GSP Confirms Average Income Of $4-$5 Million Per Fight

http://bjpenn.com/news/2011/11/10/gsp-confirms-average-income-of-4-5-million-per-fight-7708.html

looks like he gets a nice ppv cut.

Are you serious? That's a ton of $

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Posted by prophecy033

Are you serious? That's a ton of $

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I'm wondering if this is just money from the UFC (purse, bonuses, PPV cut) or includes sponsors as well.

Getting paid A TON to play it ultra-safe....I guess GSP can give props to Matt Serra for changing the way he fights...thanks Terror.

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Posted by Chael_Sonnen

Getting paid A TON to play it ultra-safe....I guess GSP can give props to Matt Serra for changing the way he fights...thanks Terror.

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WINNING guarantees him this kind of money. Don't see guys like Lytle and Garcia making this much $$$.

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Posted by bjj1605

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Posted by prophecy033

Are you serious? That's a ton of $

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I'm wondering if this is just money from the UFC (purse, bonuses, PPV cut) or includes sponsors as well.

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I'm thinking that's an all-inclusive figure, when the NSAC reports earnings and whatnot I think GSP makes 500,000-1,000,000. Bonuses only add so much. I suppose it depends on how big his PPV cut is though.

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Posted by jay98107

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Posted by bjj1605

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Posted by prophecy033

Are you serious? That's a ton of $

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I'm wondering if this is just money from the UFC (purse, bonuses, PPV cut) or includes sponsors as well.

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I'm thinking that's an all-inclusive figure, when the NSAC reports earnings and whatnot I think GSP makes 500,000-1,000,000. Bonuses only add so much. I suppose it depends on how big his PPV cut is though.

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Well I'm sure his PPV cut is substantial. He kinda hinted at that.

He doesn't mention if this includes sponsors though.

To me it sounds like its just from the UFC.

GSP GETS HIS GWAP

Looks like the top MMA fighters are making about the same amount per year as the top athletes in all the other major sports (with a few exceptions)

That puts GSP at around 12-15 Million a year.

This is probably going to ruffle a lot of feathers among the middle and bottom of the divisions, especially for guys making between 4 and 8k a fight.

I'm all for GSP making as much as he can, but the divide between your top and bottom paid shouldn't be that big.

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Posted by FlashyG

Looks like the top MMA fighters are making about the same amount per year as the top athletes in all the other major sports (with a few exceptions)

That puts GSP at around 12-15 Million a year.

This is probably going to ruffle a lot of feathers among the middle and bottom of the divisions, especially for guys making between 4 and 8k a fight.

I'm all for GSP making as much as he can, but the divide between your top and bottom paid shouldn't be that big.

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there is a big gap in all the major sports. the top guys will always get the mega contracts, just how it goes

I'm just saying there are a bunch of other guys that are way more exciting to watch than SafePierre and that make a lot less money. It should be more balanced.

I was saying something similar in another thread about money and how the fighters base pay or show pay should at least be a min of 10k by now and then their win bonus double that.

What can ya do though...

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Posted by Manak

there is a big gap in all the major sports. the top guys will always get the mega contracts, just how it goes

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Sure there will always be a gap, the problem is the size of the gap in the UFC is much larger than other sports.

Here are some of the other major sports minimum salaries.

NBA - $473,604
MLB - $414,000
NFL - $285,000
NHL - $525,000
UFC - $12,000

Even the WWE pays more for their bottom end talent, the lowest paid fighter based on their 2006 numbers made 48k.

The top Salaries in Football vary depending on position but very few make more than GSP. MLB has no maximum individual salary rules, So there are a few more here who make more than St. Pierre but he's still well above every teams average salary. I have no clue how Basketballs system works, but its safe to say only the elite are making more than GSP.

He also makes more than every player in the NHL.

the difference is, is if GSP loses his title and doesnt immediately get it back, he'll probably lose a huge percentage of that 4-5 million. players in other sports still make a shit ton of money, even if their team is the Detroit lions

There isn't much difference between a UFC contract and any other sports.

I don't think they can't just cut GSP's pay because he lost his title, not unless his contract was up or they agree to re-negotiate.

They could release him from the contract, but so can any football team if they don't feel you're worth the salary anymore.

Its hard to say with the UFC because I get the impression that every fighters contract is different.

Also for bad football team analogies, this years team should be the Colts not the Lions...Sorry Fleek.

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Posted by FlashyG

There isn't much difference between a UFC contract and any other sports.

I don't think they can't just cut GSP's pay because he lost his title, not unless his contract was up or they agree to re-negotiate.

They could release him from the contract, but so can any football team if they don't feel you're worth the salary anymore.

Its hard to say with the UFC because I get the impression that every fighters contract is different.

Also for bad football team analogies, this years team should be the Colts not the Lions...Sorry Fleek.

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They can't cut his pay, as in his PURSE.

But I'm pretty sure there are bonuses and PPV % here that are contingent on him being the champ.

Its possible, but I doubt the bonuses have to do with the title, it has to do with him as a draw.

As long as people buy his PPV's his bonus likely remains unchanged.

Its all speculation though because the UFC refuses to operate transparently like the other sports and nobody knows how they set up their deals.

If they can cut his pay like that, then there is even more issues with how they do business and maybe its time the fighters had a union to level the playing field.

And somewhere Nick Diaz is pissed off about it.

Brock is still the highest paid

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Posted by tcunningham

the difference is, is if GSP loses his title and doesnt immediately get it back, he'll probably lose a huge percentage of that 4-5 million. players in other sports still make a shit ton of money, even if their team is the Detroit lions

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I guess you haven't been watching the Lions this year ;-)

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Posted by FlashyG

Its possible, but I doubt the bonuses have to do with the title, it has to do with him as a draw.

As long as people buy his PPV's his bonus likely remains unchanged.

Its all speculation though because the UFC refuses to operate transparently like the other sports and nobody knows how they set up their deals.

If they can cut his pay like that, then there is even more issues with how they do business and maybe its time the fighters had a union to level the playing field.

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but alot more ppl will buy a ppv if there is a title on the line so he will lose some of his cut since it wont be a title fight if he loses his belt.

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Posted by FlashyG


NBA - $473,604
MLB - $414,000
NFL - $285,000
NHL - $525,000
UFC - $12,000

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UFC doesnt make an income in the billions yet. like those sports do. just give it more time before they can create high revenue to raise the average. GSP does make more than most athletes in all sports except for the top percentages in each sport

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Posted by Manak

UFC doesnt make an income in the billions yet. like those sports do. just give it more time before they can create high revenue to raise the average. GSP does make more than most athletes in all sports except for the top percentages in each sport

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Dana White claims the UFC is worth 2 Billion dollars, Forbes had it at around 1 Billion in 2008. If they can afford to pay GSP more than every single NHL hockey player for only 3 nights work, they can afford to pay their bottom end talent at least on par with wrestling.

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Posted by FlashyG

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Posted by Manak

UFC doesnt make an income in the billions yet. like those sports do. just give it more time before they can create high revenue to raise the average. GSP does make more than most athletes in all sports except for the top percentages in each sport

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Dana White claims the UFC is worth 2 Billion dollars, Forbes had it at around 1 Billion in 2008. If they can afford to pay GSP more than every single NHL hockey player for only 3 nights work, they can afford to pay their bottom end talent at least on par with wrestling.

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NHL has a cap and players can earn no more than 12 million, caps effect how much you can spend one player because it will mean you have less money to pay other athletes. also they NHL makes lot more than the avg salary of 500,000

http://content.usatoday.com/sportsdata/hockey/nhl/salaries/team

also here is their break down

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_player_salaries_in_the_NHL

also I didnt know UFC was worth a billion so I was wrong on that. I still dont think UFC can afford to bring their min up yet.. also remember theses sports have been around for ages and while ufc is only been around 18 years. like i said before give it some time, no need to rush and end goin belly up

If you look up the NHL before the Cap was instituted in 04-05 you'll see that even then nobody made over 12 million a year.

if they can't afford to up their minimum payments then they can't really afford to pay multiple fighters 10 + million a year.

The UFC employs 287 fighters, GSP, Anderson, and Brock are all likely making around the 12 million a year figure. If they each got 3 mil a fight instead of 4, that leaves 9 million dollars the UFC can spend to up the lower ends pay.

That would leave 32k per fighter for the rest of the roster.

The problem isn't that they aren't making enough money, its that only a handful of guys are taking all the profits while everyone else gets the crumbs.

I think its a matter of time before theres a fighters Union and the pay for all fighters is a lil more fair...In reality I am not sure how much true differential in pay perview buys are there between GSP on a card and if he gets last second injury....

Well actually he prolly has a lot of bargaining power and the highest paid siince he is canadian...Im sure he gets a ton of pple there...I would guess he gets a cut of the canadian market...

If he makes that I am curious just what Brock made in reality...

I agree that $4k to show is too low but I don't think comparing UFC pay to other major sports is a good comparison because the UFC pay is performance based. You'll get your show money and it doubles if you win and if you get involved in KOTN, FOTN, SOTN you're well above the lowest paid rostered WWF athlete in one night. And if you prove you were worth being signed you'll get a hefty pay raise on your next contract.

Your freedom with payment from sponsors is also incredibly more favorable to the UFC athlete than any of the sports listed above. There are some fighters with posts on Craigslist as I type this asking sponsors to make an offer as the $100k to the UFC rule only applies to supplement companies, online companies, or clothing companies.

Sure the OTN's and win bonuses are performance based but I think performance based pay and pay from sponsors is what makes this sport what it is and not having athletes 'mail it in' with their performance as athletes in all other sports do once they know they make the same pay regardless.

If both fighters were told "you're making $20k tonight, win or lose" versus "you're both making $5k to step into the ring. Winner gets an extra $5k, and if either of you get the KOTN, SOTN, or FOTN, I'll toss an extra $75k your way". I'm pretty sure we get a lot better fight the second way.

I'm just playing devils advocate. I do agree they can and should afford to up it from $4k to show; just pointing out that comparing it to more profitable companies that do not pay their athletes based on performance is not a good comparison.