Before even starting the video I said to myself "pay scale"... I have checked out the comments section and it looks like a lot of people are in agreeance on that. With all due respect to other athletes and what they do MMA fighters are putting themselves through much more strenuous tasks during their careers and considerably more danger on average. I believe that alone deserves better compensation.
That’s a soft take on a company that is working to be more popular and putting their profits into building it more. ESPN deals gave everyone a raise, but how much more can base fighters get? How much more can fighters desire for contracts when the only reason they are profitable is because everything goes back to making them a little more profitable? They deserve what they sign a contract for, and if they don’t like it, they should go play a different sport or work a job like the rest of us
@isaacbmx7821 if you're not a headliner you're pretty much stuck with what they wanna give you, and sometimes even if you are a headliner. Dumbass point
@@isaacbmx7821If you want a career you take what's given lol. The whole "they signed the contract" attitude completely ignores the incentives and power discrepancy being exploited to underpay the athletes in question
@@epicmarschmallow5049I didnt know paying fighters 5 mill for 1 fight is "underpaid" Cope more cause people wanna be greedy when they're not even good to watch
@@monstergto250when has a ufc fighter ever been paid 5 mil for one fight? Stop riding Dana and realize that these fighters give their lives away for us and barely get paid off it.
The UFC needs a base pay structure that goes up the more you fight per year. make it something like 25k a year plus 5k per each fight you take per year, maybe 10k for short notice bouts. Support your athletes so they’re able to dedicate their time to becoming the best fighter they can. It also makes MMA a more viable option for fighters who live in a first world country. Why get punched in the face when you can sell used cars and make the same amount of money.
Under your plan they could still make more selling use cars. Are you kidding me? 25k base and 5k per fight? So a guy fights 3 times a year and makes 40k, well below the median wage? 5 fights a year just to get to 50k and MAYBE be able to afford to live as long as it's just them and no family?
@@austinbowman5966 I don't think so since he says 25k per year initially. If 25k-30k-35k etc, is what he actually meant, fine, I'm on board with that, but I don't think that's what they meant.
Or the guys whose question is just a sad attempt to hype up the crowd "Izzy, how does it feel to have a sold out crowd in your home turf in front of ALL. THESE. ADORING. FANSSS"
I miss the 30 minute break downs of nuisances in the sports, I'm a sucker for long form content!! You guys are awesome, thank you for entertaining me so well throughout the years
I hate teams but if they had a whole card of two gyms going against each other and maybe a huge prize purse for whatever team won more fights? Would be sick.
Pageantry!! Why do we believe that fighters all have to be stoic philisopher kings? The fighters that make the sport popular have persona. Even GSP. The karate kid attire, the quebecer accent, it set him apart. Nobody cared about Chael Sonnen before his heel turn. Connor McGregor would be remembered as a really good fighter by only die-hard fans if he had jose aldo's personality. He was a household name and grew the sport and became rich because of the pageantry. Great suggestion.
but ironically the ufc used to feel much more star studded overall than it does now. The ESPNization has watered the sport down. Id say cut half the roster, have less events, get off espn, etc. Back in the day, you always had someone to route for in almost every sport, instead of a buncha no name fuckers no one cares about. And only the top 5 or even less of each womens division is worth watching. I mean just look at Julianna Pena for example. When a fighter of her caliber can win a title, you know the division is shit. There are about 10 women fighters in the world that are top tier, the rest suck in the context of the highest level of the sport.
The biggest difference between sports teams and MMA is that sports teams play at least once a week, if not more, for a season. A single fighter might get to 3 fights a year.
The media thing is spot on for too long we’ve been dealing with “anyone with a RU-vid channel or a blog “ being our credentialed media in mma ..but on the flip side there are guys who are company shills like John Morgan like there’s obviously a reason he always gets the first questions and it’s cause he never ever asked a real hard hitting question in his life
Another benefit of having major UFC events on regular TV is it gives a chance to make other major stars. Normal people who don’t normally watch UFC might check it out and see a fighter they really like and boom just like that the UFC has a new customer and their fighter has a new fan he/she wouldn’t have if he was only fighting on ppv.
I always love Jason’s analysis videos, he’s always some the thorough research needed for these videos since early 2016, the videos have always smacked hard
Almost every suggestion here is directly at odds with what the UFC wants. It limits their control, and more important their revenue. The best bet is for PFL or Bellator to take these suggestions seriously and challenge the UFC through proving to be a true sporting organization as opposed to simply prize fighting.
@@sallgoodman2323not really. The TKO buyout of Endeavor basically just dumped more than enough money into the equation that the lawsuit is basically a moot point.
I really wouldn't want to see to see MMA end up like other American sports. For example, people talk more about the half time show in the Super Bowl than they do the actual game. MMA doesn't need that and fans (outside of the US at least) don't want that. Most of us want our sports to be sports. Not shows where they fight in between. That's one of the main problems people outside of the US have with American sports.
The Superbowl is a one off event where that happens, it's literally just everything wrapped into one, game, concert, new and funny tv commercials. 99% of the year nobody is talking about the halftime or any of that stuff and just focuses on the game in all the major leagues NFL, MLB, NBA MLS, NHL ETC. Let's not reach too much here.
@@HonestWatchReviewsHWR na NFL is like that which i despise myself, but to their credit it is the most lucrative sports league in the world even though it's only played in one country. The others sports aren't as bad. And nobody with any common sense knows UFC ain't/cant go NFL mode anyways so idk why people even bringing it up or worrying tbh. Even American MMA fans who make up the bulk of the worldwide fan base would not want even 1% move in that direction. Only thing out of this video i can get on board with is making more big fights free and less PPVs, best way to bring more eyes to the sport.
I was first introduced to sports with hockey and football, eventually i found passion in basketball, and since finding MMA it’s pretty much all sports with MMA and american football at the front for me
I agree with about the ref should have allowed that fight to continue also. That's why I love Japan if there was an injury like that they would restart the fight. Even if there's a legitimate ball kick I've seen several times in Pride FC they will go into the back they will bring the next group of fighters out, they will fight. Then after they are done they will bring the other two out again and redo the fight..
I really like the idea of MMA teams/orgs becoming more prominent. Fighters from those organizations could wear kits for their org and you could do tournaments and stuff like that, that could pay out additional money.
Hey boys, love how far the channel has come.. I’ve been a sub since the beginning when it was just Tom and Jason. I’ve watched pretty much every video you guys have ever made and try to like when ever I remember.. I try to comment most vids to.. Again, I’ve always said it, best MMA content on RU-vid! Keep up the good work boys.
Grassroots development is essential for the legacy of any sport. It may not be the best parallel, but we have a very strong rugby culture where I'm from, kids start playing at 6 and it makes a huge difference. If UFC/Bellator etc invested in development, it would help the sport in the long term. Great video!
I'd like a deeper explanation of how Teams would work, I felt like details were missing and it sounded like the concept of a player agent/manager being tied to a gym which doesn't make much sense to me.
I think the institutionalization of sports is genuinely a bad think. Junior leagues like it was described here, sure, but organizations like the NCAA only muddy the waters. It also adds to the compicated legacy of athletes going to college for nonsense degrees and going into debt to do their sport at a competitive level. I think schools can have after-school MMA programs, but going to college to advance your MMA career is a flawed premise.
Team sports in school had me thinking I was athletic and hard working but just sucked at playing ball. Found out later in life I excel at individual martial arts. Who knew. lol
You do realize there are plenty of other sports in the world. Almost no one outside of the US gives a shit about US sports my guy. There is so much to explore and take away from all these different kinds of sports.@@symsymah7539
You get paid on popularity, who tf pays a man 5 million when noone watches him ? They earn what they can sell Conor proved that DJ proved that if youre not popular, you're not making money Its career entertainment Not a job
@@standingappa1160 5 million is underpaid ? Lmao Yea and rich people dont get enough money on a daily as well ? 5 million you'll never see in your life and you think he got underpaid? Lmao My god you idiots are dumb with money
The fighters association is separate from teams. You were really off on that one. Players still have their own rights outside of their teams. It’s a step after teams, but teams really create deferred responsibilities from the top. That’s a HUGE cost
It's still a great way to expand the fan base. Silly as it is, tribal affiliation connects fans to locations, colors, and logos in an extremely powerful way. They might not know a damn thing about the actual game but the chance that their team could win(mirror neurons) keeps them invested in the sport. It's a great idea if the promotion just recognizes the camps as teams and lets their fighters wear their colors in competition, track their annual records, etc
@@CHUNKYBLAQQ I’m not against it, I’m just curious what they would want to do with it. Right now, the relationship directly to the fighter is so valued as well, and they will have teams that are sandbagging fighters even still, and it creates a toxic environment when some fighters don’t have teams and other do. It has worked without them for a long time. I’m also not a union guy myself
I think both sides are definitely valid. I worry any time I hear “players association” because all I can think about is the NBA and how bad that has gotten. Teams could be interesting, if fighters could retain control over their own path and teams didn’t become bigger than the organization they serve. Anything that keeps MMA away from the boxing model where the top boxers all run from each other is the best solution.
@@chrishunter6872 but it never is that way. Teams then “own” fighters and the fighters lose their control. They become workers for a paycheck, not contractors for a grind to fight. When you let teams control a fighter’s money, you lose the lone man aspect that makes MMA so powerful. You would have to limit teams to single fighters in weight classes that can’t move up, and the teams would control their contracts, and cost the UFC even more money from splits and stuff. I don’t see the value in it for anyone except the owners of teams, which strays from fighter pay and all that jazz. That’s how I see it anyways
@@sethskinner7128 oh I absolutely agree. I don’t think it would ever turn out well for the fighter or the sport. The truth is true “player empowerment” is usually bad for whatever sport it serves. Owners are greedy as hell and from a human perspective, we want the people doing the work to be compensated. However, the owners of these teams/organizations have the larger picture in mind and it typically turns out better for us fans when they maintain more control. A better way to increase fighter revenue is bring back their ability to advertise on their shorts and what not.
Did this guy just say, its easier to see the prospects coming up in MMA over boxing? As someone who follows both, boxing is much easier to know. That was a crazy statement
In the NBA, the Ball Brothers have done sooooo much basketball as kids that Lonzo's knees are basically trashed, and he's not even 30. A lot of NFL players careers only last 2-5 years
The press conferences used to be ao fun with the s**t talking, near scraps, fans cheering and booing, etc. Now they are sterile and I can't really name any new fighters that I give a damn about.
Just to point out you could remove any advantage to cutting weight by having them weigh in just before they go in the cage but then that cause all sorts of other issues.
I'm all for this. Have one weigh in 24 hours before the fight and another when they come to the cage. If they fail the cage weigh in, the overweight fighter can't officially win, but he can lose or no contest, and he would be fined and forced to move up a weight class for a year. If you get rid of the advantage, I seriously doubt any fighter would choose to come in dehydrated. Even if they did though, I don't care. It is their own choice and I don't want to force fighters to dehydrate just for a little bit more protection for fighters who choose to dehydrate.
@@Mutex50 they already come in dehydrated, some fighters will enter the cage barely walking just to make weight, so its either numerous deaths every year or at least two or three fights per card canceled because the doctors didnt allow the fighters to fight
here;s a good one pay thier roster enough money to attract some real athletic talent to mma as opposed to the UFC's current model of "hey you could do literally any other sport and make borderline infinite money or you can come to the ufc, get yelled at by an angry tomato and work a second job at domino's while training full time"
Hockey is my jam, but mma is something I can actually compete in 5-6 times a week so I def participate in the art of strangling and and punching lips much more. I miss no UFC,Bellator, ONE , or PFL, but I only watch my favourite team in Hockey.
I just had an internal conversation about this. The UFC is the most business-like, corporate sports organization there is. Money talks in every sport, believe me, but when the UFC does things, it feels like its more for profit than it does when other organizations do things.
I never got into other sports, I’ve been watching only MMA since I was 5 years old, and have been only training and competing in multiple different martial arts my while life.
The franchise idea is so stupid. It's an individual sport. It would make ZERO sense. So you'd expect a fighter to abandon their home gym when they get to the UFC to go join a franchise?? As the UFC grows, how big would these franchises get? Would fighters who aren't in a franchise then not be pushed as hard and face more challenges? You're creating WAY more problems than you're solving.
I think the biggest improvement they could make is having an actual ranking system and basing fights off of that. Make it simple, if you’re the champ you fight the number one contender. If you lose a fight, you lose a predetermined number of spots in the ranking. Include it in the contracts early and it’ll stop a lot of problems. It also makes the sport more legitimate. The rise to the top should be the same for everyone. Imagine if the KC Chiefs got to go to the superbowl because they had the most fans. That’s what you’re doing now. Maybe it makes you more ppv money in the short term, but it makes the sport less legitimate. Same day weigh ins would also help. If guys were forced to fight closer to their actual weight, you could have faster turnarounds for guys who don’t take much damage in a fight. Probably more exciting fights also as they wouldn’t be exhausted from cutting 30 lbs.
Generally agree but not with "If you lose a fight, you lose a predetermined number of spots in the ranking." It'd likely turn it into a clusterfuck arguably worse than it is now. Like say the number 1 contender loses in a universally agreed BS decision, likewise those ranked 2 and 3. They automatically drop (what?) 3 spots each? Then you've suddenly got a whole bunch "undeserving" being jumped up. They should be based on points. More points the fighter you beat has, more you earn towards yours. Likewise, lower the points your opponent has, more you lose.
@@Macephtopheles that was just a quick example. I’d really just like to see anything that makes it an even playing field. I get that some guys draw more, but that just shouldn’t be factored into anything called a sport. It’s like 9/10ths sport, 1/10 reality show now. I think they could easily make it 10/10 sport and the reality would take care of itself.
The UFC also needs standardization of matchmaking and title management(within reason.) 1. There needs to be a defined window which a champion can be inactive without being stripped of the title(with a longer window if absence is due to injury.) 2. Particularly with title loss rematches, there needs to be a standard of defenses before a champion gets an automatic rematch(especially if the division is in a logjam.) Without standards or a process, everything starts to feel like the Dana White show... Who's next in line for the title? Who knows?... will a champion get an automatic rematch? Who knows?... Is this champion allowed to just randomly switch weight classes? Who knows?... etc.
If UFC wants to become global, they need to take inspiration from the only actual global sport: Football, or what you call soccer. Taking inspirations from US Sports is useful for development in the US. But not as a global international sport.
@@Rob_Kankerboefnor are current american mma fans. Personally i think mma should try as hard as they can as morphing into what other sports are. ESPN has already watered it down enuff and made it more boring. The teams idea is whack too imo. Also i feel like pay is a diff thibf in mma than a team sport like bball. Like i hate to say it, but if mma fighters all got paid like pro ball players, we'd have wayyy too many mcgregors. Especially in a sport as taxing and individual as mma. That low starting and slowly building rate of pay in mma keeps these guys hungry and fighting hard. Purely from an entertainment standpoint, which is what matters as a consumer, i feel like everyone getting filthy rich would lead to less great fights long story short.
The reason soccer is global is because soccer is a poor man's sport. And the world is poor. All you need is something that resembles a ball and a friend, and voila, you're playing soccer. You can't play hockey in Kenya. But you can run really long distances. Basketball? A ball and a hoop. Adding the hoop drastically reduces its reach. Soccer's popularity the world over has nothing to teach a developing sport other than to be accessible to poorer populations. And that's not an insult to soccer. It's soccer's greatest strength that it can be played by almost anyone, anywhere around the world. But as for the business, logistics and marketing... soccer doesn't excel in any one area when compared to other sports. Every single metric will tell you that soccer is the world's most popular sport. Undeniable. But why are all the most valuable franchises American sports? NFL, MLB, NBA... you have to get to #13 with Real Madrid for soccer to make an appearance. Only 8 soccer franchises make the top 50 most valuable ranchises.
@@mitchchartrand The problem is that UFC wants to be global. Not just valuable. Being domestically valuable but not worth a dime on the international stage when you want to be global is useless. All the franchises that lead the rankings of "most valuable" (which is stupid, because the metric of judgment are based on the US model) are nothing outside of the US. I mean, the Superbowl, arguably the biggest US Sport event of the calendar year is nothing outside of the US border. Soccer clubs cannot be judged on the same basis because their structure and ownerships are different.
@@mitchchartrandI would agree with the value of nfl,nba teams, but the highest paid athletes and signings are from soccer. Mbappe and Messi Come to mind.
I think the biggest difference will always be that general sports are children’s games taken to the human maximum. Fighting is never gonna be seen like that. Even with how huge boxing was, it’s been severely diminished.
MMA will never be like other stick and ball sports because it is like the worlds first sport. MMA doesn’t need the Reebok bullshit, the fighters deserve to show off their sponsors everywhere. Clinchgear, Venum, Affliction, Forward MMA, should be allowed to be worn and the art that went with individual fighters’ T-shirts and clothing in general. The reason the Pride Fighting Championships was such a sight to behold was because it looked like a real life Street Fighter game. Everyone wore what they wanted to, and the fact that they were from all parts of the world and they played the National Anthems and brought flags from their respective countries as well; at least whoever wanted to. When Chuck Liddell was in the UFC, he fought Rampage Jackson and lost, but it was so awesome to see two top organizations and 2 of their best fighters, fight in Japan.
As a teacher who has contemplated pushing for combat sports to be included in schools, the pay for professionals needs to be higher. Freshman in high school ain’t going pro to just earn 12/12 while rookie NFL contracts are minimum 750k
Crazy I live in Vegas and actually used to work as a Cleaner at the t mobile arena for events and was on my way to work when Masvidal got the KO and had just stopped sweeping bleachers when the earthquake happened
I definitely agree on MMA press (even if you’re not a real journalist at least act like one) and I like the idea of teams or gyms getting more involved. Maybe even a gym logo on fighter shorts and such. Just had a discussion with a friend of mine how gym affiliations aren’t common knowledge like fighters and fight fans think it is.
I don't want full blown teams, but I'd like to see some team aspect to an event. If the event is in Canada and almost every fight has a Canadian in it then there could be a ticker at the bottom of the screen showing Team Canada vs The World with an overall score. Or during the events where mainly two camps have all the fights they could promote the undercard as all people from this training camp vs that one with a scoreboard. You'd still have the main point be the big matches, but it would make the undercards more interesting.
I like that your franchising team idea could increase fighter pay and stuff but I honestly would not be a fan of having team brands, logos, mascots etc. or that sort of thing. I very much enjoy in this sport that we focus on the individual fighter and their personality. Makes it feel more real and personal
Franchising works for all major AMERICAN sports leagues out there. The UFC is looking to a global brand with competitions held all around the world, where franchising is not common practice. As an EU watcher I feel a lot of these suggestions cater purely to the American audience.
Premiere League, Bundasliga, LaLiga, Seria A... what's the difference? You would have a Irish/Uk team, a chinese team, an oceania team, a japanese team, a _____estan team, team canada, team brazil 1, team brazil 2, etc. Events take place all over the world and you make fights between teams. And you could make trades. Team Oceania traded Izzy to team China. The international markets change nothing.
Difference being every team in the leagues you listed have the ability to fall in and out of the leagues based on nothing other than performance, which inherently promotes competition. Franchising allows the best teams with the largest budgets to stay ahead, while the under performing/under funded teams will field a roster just to participate, as their spot isn't in jeopardy at the end of the season. Fighting isn't a team sport either, so I'm struggling to draw comparisons to other franchised sports/orgs.
@@pudss America Top Team, Jackson-wink MMA... "teams" exist already. Just make them structured. Allows for a better business model as opposed to the independent contractor.
@@pudssYou have things completely backwards. The main difference between the American franchise system and the system found elsewhere in the world is the more equitable distribution of revenue and a distinct _lack_ of teams with the larger budgets getting ahead. The NFL, NBA, and NHL all have a salary cap that limits what teams can spend on players and MLB has a luxury tax system that prevents teams from greatly outstanding their opponents. The revenue sharing and the salary cap also comes with a salary floor that teams can't spend below. In American sports leagues the money spent on players by each franchise is far, far more equal than what you see in Europe. This is why you see more different teams winning championships in American sports leagues than you do in the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, etc. The UFC already functions like an American sports league anyway because the organization is based in the US. I don't see how any of these suggestions "cater purely to the American audience". If you want something more like European football boxing is where you should be looking.
Woo man I really feel the point about better media. It's so cringe watching the press conferences, it feels like a lot of these guys are just trying to make their own moments. You can tell because they have a complete change in their speaking cadence they're trying to get the crowd to make noise. Just shitty fluff questions with zero substance.
Hey! Really appreciate seeing the Iowa Hawkeye highlights when showing examples of football… GO HAWKEYES! But football and baseball are my other two sports, grew up playing both
Should go beyond just paying when you fight. If you're contracted for a fight, you get a base salary through some standardized format for training camp. Say every fighter that gets a contract to fight someone, gets a 3 month "training camp" allotment. Maybe 5k a month. Then, if you make it to fight night, you get a 10k show, 10k win and keep majority share of revenue from your name and likeness. And bring back sponsorships. One fight a year should get you 25k-35k. Two fights gets you 50k-70k, 3 fights 75-105k, that would be if you won all 3 you're somewhere in the middle class. If you lost all 3 you still walk away with 75k. If recommend that and remove fight bonuses if you're really concerned about revenue stream but I'm sure even that's doable to still leave a solid profit for the top. Prepping for 2.5 months and getting injured during camp and walking away with nothing is absurd.
UFC 289 Fan Q&A had like 5 people ask Juliana and Valentina if they'd fight after a reporter already asked Only one person asked if they'd train together and that was the best question the the event.
I was never a massive sports fan, but I'd watch some hockey, some baseball, some football, basically if it was on TV or if I was visiting a friend who wanted to watch it, etc. MMA ruined me for all of those sports. Not only do I find the sport more compelling in general but a fight card is broken up into little bite-sized individual contests between two fighters. Can last anywhere from 10 seconds up to about 30 minutes but that's the limit. 30 minutes for title fights and main events and 15-20 minutes (including breaks between rounds) for all other fights on the card. Compared to having one long contest / game (like a baseball game for exemple) - breaking up the long broadcast into bite-sized portions seems to fit my attention span a little better.
i thought of a way to prevent weight cutting. multiple weigh ins. let's say you weigh the fighters after they sign the contract, you weigh them again half way through camp, and you weigh them one last time the day before the fight. they wouldn't cut weight 3 times, right? they would have to fight at their respective weight.
That was the most half ass hand raise I've ever seen 2:42 The ref is just like yea the blue guy won and I just lost my weeks wage betting on red Don't gamble kids 😂
Each NFL team is a multibillion dollar company operating within an even bigger multibillion dollar company. It would be like having 32 UFCs under and even bigger umbrella. The sport is no where near that level yet.
My 50 cents are as follows: 1) the pay scale is what desperately needs to be reformed. You cannot have a sport where potentially great athletes have their involvement curtailed just because the UFC is too cheap to pay people properly. Other promotions may pay better but like it or not, the UFC is almost synonymous with MMA. Therefore, the cheapness of Dana White is hurting the sport. 2) there needs to be a proper global governing body that oversees the sport. 3) Jason is completely utterly wrong when he says that MMA events need to be like most US major league sports where they have “entertainment” during breaks, pauses or time between fights. MMA is a •global• sport and the American “razzmatazz” like mascots firing t-shirt cannons, dancers, etc is pure superfluous BS to most sports fans around the world. If your sport is interesting enough, it doesn’t need that extra nonsense. You don’t see this in boxing do you? Nor do you at football, rugby, tennis, etc. And cheerleaders can take a hike too - proper supporters of sports don’t need that nonsense to get behind people or teams. Look at UFC events in Paris, London or Australia. Or look at any football match (proper football, NOT American “feet are used less than 0.3% of game time” Football), rugby, boxing, tennis, etc. Sorry, about that. Rant over.
American sports are plenty interesting on their own. The razzmatazz is a bonus. And I seriously don't understand people's obsession with the name "football" in America. "Football" was a folk game that was played by different rules in different areas. The game that was more focused on kicking became soccer and the catching and running game became American football, Aussie rules and rugby. Another interesting fact is that American footballs used to be 12 inches long (and are just slightly smaller now). That is, they were literally a foot ball. If anything that makes it a more accurate name than your little kick ball game.🤷♂️
