Fertitta's Federal Indictment May Quell Thoughts of UFC Union

MMA fans and the MMA media talked extensively this month about the possibility of fighters in the UFC joining together to form a union. Lost in this story? The fact that the Fertitta family has a long and contentious history of anti-union activity. Don't believe me? How about good old Uncle Sam?

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People talk about "shady" business in Japan but the Feritta's are infamous for some pretty crazy $*$$ themselves. I don't think this should suprise anyone.

That pretty much makes it official. There will never be a union in the UFC. That's too bad, because these guys are RIDICULOUSLY underpaid, and that's just a cold hard fact. Check Wikipedia for buyrates of UFC events. Compare that to boxing buyrates. It is true that top UFC fighters get locker room bonuses not released by the state athletic commission, but the combined official fighters purses released by the state athletic commission make up less than 2 million dollars for an entire UFC card !!! That is absolutely NOT FAIR, however you want to look at it. UFC fighters should be making a lot more money, based on the money they bring into the company. But Dana White has absolutely no incentive to pay them more if no other MMA company has enough money to take away a UFC superstar that Dana White would not want to let go. That is exactly the reason why only a union will make UFC fighters get bigger paychecks. And given the Fertittas history of blocking unions, it seems like no union will ever see the light of day in the UFC.

i remember one of the Fertitta said 'it's up to the fighters to form a union'..and it is..if they don't have to balls to stand up to their bosses and form a union..the fans need to get off their backs..yes they're under-paid..and some don't fight enough..but like the Fertitta said 'it's up to the fighters'..and with every company..the boss always try to get the upper hand..but the employees need to step up and say something, if there's ever gonna be a change to their pay..like i said..if every fighter stopped fighting and formed a union..the UFC would have to give in..since the fighters ain't fightin, the UFC ain't makin money..

Yeah. It's up to the fighters to make a union, but the Fertittas will make damn sure that forming a union will be as hard as humanly possible, even if that involves actually breaking the law. That's the problem right there.

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No other Las Vegas gaming company has racked up so many federal government charges in such a short amount of time.

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I wonder if they make an example out of them.

I think when we talk union the door swings both ways.
We can argue about ruthless business practices by the UFC but then we can also argue about the cons of a fighters union. Either way it ends up their is going to be contraversy. That much is for sure. Personally,I'm more pro-union for the simple fact I would like the fighters to have more say in what goes on,even if they become premaddona's about it. The bottom line is the UFC revolve's around the fighters and thrives off of them.
Zuffa tries to spin it to where it's the other way around and to be fair to them this practice has worked much like it has for the WWE.

The biggest problem with a union is all top fighters will probably start asking for way too much money,which would lead to only one big fight a year for each named athlete and who knows who the competition will end up being since they probably will rarely be able to pay two huge names to fight on the same card.
This may be part of the reason why Zuffa is trying to expand the UFC into other terrotories. A Union would force one big fight and would probably put more foreign fighters on the undercard that would willingly fight for less,which would in turn piss off American fighters who can't live by the smaller pay standards the foreign fighters would gladly accept. Zuffa could then outsource the UFC name to other countries where the competition would be healthy while here in America the fighters would assemble a strike of epic proportions.

Or so that's what the cheap crystal ball I bought from Barnes & Noble told me.

There is this fear that if there is a union, top fighters will make too much money so the UFC will no longer be able to promote a "stacked" card. I completely disagree with that. The UFC makes so much money that it can very easily afford to have stacked cards. None of us really know about the "locker room bonuses", but if you look at official fighters purses as released by the state athletic commission, fighters at the bottom of the card get paid a few thousands dollars. UFC world champions defending their title make 400,000$ per title defense. Total purses for a UFC card are less than 2 million dollars. Dana White could very easily double that total payout and still retain the same ability to promote a "stacked" card.

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Posted by aristipe

There is this fear that if there is a union, top fighters will make too much money so the UFC will no longer be able to promote a "stacked" card. I completely disagree with that. The UFC makes so much money that it can very easily afford to have stacked cards. None of us really know about the "locker room bonuses", but if you look at official fighters purses as released by the state athletic commission, fighters at the bottom of the card get paid a few thousands dollars. UFC world champions defending their title make 400,000$ per title defense. Total purses for a UFC card are less than 2 million dollars. Dana White could very easily double that total payout and still retain the same ability to promote a "stacked" card.

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Dude, I don't think you realize how much money it takes to run a company that is the size of the UFC, while still being private. The UFC doesn't have oodles of disposable income falling out of the rafters, they are investing back into the company, expanding, etc. Do I think fighters should be paid more? Absolutely, but it's a gradual process.

Plus, Dana has publicly stated that if a fighter comes to him after a string of wins and wants to negotiate a contract raise, he is more than willing to sit down and discuss that with them. When it comes to being on Dana's good side, you can make some bread with the UFC, even as a non champion.

There will never be a fighter's union because there are so many fighters out there that are willing to be fight fodder for peanuts. Also, considering how short lived many of these fighters' contracts/careers are, I don't see many of them looking too far ahead.