MMA Fighters - Over Utilized & Under Paid

The world of combat sports is one of the most exciting, and exhilarating. A good card is one that can make audience go wild and the PPV collection blow the roof off. In October 2018 UFC 229 was held with the greatest card ever McGregor vs Khabib, for the glorious lightweight championship. The event ended on quite an exciting note leading to a bar fight between Irish and Russian fans. The card paid well to the company and the top fighters received chunky share, in millions. But a few remember about the second card of the fight, or the third, fourth and so on. The second card was Ferguson vs Pettis, and during that fight, Pettis was injured and was out of work for six months. The fighters on the second card received almost one tenth of what the fighters from first card received. The UFC 229 event ended up earning a sum of $17,188,895 but the total pay-out was $6,636,000, largely skewed in favor of the top card.

And UFC 229 is one of the many events in combat sports which show a disparity between the pay-outs of fighters. By no means, I am against Conor McGregor, and let me confess that McGregor is the reason I watch UFC and combat sports. Neither I envy his pay-outs which led him opening his own whisky company - The Proper 12. It is understood that some fighters have very high marketability and they are highly visible in the audience. Some of those individuals are the direct reasons why combat sports are now famous in Asian and African countries as well including India. And Conor McGregor is being one of those icons. 

However the issue is with UFC and its parent company, Zuffa LLC. The company has made billions throughout these years and still many of the top fighters go underpaid. Recent claims buy fighters Jorge Masvidal, Jon Jones, Nathan Diaz, and many others point towards the fact that company has been using these fighters and the bodies as money minting machines without giving a regard to the well-being and the status of the achievements. It takes lot of years to be in the shape of a good fighter, a lot of investment is done in terms of finance, time, supplements and medical well-being, some of these fighters initially had to do some another job just to sustain themselves. Few years back Frank Mir was involved in a motorcycle accident, and the employer couldn't care enough. Also, the compensation policies are rather weak is fighters only paid the sum of money the during fights, and some fighters and up making less than $20000 for the whole year. and from that, the athletes pay for their coaching and gym. There aren't any options for equity share holding by the fighters, or any post retirement package. Not there is any severance policy for the fighters whose contract is to be terminated. The top tier fighters, who had a successful streak of victories benefit from the sponsorship. But that cannot be set for the fighter from middle and lower tier. 

In the midst of covid-19, where company had to cancel many of its prime shows such as UFC fight nights, the company shall be operating solely on desirable cards bases, nothing can be said about how long is trend will continue. it only means that those fighters who used to appear in preliminary and early-preliminary slots are sort of jobless until the situation gets better, or when the lucky draw is in their favor.

Boxing vs MMA

On the contrary boxing is one sport where the payment of fighter justifies the glory of the fight and as well as the fans. The average pay-out for boxing was well above $150,000, while the average pay-out for mixed martial artists was below $45000. Most of the most of the MMA fighters spend their income in their own well-being and recovery, including therapies. There aren't many sponsors either except in the case of organisation such is UFC, Bellator and ONE. Moreover, the policy, or rather the actions of the management are regressive for someone who asks for increment in the pay as seen in the recent cases of fighters demanded other to increase a pay-out, or to release them from the contracts. The most fortune Conor McGregor ever made was in a boxing match, against Floyd Mayweather, also dubbed as the money fight. 

Racial disparity

There have been consistent efforts by many fighters’ activists highlighting the racial prejudice in the combat sports specially in UFC and WWE. Jon Jones, an African American who currently ranks 1st, pound for pound best fighter, is being underpaid then compared to other fighters. In his case, he is also one of the most visible fighters having popularized the sports in the African American community, as well as being a representative of the same community. Moreover, regarding the doping scandal involving Jon Jones was more sensationalized than that of Brock Lesnar’s. Jon Jones was comparatively heavily penalized by both the company and the USADA authority then compared to Brock Lesnar, who also found numerous opportunities in other ventures including World wrestling entertainment, and went on to become one of the highest charging Pro wrestlers of all time. In case of Brazilian star Jose Aldo, who was the longest reigning champion in the lightweight segment, was paid comparatively less than some of his peers. He possessed 'inadequate' speaking skills, which further attributed to his inability to speak English. In WWE, Afro-American athletes were often given gimmicks of Sub-Saharan tribes, having their bodies painted, and often portrayed as heels (or antagonists). But, as seen in case of James Harris a.k.a Kamala, many such athletes are living a hand-to-mouth life, and suffer from numerous health problems.

We are living in a civilized world where things are rather regulated for the sake of sanity. Let's not understand these fighters as gladiators but mixed martial artists who also happen to be humans and need some assistance, like all of us do. The world of combat sports is shadier than we know and now apparently has become clear that employers who do little for their own employees in terms physical and mental well-being, as seen in the contracts of some Entertainment Giants, who couldn't even provide health insurance to their employees by tactfully excluding them as 'employees' in the first place. It is time that companies should start thinking beyond marketing, advertising and creating gimmicks out of athletes, while focusing on making policies on the qualities of equity and social justice. Gimmicks can only pay in cash but never in terms of goodwill. Also, fighters are also the ambassadors of their own communities, treating all of them shall tantamount to respecting their communities unequivocally and fairly.