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On June 27, 2016 By In Mixed Martial Arts

Money On Our Mind

“We’re in the calm before the storm now. With all due respect to Bellator 157, which felt very much like a good Division II team compared to the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s D-I, the time between the last UFC event and the next one feels longer than 19 days. Part of it is the night-before-Christmas effect of having UFC 200 to look forward to, but there’s more to it than that.

If you’ve been following the headlines these past few weeks, you’re certainly aware that money is on our mind. The reports — or rumors, depending on who you ask — about the UFC sale come at an interesting time and not just because of the three-week fight doldrums. The company the Fertitta brothers bought for $2 million in 2001 has been given a price tag upward of $4 billion, which is a hell of an investment return. Even before news of the sale, the almighty dollar had been the focus of the UFC.

Leading up to UFC Fight Night “MacDonald vs. Thompson” on June 18, as the stories of the UFC sale gained more legitimacy, the main story was whether or not Rory MacDonald would re-sign with the UFC after his contract finished. This, of course, was all about money. The post-event situation did little to quell the finance talk from fighters, either. While it’s not news for fighters to voice their complaints and concerns about their pay, the possibility of the UFC sale — and all the uncertainty that accompanies it — has intensified those discussions…”

 
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On June 20, 2016 By In Mixed Martial Arts

Not Breaking the Bank

“I’m not sure if it was just me, as I am admittedly one who tends to overanalyze things, but there was something in the air at the post-fight press conference for UFC Fight Night “MacDonald vs. Thompson” on Saturday in Ottawa, Ontario. Aside from the buoyant optimism of Stephen Thompson — who, I might add, comes off very much like a glimpse of Sage Northcutt 13 years in the future — a sullen, pensive atmosphere persisted.

Maybe it was how Director of Operations for UFC Canada Tom Wright started the conference by innocuously clarifying that the bonus winners would be getting paid in American dollars, not Canadian. “Oh, U.S.?” Donald Cerrone asked jokingly, which would have been easy to dismiss as just a joke if it weren’t for his later comments. It was an important distinction to make, as $50,000 CAD is in the range of $39,000 USD.

On the one hand, it’s weird to consider that a difference of roughly $11,000 would be a big deal for professional athletes at the highest level of their sport, since we’re generally accustomed to the idea that they are all comfortably wealthy, if not excessively so. On the other hand, that difference between $50,000 Canadian and $50,000 American is about as much as Joanne Calderwood was guaranteed to make in her last fight. Think about that for a second; the show money for one of the brightest talents and more recognizable names of a division can be swallowed up in the exchange rate of a fight bonus…”

 

Read more at Sherdog

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