NICE!!!!! Im liking this a lot. Fighters are starting to wake up and realize they can get compensated more. I hope UFC buckles down and starts paying out fighters what they truly deserve. I hate watching UFC take advantage of not paying fighters what they are truly worth in professional sports.

FIRST***

The Randy Effect will continue to have financial impact on the UFC with many top fighters seeing this as an opportunity to negotiate with authority.

Wow,I respect the fighters for holding out but I hope this doesnt cause major problems in the future.What if fighters decided to strike?

I love it. I’m sure that being good friends, Randy and Dan have talked about this.

Fighters should be payed on a fight to fight basis and be putting the majority of the money in their pockets, not in Dana’s! I’m glad they are starting to take a stance against the UFC. These fighters are sacrificing their bodies and not getting payed what they are worth. Boxers bodies don’t take nearly the punishment that MMA fighters take and get paid way more.

The fighters should strike. You see it happen in professional sports where the athletes make millions. They seem greedy. But the fighters in the UFC are not being compensated nearly enough. They deserve more money and should go on strike!

Im glad he brings to light the low pay – especially for a world class fighter as himself. Top 3 MMA guys in all wieght catagories should be in the millions in my opinion – boxers are and boxing is boring (Hatton Mayweather will rock tho)
I wonder how much Dana white actually makes a per year in his pocket – if he is paid more than $100,000 which he probably is – the UFC needs to get its priorities right.
I hope that Hendo go’s elsewhere and takes a few other UFC fighters with him – somewhere like this M-1 thing that Fedor has gone to. It will give the UFC a reet good kick up the arse and give proper paydays – hopefully

Damn PPV prices are gonna be $59.99 now, who else bears the burden?

good job henderson … way to finaly grab your balls

This is going to drag on. Hendo has said in the past he likes it at LHW and doesnt want to drop back down to MW. From his interviews, I can tell Dana wants Hendo to do that. Hendo wants money so maybe it’ll happen. Either way, one side is going to have to give.

if its dans last fight and he cant negotiate a better contract it makes sense he goes out with a win against tito.titos still a good earner and the ko of the night bonus will be nice aswell.

Wow,I respect the fighters for holding out but I hope this doesnt cause major problems in the future.What if fighters decided to strike?

Effective striking would be a first for some guys….like Matt Hughes for instance.

The problem (for the fighters) is that, as a fan, (even though I’d love to see Hendo fight again), I’d be just as happy to see a night of Spencer Fisher’s or Nate Diaz’s fight than someone like Liddell (who get’s paid more than any other fighter). So Dana kind of has them by the balls. I mean even though I’d rather see Randy, Hendo, etc in UFC 78, I’m STILL going to pay the $50 for the HD PPV to see Rashad and Bisbing bang it out. They’d have to start a union and stick together on a salary increase or something before Dana starts paying better.

Effective striking would be a first for some guys….like Matt Hughes for instance.

ROFL

Dana needs to remember that in business ‘you have to spend money, if you want to make money’. Also, if you are going to have an productive and functional organizations, you must focus on relationships. You CAN NOT be dishonest with world-class athletes and maintain a healthy relationship. He has helped build up the UFC, but right now Dana is starting to damage the UFC and its reputation. I’m starting the boycott right here and right now! Dana needs to go! He’s already fulfilled what his potential allows, and now it’s time to bring someone else in. Power comes in numbers and we are the voice of the fans (ultimately they cater to us). Everybody on the same page?!

ROFL

LOL. That was good.

You guys seriously wouldn’t mind if all the top fighters went and competed in separate orgs???

Worst-case we’d get 2-3 great fighters per organization?

Man, that would really suck. I really hope that doesn’t happen.

I’m hoping the UFC cuts OTHER costs…they just can’t afford to lose the big-name guys. If they do, they’ve pretty much lost competitive advantage.

If they do, they’ve pretty much lost competitive advantage.

And worse, these great fighters compete in rival organizations.

If the UFC looses Dan Henderson I will be really pissed off! I am so curious to find out how much Henderson made against Rampage. Henderson is a TRUE warrior, he always brings it, he is always giving up weight to his opponents and more times than not he kicks their ass! I agree with Dan in that fighting Tito will do nothing for his career. I dont even want to see that fight. I am much more interested in Henderson vs. Wanderlei 3, Henderson vs. Forrest, Henderson vs. Houston. Henderson vs. Liddell, Henderson vs. Shogun… or Henderson vs. Anderson Silva or Rich Franklin at 185 lbs.

Tito doesnj’t deserve to be in there against a fighter of Hendersons quality.

Dana better get his head out of his ass, realize that he does not hold a monopoly over mma, and start compensating these guys for risking there bodies more so than any other professional athlete. I dont wanna loose henderson but if he leaves can we really blame him?

Dana White is slowly screwing up the UFC… and its a shame… The UFC is on the rise and the only thing that can stop its rise is unhappy fighters, jumping ship for other organizations!!!

Dan does have 1 more fight left on his contract right? if he does it should be against a top 5 fighter like he said, not bum
ass Tito

Im glad he brings to light the low pay – especially for a world class fighter as himself. Top 3 MMA guys in all wieght catagories should be in the millions in my opinion – boxers are and boxing is boring (Hatton Mayweather will rock tho)
I wonder how much Dana white actually makes a per year in his pocket – if he is paid more than $100,000 which he probably is – the UFC needs to get its priorities right.
I hope that Hendo go’s elsewhere and takes a few other UFC fighters with him – somewhere like this M-1 thing that Fedor has gone to. It will give the UFC a reet good kick up the arse and give proper paydays – hopefully

I agree to a certain extent, but not in regards to your comment about Dana’s salary. That’s ridiculously laughable that a President of a major corporation like the UFC would only make 100000 a year, and I’m surprised that you would be naive enough to think so. Dana should definitely be making a couple million a year AT LEAST.

Why can’t UFC pay fighters with a “purse” like in boxing? Where the loser of the fight gets X amount and the winner gets Y amount. And where X Y is proportioanl to the popularity of the fighters and anticipation of the fight, etc.

This article leads me to believe that UFC lost out more in that Ireland PPV than they’ve led on. Thats what you get for having weak cards! They’re going to have a problem for UFC 78 too!

I’ve talked about this alot, but in boxing, title holders make a ton, but the undercard fights still make next to nothing. Dana White is putting them on a contract which has pro’s and con’s. Pro’s being that people like Cro-Cop are making loads of money losing to scrubs, con’s being that people like Sherk are defending their titles and only like 20k.

If they really wanted to be like boxing and pay per fight, then you would see alot more people pissed than happy. I agree though that as a whole, MMA fighters are underpaid, but not by much.

500k for title fights, 100k for contender fights, 50k for undercard fights. That is what I think they “deserve”. Most people in sports are far overpaid. With these numbers, a “contender” could still make 300k a year, thats more than CEO’s make. Champions can make 1.5mil a year, thats just rediculous. Undercard fighters typically have a job on the side, but can still make 150k , sounds like a good bit of money to me.

I don’t find that Dan is optimistic at all, he might say it, but I don’t get that feeling at all. With the ill outcome of UFC 72, I can’t understand why they would have such a poor card for 78.

I think Zuffa got too greedy.

They completely messed up the opportunities that came with the purchase of Pride.

They missed on great fighters like Sokoudjou, Gomi and especially Fedor.

Put the most electrifying weight division to sleep with the TUF show. (Totally unfair to St. Pierre and other WW in title contention).

Then they lost Randy Couture.

How did this happen? Well they have Dana White to answer that question. As for Dan I think he is taking off.

Everyone thought the fighters were being underpaid based on the assumption that the UFC was raking in tens of millions, maybe hundreds of millions, in pure profit for ech event. However, if it is true they lost money on 3 major events than how can anyone be asking the ufc to pay their fighters more money?

Is the UFC boat sinking? Because you fans sound like your jumping ship. My guess is you all jumped on the MMA band wagon only a few years ago anyways. Heres to the real fans who have been watching for 10 years, like myself. ; )

DANA WHITE NEEDS TO GO !!!
Doeas anyone know how we can do an e-petition like ufcmania did b4 on i think the matt hammil crap decision?

THis is not a PR stunt!
DANA IS LETTING TOP QUALITY GUYS DOWN AND LYING TO THE BSEST DAN HENDERSON IS A GREAT FIGHTER!
AN D FEDOR AND RANDY NOW THOSE # ARE GONE, WAY TO GO DANA WHITE

The unfortunate thing here is, we all know how stubborn the UFC can be. Will the UFC give in to demands for higher payouts? Who knows? The fact of the matter is, with all these organizations popping up and paying more, mma fighters are not going to care where they fight as long as they feel well compensated.

Whats to fans like us?

The ship is sinking but, I’ve been with the ship since the the ship set sail, and I wouldnt be surprised if they opt for a buyout within the next few years. And yes I’ll still be saillin!

I’VE BEN WATCHING SINCE UFC1
DANA WHITE’S GOT TO GO
DANA WHITE’S GOTTA GO

HOW CAN WE FANS TY TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN CAN WE CONTACT ZUFFA OR DANA? OR ( THE MOB) AS IT WERE???

I’m taking a page from the Hawain Athletic Commission here.

A: There should be standard protocol for fighter income USA-wide. Here is my suggestion for this protocol.

B: All fighters, fighting at the specific show split 5% of payperview sales, and ticket sales. Main card fighters get 1% each, and everyone else appearing on PPV recieves the rest of the PPV sales. Fighters not appearing on PPV only recieve a fraction of a percentage of the ticket sales.

IE If UFC makes 40 mil in ppv sales, Henderson and Jackson each get 1% of that 40 mil, along with 1% each of the ticket sales.

Percentages could be argued, but I’m just suggesting a standard format.

C: There is a standard contract for all fighters that is unified, which includes salary, health coverage and extensive disability and life insurance, for themselves and immediate family.

Can anyone say M1. Something is going on here. I thing the sh!t is about to hit the fan in the MMA world.

Now I keep on going on about M1 secret partner. They say it is a company. It is possible one of the Russian oil billionaires come in with some money as well. I think the UFC is in some trouble.

The fighters should strike. You see it happen in professional sports where the athletes make millions. They seem greedy. But the fighters in the UFC are not being compensated nearly enough. They deserve more money and should go on strike!

Strikes would hurt the fighters and the fans in the US who pay to watch.

If the fighters are not happy with ufc they can fight with other organizations

As a fan you want to watch mma who cares if its in ring cage or octogon

The unfortunate thing here is, we all know how stubborn the UFC can be. Will the UFC give in to demands for higher payouts? Who knows? The fact of the matter is, with all these organizations popping up and paying more, mma fighters are not going to care where they fight as long as they feel well compensated.

They need a fighters union.

Great point. I totally agree that the ufc needs a fighters union. But Dana would never agree to it. This doesn’t look good for the UFC or for Dana { The FACE of the Company}>

How can they say that the only two companys that matter in mma are the UFC and PRide, and the rest are start ups that aren’t credible mma promotions. But these start up companys are out bidding the ufc in free agency. Dana Stop the spin zone people aren’t buying it anymore.

henderson vs. Silva is going happen. After Rich gets beat there wont be another strong challenge for Anderson, outside of henderson. The ufc is going to have to give dan alot of money to fight at mw where there are alot less marquee names.

Henderson only has a few more fights in him, and he wants to get PAID for those fights. Dont blame him… but Im sure Randy’s influence had something to do with this.

I agree to a certain extent, but not in regards to your comment about Dana’s salary. That’s ridiculously laughable that a President of a major corporation like the UFC would only make 100000 a year, and I’m surprised that you would be naive enough to think so. Dana should definitely be making a couple million a year AT LEAST.

Awww man, I’ve been so buisy at work today, I haven’t had a chance to even come to the site today. LOTS of good stuff going on. I can’t wait to talk about my two favorite fighters, Nick Diaz and Dan Henderson!!!!!! I don’t know when I’ll be able to, I’m swamped. Ehhh, I’ll figure something out. But it sucks cuz there’s like 100 comments in the Diaz thread to read over too…

Damn PPV prices are gonna be $59.99 now, who else bears the burden?

You got it! Dana needs the money to keep his head shiny.

If the UFC looses Dan Henderson I will be really pissed off! I am so curious to find out how much Henderson made against Rampage. Henderson is a TRUE warrior, he always brings it, he is always giving up weight to his opponents and more times than not he kicks their ass! I agree with Dan in that fighting Tito will do nothing for his career. I dont even want to see that fight. I am much more interested in Henderson vs. Wanderlei 3, Henderson vs. Forrest, Henderson vs. Houston. Henderson vs. Liddell, Henderson vs. Shogun… or Henderson vs. Anderson Silva or Rich Franklin at 185 lbs.

Tito doesnj’t deserve to be in there against a fighter of Hendersons quality.

Dana better get his head out of his ass, realize that he does not hold a monopoly over mma, and start compensating these guys for risking there bodies more so than any other professional athlete. I dont wanna loose henderson but if he leaves can we really blame him?

Dana White is slowly screwing up the UFC… and its a shame… The UFC is on the rise and the only thing that can stop its rise is unhappy fighters, jumping ship for other organizations!!!

Dan does have 1 more fight left on his contract right? if he does it should be against a top 5 fighter like he said, not bum
ass Tito

Great post John, and I agree 100%. The UFC can not lose Dan Henderson. But I wouldn’t be surpised if they did. Dan deserves to get paid big money for his last few fights, and no way should any of them be against Tito. Like he said in the interview, he needs to fight someone ranked in the Top 3 to get another shot at Rampage.

If Dan agrees to sign to an extension, I see the worst case secenario being Dan vs a Top 3. If he wins he fights Rampage (after Rampage beat Forrest). If he loses, he fights Forrest, assuming Forrest/Rampage happens for the title, and Rampage wins.

with the amount of $$$ the UFC generates from these fighters it is ridiculous to pay them chump change. Am i the only one that thinks that first Couture and Now Hendo are both getting screwed? If Dana had 2 million to throw at Fedor why can’t he now give Hendo a little slice of that pie? A lot is being said about how unhappy a lot of these guys are. here’s an idea Dana…. Take that 2 million you were gonna throw at Fedor and spread it around. There are 5 weight classes. have some serious bouts for the belt in each weight class and give these fighters some serious bonuses. When you look at the paydays of these guys it’s embarassing. UFC is now a bigger draw than boxing. The PPV’s prove it. Look at the money that boxers get and then compare that to the money Couture gets. Anderson Silva got paid $90,000 in his fight against Marquardt. Thats embarassing. Pound for Pound he is the best fighter in the UFC. Guys are getting gouged and i think that is why guys are getting really dissatisfied with everything. They wasted the aquisition of Pride by doing nothing with it, under cut the most popular champion they ever had with Randy by offering Fedor 8 times what they paid Randy when Fedor hasn’t even fought in the UFC. Now it’s Hendo’s turn to get short changed. They obviously have the money to throw arouond if they were gonna throw that briefcase of cash at Fedor. Right now i gotta say I’m totally disgusted with Dana White and equally as appalled at the Fertita’s for letting this go on. It goes to show that having Dana in charge of fighters paydays with no liaison for the fighters other than their managers is bullshit. They need to for a union or something or the next thing we are gonna see is a mass exodus to other organizations. just my 2 cents

Is the UFC boat sinking? Because you fans sound like your jumping ship. My guess is you all jumped on the MMA band wagon only a few years ago anyways. Heres to the real fans who have been watching for 10 years, like myself. ; )

What does that have to do with anything. I’ve been watching Ufc since UFC 2. So what does that mean? Nothing. I still feel that these guys are getting hooped. Grow up and realize that being an “oldskool” UFC fan has absolutely nothing to do with this topic whatsoever.

Like a lot of other people, I’m glad to see Dan Henderson taking a stand on the contract issues. It isn’t like it’s a team sport where coaching is provided, these guys have to pay for their training out of pocket. Champions making a couple million a year doesn’t seem out of line to me at all. For one, they generate a lot of revenue for the organization. Secondly, they’re putting their bodies at risk. Anyone who’s ever had a serious injury in sports or on the job understands that it can take years to fully recover, and sometimes you’re just never quite the same. I would like to see MMA fighters form some kind of union, judging from recent events it seems to be a little bit overdue.

Well, we know the UFC isn’t using all that money on production costs…

Does anybody know how to send an email to Zuffa because I want Dana white out…

“500k for title fights, 100k for contender fights, 50k for undercard fights. That is what I think they “deserve”. Most people in sports are far overpaid. With these numbers, a “contender” could still make 300k a year, thats more than CEO’s make. Champions can make 1.5mil a year, thats just rediculous. Undercard fighters typically have a job on the side, but can still make 150k , sounds like a good bit of money to me.[/quote]"

Some type of structure like that would be more appropriate; my concern is more for the top 10 or exciting type fighter that brings a big draw. Keep in mind the salaries do not include signing bonuses, pay-per-view percentages and other unofficial payments. It’s hard to say what the top 10 type fighter makes, strictly from the UFC, because that information remains confidential.

I’m not so keen on extremely Top heavy Paydays for Fighters, such as boxing but, Im glad Hendo and Couture are taking stands.. it kind of has to happen at the top and trickle down…The UFC blew it by offering FEDOR so much money$$$… now all the champion caliber fighters have a standard of measurement to go by.

way to go first randy now hendo
they better start paying their guys money or else it will be a domino effect, they should put if they pay him the amount he wants he has to fight as a middleweight instead of light heavy.

Wow, so let me get this straight. First no Fedor. Then they lose Coutur. Now we might not get to see Dan Henderson in the UFC?!?!?! This is a joke.

Dana and his boys have a lot to figure out here. They better be careful not to let this spin out of control. There are some things that are broken here, and if they go on with business as usual it could be really bad for the organization. But hey, what do I know.

firedanawhite.com Some smart, IT guy create it please…He needs to go. This isn’t the first were going to be hearing about contract disputes. Does anybody know when some other heavies such as Rampage, Chuck, Silva or Franklin’s contracts are up? I would say Cro Cop, but his next fight is gonna be vs. his cane.

The UFC blew it by offering FEDOR so much money$$$… now all the champion caliber fighters have a standard of measurement to go by.

That’s the best point that can be made. Before they could only really go off what figures they had seen. Now that they have seen Fedor’s outrageous, (Or should I say REASONABLE) amount, they know it is DAMN well possible. And they had been held out on.
Well, the uprising has begun. I hope it turns out good.

firedanawhite.com

Some smart, IT guy create it please…He needs to go. This isn’t the first were going to be hearing about contract disputes. Does anybody know when some other heavies such as Rampage, Chuck, Silva or Franklin’s contracts are up? I would say Cro Cop, but his next fight is gonna be vs. his cane.

Do we think Dana is going to budge? I would think he feels that he created these UFC fighters images and he can create some more.

Recipe#1

One part blood
One part underdog

Recipe#2

One part personality
One part mismatch (this can be of styles or abilities)

Let two recipes cook for six months on UFC unleashed and them serve them at $40.00 on PPV.

Sounds like the wheels are starting to come off!

This is sounding too familiar with all the unhappy fighters, “Were being underpaid!” I hope that ownership and management keep their eyes on what drives the UFC organization, the fighters! I know when I go to Vegas and pay to see the events its to see the best fighters in the world and not Dana White, I’m starting to see that boxing side of Dana sneak its way into this ring, can anybody say Don King? Screw your fighters and look at me, I’m the best promoter in the world! Its been a fact for the last 2 years that UFC has been taking in the most dollars on pay-per-view and admission ticket sales over boxing but the profits aren’t being shared across the board, that’s the sure fire way to run this organization and drive it into the ground just like boxing has done to itself. I’d hate to see it. Wow, what a turn of events in the last month, sad, sad, sad!

Great post John, and I agree 100%. The UFC can not lose Dan Henderson. But I wouldn’t be surpised if they did. Dan deserves to get paid big money for his last few fights, and no way should any of them be against Tito. Like he said in the interview, he needs to fight someone ranked in the Top 3 to get another shot at Rampage.

If Dan agrees to sign to an extension, I see the worst case secenario being Dan vs a Top 3. If he wins he fights Rampage (after Rampage beat Forrest). If he loses, he fights Forrest, assuming Forrest/Rampage happens for the title, and Rampage wins.

I say give Henderson Houston Alexander, then wanderlei or shogun and if he can run through them he should get another shot at Rampage……… But Mike I agree they gotta give Forrest a shot at Rampage first!

Great point by “rearnakedslam” about the contenders making more then CEO’s and all but did anyone explain to you how much oscar dela hoya and mayweather made last fight each…………….50 mil. Is that not a little excessive? That might be a touch more extreme I would say. So why can’t randy demand at least 2? Is that so unreasonable? Is MMA not a bigger draw then boxing now anyways? Does randy not train as hard as these guys? Does he not demand as much respect? Just a few questions I would like to throw out there.

he will have leverage if franklin loses to silva on sat the ufc will probably wrapp up a deal with hendo to fight silva next for the belt and give him what he wants

now that randy and dan have taken a stand, i really dont see the rest of the fighters laying down and eating dana white’s shit anymore. good for them. unfortuantly unless the fighters and the organization can come to an agreement, we are in for more holdouts.

also since we are sorta on the subject of the shallow 185 lb weight class. does anyone else think that shogun should consider moving down to 185 too?

Wow,I respect the fighters for holding out but I hope this doesnt cause major problems in the future.What if fighters decided to strike?

I prefer striking. Ground game bores me.