The truth of the matter is a lot of the UFC fights do have part-time gigs outside of fighting. These gigs include teaching/owning at gyms, doing media appearances and sponsorship that you don't see come fight time. And from what I've been told first hand from UFC fighters, Dana and the Fertittas take care of you if they like you.
Is the Reebok deal taking away from the banners that the fighters have at the cage?
No sponsors on banners at cageside, IIRC.
Teaching/training is extremely hard to make a decent living at it, in fact many guys go broke opening a gym. That's not a realistic outcome, there's not this huge market for mma gyms. These guys aren't necessarily good coaches who should be teaching at even someone else's gym, they're supposed to be fighters so this shouldn't even be a requirement. Can you imagine if after Eli Manning struggled in his rookie year, the Giants said "well we'll pay you minimum wage now, gotta prove you're worthy" and he took a side job teaching QB camps in order to keep following his NFL dream? How can anyone look at the way UFC fighters are treated compared to other sports and not have a complete lack of respect for them?
He didn't just make that money fighting a handful of times, he busted ass for years and years to get that opportunity. The point is he didn't just fight, he fought at a high level and won. He was the cream of the crop, there's a difference between TJ Grant fighting five times and Cezar Mutante fighting five times, TJ Grant is a world class fighter. 235k over a year and a half before taxes and expenses for that kind of performance is a joke. If a guy who is a title contender is paid like 7x less than the league MINIMUM in real sports, imagine what guys below him are paid.
Also there's no indication TJ Grant was poor with his money, that's a strawman.
I get why most keep arguing against the fighters, they don't wanna rock the boat. Also, they don't give a shit about fair pay (HEY YOU MADE SIX FIGURES LAST YEAR BRO THATS MORE THAN ME SHUTUP STOP WHINING). But forget about ethics and just think about it as a fan who likes fights; there's not going to be much of a sport if there isn't an incentive for athletes to enter.
I mean really, 235k is a lot of money for that kind of work? He is risking his brain and health every time he steps in there against a highly trained killer (he wasn't fighting bums), putting a lot of work in the gym and doing it in front of a shitload of people. He's worth a lot more than that, and if you want to keep replacing him with fresh talent you better do something about it.
Why do you think Cro Cop, Dan Henderson, Mark Hunt, Anthony Johnson, Vitor Belfort are still main eventing in 2015? Where are all the young bucks? It's okay, there will be very few if any great fighters above 185 because anyone who is a good enough athlete will just pick a sport where they can actually make money.
UFC fighters get about 10% of the revenues that Zuffa brings in. In other sports, it's usually 50/50. In boxing, it's 70/30. I would love to hear a justification for the UFC's number.
