlier than I've ever seen him stand two fighters up but Johnson wasn't being overly active so I kind of let it slide. The second one when Johnson was on top working the head and the body was unbelievable. He's never stood two fighters up like that before. If I were a conspiracy theorist it would be easy to imagine someone having a word in his ear to the effect of " whatever happens don't let Johnson lay on him for three rounds", especially after what happened at the weigh ins.

4. Firstly before I talk about the controversy Erick Silva is a beast. He comes into the ring with a rare intensity, like Wanderlei of old. This kid has a huge future in the UFC. For what it's worth I thought it was a poor decision to disqualify him from Yamazaki. In my mind there was only one clear blow to the back of the head and in any scramble one or two will slip through, we see this in so many fights, event after event, it's unavoidable. For me the rule is to stop someone deliberately hammering away to the back of an opponents head. Despite this we really can't have Joe Rogan (who I love by the way) chastising referees in the ring immediately after the fight. It's unprofessional, Yamazaki made what he felt was the right call in the heat of the moment.

5. I'm really starting to appreciate just how good Jose Aldo is. I thought Mendes would push him but he never got close. Aldo's take down defence was most impressive, he could be champ for a while. It only added to the craziness of the night when he ran into the crowd after the fight nearly causing a riot.

Bye Bye Brock

So UFC 141 is all over and so is Brock Lesnars MMA career. I have to hold my hands up and admit that I called this one wrong. I really thought that Brock would take The Reem down and pound him out. The fight itself was weird, Brocks heart just wasn't in it he seemed content to take his punishment and get the hell out of there, no doubt with a healthy pay cheque to boot. His admission after the fight that he had intended to retire if he lost or after one more fight if he won shed some light on his lacklustre performance. I think fans have every right to feel a little short changed, in the pre fight hype Brock was talking about becoming the greatest MMA heavyweight of all time now he had his health back. In reality he was just selling some extra PPV buys for his final appearance. Fair play, he won and defended (twice) the belt and brought excitement and media attention to the UFC but it wasn't a great way to bow out.

Overeem on the other hand can't be faulted, he turned up, looked super confident, was aggressive and now has a chance to be the UFC heavyweight champ. I still don't think he answered the question about how he would handle an elite wrestler. One half hearted single leg attempt from Brock didn't even cause him to break sweat. One thing that struck me as weird was the UK flag on the fighter head to head graphic. He may have been born in London and we'd love to claim him as our own but the guy is a proud Dutchman.

Nate Diaz looked awesome in his destruction of "The Cowboy". His last two performances have been great. I have to say I'm really warming to the Diaz brothers, they are both really exciting to watch. I like the animosity and intensity they bring to the cage. That's what I tune in to see. Neither of them have answered the question of how they can deal with an elite wrestler yet but that test will come again soon enough.

Speaking of elite wrestlers Johny Hendricks scored a super KO win over Jon Fitch. It was a great left hand strike and I have no concerns about the stoppage. Fitch was out. I have to say I do feel a little sorry for Jon Fitch, I think he kinda got screwed by the UFC with this match up. It's clear he has few friends in the UFC hierarchy and that is partly to do with his own outspoken nature and "practical" (boring) fighting style. This guy has to win twice as many fights as anyone else to get back into title contention despite being most peoples No 2 ranked WW (prior to this fight). Fitch should not have been fighting anyone outside the top 10, this was a clear lose/lose situation and a horrible stylistic match up. I can't help but think that Dana White would've been secretly rubbing his hands with glee at this result.

MMA Round Up

Ok so it's been a while since my last post and as always two weeks is a long time in the world of MMA. I'm actually on holiday in Japan, I'm here for about a month visiting my in laws and doing some touristy shit. I'm just gutted that I'm not gonna be here in February when the UFC hits town. I'm actually quite interested to see if they will fill the Saitama Super Arena, I guess they will, the UFC marketing machine rarely gets this kind of thing wrong but there is no hype here yet. I have seen just two posters in Shinjuku station in Tokyo.

Here are my thoughts on what's happened recently;

1. Jon Jones is the real deal. People are celebrating how "well" Machida did in the first round but really, cmon, yeah sure he was a little awkward at first and yeah a couple of jabs got through but as soon as Jones upped the heat in round two it was like taking candy from a child. He looked a different class to Lyoto. One thing I would say is that despite what Jones himself claims, his chin still hasn't been tested. Lyoto hardly landed a hay maker, he just landed a stiff jab or two. The fact that Jones is so keen to suppress the idea he might have a suspect chin makes me a little suspicious. He was desperate to tell us after the fight that his chin was now proven to be granite. Hmmm. That's why I have a sneaky feeling Rashad will give him a really tough fight. When Rashad talks about Jones he does so with the air of a man who knows something that we don't. They trained with each other extensively. If Jones was dishing out one sided beatings all day would Rashad be so confident? It might be psychological too, kind of like if a kid has to fight his big brother. On this theme, Dan Henderson will also be a real test. If Jones gets hit with the H-Bomb and lives to tell the tale then he really can claim to have a chin. On a serious note if Jones beats both these two his resume will be unbelievable.

2. Will Big Nog really come back after that break? Maybe but at his age that is a career threatening injury. Hindsight is a truly wonderful thing but If Nog had kept the fight standing then I'm pretty sure he would've knocked Mir out. After that victory I don't think it's silly to suggest that Mir is the top heavyweight submission artist in the world. People talk about Nogueira having better technique, maybe slightly but Mir is bigger stonger and more explosive and that gave him the advantage on the ground.

3. I would give Tito one more fight if I were Dana White. love him or loathe him he is one of the people who helped build MMA into the sport it is today. I'd like to see him go out on a win.

4. Much to the annoyance of many American (and some British) fans Micheal Bisping beat Mayhem Miller with some ease. I think if he beats Demian Maia in his next fight I think he'll get a title shot. I think it's a 50/50 fight for The Count but if I were a betting man I'd put some money on a decision win.

5. I'm really hyped about Lesnar v Overeem. This fight will have an electric atmosphere, it's a true heavyweight clash. It seems like Overeem has managed to avoid falling foul of the pre fight drug tests and has the go ahead to square off with Brock. I like Alastair both as a person and as a fighter but seriously the fact that he can compete at all is a damning indictment of the state of performance enhancing drug testing in MMA. I think Lesnar gets the take down early and wins via TKO after about 3 mins of the first round.

Womens MMA and other stuff

There's a few things that I wanted to talk about, so I thought I'd make a list!

1. It seems like Strikeforce will actually be kept alive by Zuffa and I think this is a great move not least for women's MMA. Dana White has a point that the female divisions aren't really deep enough to integrate in the UFC but Strikeforce is a great platform for women's MMA to grow. I also love how the female fighters are covered in the MMA media, they get legitimate coverage and fight reports. This is something that rarely happens in boxing where they still haven't been fully accepted. I mean I'm genuinely hyped about a potential match up between Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate. Those girls know how to promote a fight and they are seriously skilled too.

2. I wrote a fairly critical previous post about this season of TUF. I have to say the quality of the fights/fighters has won me round. Diego Brandao in particular looks like he could be a real force in the UFC. He's a mini Wanderlei Silva, loads of aggression and power.

3. I think Bisping's gonna take Mayhem. His wrestling is really good which means that this fight will likely be contested on the feet. I can't see Miller winning a stand up battle with The Count. I'm going for Bisping via unanimous decision. Although most American fans (and some Brits) will hate the prospect, a win on Saturday probably puts him one fight away from a title shot. Whilst he would have almost no chance of beating Anderson Silva (presuming he's still the champ) this would be a great opportunity to hold a title fight in the UK which would generate a lot of media interest over here.

Russian Tweets

Interesting news from twitter last night saw M1 global calling for a match between Fedor and Cain Velasquez in Moscow!

Now I realize that this is pure fantasy for a variety of reasons but indulge me for a minute...that fight would be a great spectacle (especially in Russia) and a match up that lots of fans would love to see. Of course there is a less than 1% chance that it would happen, I don't think the UFC would ever co-promote with any other organisation and lets face it Fedor hardly catapulted himself back to relevance with a decision win over Jeff Monson last weekend. I'm sure that Dana will have some fun at M1's expense over this one.

The only potential positives about this fight from a UFC perspective (and I realize that I'm clutching at straws here) are;

1. Velasquez is no longer the champ, if he were to lose it wouldn't devalue the belt in any way by having the "champion" outside of the UFC

2. I imagine Russia would probably be a difficult market for the UFC to crack. A one off partnership with M1 might actually make sense here and could be great for building the UFC's profile in previously uncharted waters.

UFC 139 Wow

Well a lot has been said and written about UFC 139 already but it was a truly fantastic event. Here are some of my thoughts now I've had a couple of nights to get over the excitement;

1. Shogun v Henderson was in my opinion the best MMA fight ever. I haven't heard anyone come up with a really credible contender.

2. How could the last round not be scored 10/8 to Shogun? He mounted Dan four times! It's getting tiresome but judging in MMA needs an overhaul. Judges across the board favour stand up striking over grappling when scoring. It could also be argued that round three was a 10/8 to Hendo, for what it's worth I had the fight as a draw.

3. Both these guys are true warriors, I hope they got paid a shed load of money.

4 Hendo seems to be at his peak at age 41. He now fights like Chuck Liddel, really just using his wrestling to keep the fight standing and waiting to land that right hand bomb. Having a granite chin also helps. If I had a choice I think I'd like him to fight Silva (providing he can get past Sonnen) rather than Jon Jones. I think Jones would out-wrestle him and be big enough and strong enough to hold him down.

5. Will Shogun ever come to a fight in really great shape? He looked flabbier than usual for this one. He was gassed by the end of the second round but to be fair to him he seemed to stay at the same level for the rest of the fight and actually finished much stronger than Henderson (although being 12 years younger has to help). I can't help but support this guy. I would love to see him fight Rampage in Japan but I think that fight may come too soon for him to recover. He's only 29 and I think he'll put together another run at the title sooner rather than later.

6. Wanderlei Silva still has something left in the tank. It was great to see a typical swarming finish from him, a real blast from the past. I still get nervous whenever he gets tagged and he looked unsteady after eating the spinning back fist in round one but he got the win in impressive fashion at the end. I'm not sure what's next for him, the Cung Lee fight was perfect, a big name but not hugely dangerous. I'm really interested to see who he gets next.

7. Cung Lee would probably lose to the majority of middleweights in the UFC. He's 39, has poor conditioning and has never really focused fully on MMA. It's only down to huge natural ability that he can compete at that level at all. I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't see him return.

8. Urijah Faber was awesome. I hope the rumour is true that he will be the next coach of the ultimate fighter alongside Dominic Cruz. They despise each other and it would really help build their rivalry to a new level.