Former UFC heavyweight champ Randy Couture was a guest on the Opie and Anthony Show with, of all people, Pat Cooper, and he discussed payment for mixed martial arts fighters (Warning, foul language):
(Via MMA Mania) When asked if the money is getting better, Couture said, "I think that's one of the things that needs to change in our sport."
Couture then added that every single UFC fighter combined makes less money for all of the organization's pay-per-view shows than Floyd Mayweather makes for one boxing match. (Mayweather is the second-highest-paid boxer in the world; Oscar De La Hoya is first.)
Couture said he has "no beef" with UFC President Dana White, but he just wants to get paid a fair market value for his work and that won't happen while he's under contract to UFC. I think Couture is basically right that the fighters in UFC aren't paid enough, but I also worry that fighters leaving UFC for greener pastures would be good for their short-term financial gain but bad for the long-term health of the sport.
One other interesting note from the interview: When Cooper asked Couture whether his opponents are ever afraid, Couture said, "Some guys are, you can see that."
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Randy Couture: All UFC Fighters Combined Make Less Than Floyd Mayweather
Posted Apr 29th 2008 12:59PM by Michael David Smith
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-29-2008 @ 2:05PM
michael matthews said...
i agree with randy a mma fighter is more likely to have a career ending than a boxer they deserve more money an by the way their chargeing almost 50.00 dollars for pay per view event they should have the money on top of what their gettin from spike tv an advertisment they should be rolling in mony pay the fighters more mony .
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4-29-2008 @ 3:11PM
hawk said...
i agree
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4-29-2008 @ 10:09PM
JoeT said...
boxing is boring compared with MMA. they should start making the big bucks.
http://www.fromthecage.com
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4-30-2008 @ 9:55AM
Bryan said...
The only thing that is consistently not brought up is that the UFC pays for more then just the fight promotion. The take on the distribution costs and nearly all of the associated marketing costs of the events. If it wasn't for organizations like UFC, the fighters wouldn't have vehicle to display their talents to such a large fanbase.
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4-30-2008 @ 12:17PM
shirt said...
I agree with Couture. The fact in which all combined in MMA (UFC) still don't get paid as much as Mayweather is preposterous.Ok I understand boxing is hard training and talent but Mixed Martial Arts is combined of every kind of fighting techniques making it a more enduring sport. Actually it's harder to last in the up n coming sport. When Mayweather steps into the octagon and destroys a fighter such as Bj Penn or Silva then you can tell me that boxing deserves a large payout...
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5-03-2008 @ 11:59PM
Nick D said...
I'm a huge Randy Couture fan and appreciate everything he's done for the sport. I am a little disappointed that he's getting so upset over money when he's getting paid big bucks to do what he loves, but I think he's more upset about it because he feels that Chuck Liddel (after losing two fights) was getting paid more than he was. He has a point there. While I do think UFC fighters deserve to make more money, I also hope they don't all start getting paid mad millions like in boxing or other sports. Boxing is messed up for a reason and overpaid salaries is a big part of the problem. If all top level UFC guys made as much as the top level guys in other sports do, I'm not so certain they'd want to fight as often or be as hungry competitors as they are. I admit I could be wrong though--it's just a theory from someone who has never had the honor of stepping into the Octagon.
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