MMA Fighters: Can payouts become a hazard to the sport?

[sandywh]

Originally Posted by smoogy

You are right about the LW division being weak when Sherk won the belt; actually, that is one of the reasons I consider him a paper champion. They should have waited until there was a legitimate challenger. And Sylvia didn't have to go through Monson to get the title. Arlovski was the best fighter to hold that iteration of the HW belt and he didn't have to beat anyone impressive to get it, so it is a paper championship.

I'll agree that Sylvia was not a worthy champ. RC showed that he had holes in his game that my grandmother could exploit, but again, at the time, the 3 best fighters (per the experts) fighting in UFC were Monson, Arlovski, and Sylvia. RC was still "retired". And the Pride guys hadn't arrived yet (still haven't by their performances). So it was a very weak division. (that's why they went out to get some Pride guys)

[lilb]

Tito Ortiz lost 10million for his loss against Chuck Liddell!

[subman]

Originally Posted by sandywh

Plenty of guys end up pulling in $1 million + after the fight. Some guys have percentage clauses in their contracts. But you don't have guys refusing to fight until evey dollar is agreed upon.

BTW - Pride did have the huge paydays. Pride also sold out because of financial problems. Right?

Pride's financial problems were due to losing TV rights (among other things), and shady dealings. Yakuza is the word on that.

I for one would be happy to see if huge paydays hurt the sport. Let's get to the point where that is a big part of the debate, rather than right now having posts about how shitty it is that guys are making 3k on a UFC PPV card.

[sandywh]

Originally Posted by subman

Pride's financial problems were due to losing TV rights (among other things), and shady dealings. Yakuza is the word on that.

I for one would be happy to see if huge paydays hurt the sport. Let's get to the point where that is a big part of the debate, rather than right now having posts about how shitty it is that guys are making 3k on a UFC PPV card.

I know the rumors about Pride's fall. It was still finiancial problems nonetheless.
I think you are missing the point on the money. I'm all for guys getting their money, but as the money goes up the sharks start circling the water. Do you want to see Don King or Lou Duva at these press conferences spittin' shit about his guying not fighting that guy because the company won't shell out $5 to $10 million for the fight?