Fame Worth More Than Experience For The UFC
A lot of sites are blogging about the recent Dave Meltzer Yahoo! Sports article, which reports the payouts that Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar will receive for their fight later this evening at UFC 81. After reviewing the numbers, it’s not hard to see why this is causing some commotion. According to Meltzer’s article, Brock Lesnar will receive $250,000 to fight, and an additional $200,000 if he wins. So Lesnar could potentially walk away with nearly half a million dollars for fifteen minutes (or less) of work. Not too shabby for a guy who amasses a 1-0 MMA record. On the other hand, UFC veteran Frank Mir will receive $40,000 to step into the cage, and another $40,000 if he emerges victorious over Lesnar. While $80,000 is certainly nothing to sneeze at, it pales in comparison to Lesnar’s earnings for the night. However according to MMAJunkie, Frank Mir still has the opportunity to walk away with more than just his paycheck:
…“Mir will get a ‘locker room’ bonus that will likely nearly double his base salary. Those additional bonuses are often paid to the UFC’s bigger stars — such as Mir — and oftentimes, are quite substantial.”
I’ve never heard of these “locker room” bonuses, but I suppose it makes sense for the UFC to do something like that so Frank Mir doesn’t get terribly outraged over his salary discrepancy. While I stated previously that I believe Mir and Lesnar are indeed the big draw for tonight’s show, I really can’t agree with such a large gap in fighter payouts. Given Mir’s history with the UFC along with Lesnar’s newcomer status, I would rather see both guys receive an equal $75,000 to fight, with that extra $75,000 for the winner. If only it were that simple.
Tags: Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir
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that is a ridiculous pay split. i figured that lesner was gonna jump up with a fairly high paycheck but that is up there. well remember when the ufc put out about the chuck liddel pay vs other fighters you get paid more by the crowd you draw not the exp or skill you fight with. that is rather unfortunate for mir but maybe he can pull a win tonight and maybe the ufc will take him more seriously but i hope not (ufc fantasy).
Obviously they are paying Lesnar for his name in the hope the ppv buys are going way up for tonight. I don’t know how the writer could never of heard of the UFC’s locker room bonuses, they are common knowledge, are not included in offical pay and never have been. Wonder how many and how much Randy Couture recieved? How much did he really get paid?
By the by if they are willing to pay Lesnar 200k to win they should pay the same to Mir.
For one Randy Couture is a little b****. if you don’t like a deal then don’t take it. i’m glad that zuffa is going to make sure he does’t fight till his 50.
And as for you two dip sh*ts. You are worth what they are willing to pay you. Frank Mir was not even shown on the last ppv he was on. He is not a draw anymore where as Brock is a HUGE draw!
But you guys probly are the kind of guys that think Randy can do no wrong, when in fact he is a lier, quiter and left YOU the fan high and dry! And White is everything that is wrong MMa and the UFC, even though he saved the UFC and made it what it is today! That man has done more for the sport then Randy, Chuck and GSP!!!
PS Mir won’t get out of the 1st round!
it is a ridiculous difference, but ive heard fighters mention that while the paychecks are only ok, the perks and the extras are well worth it
randy cotoure had every right to leave the ufc ereyna92806, who is left to fight him? he’s donre it all, if he needs to retire then let him retire, he mainly left because he said that the ufc did a horrible attempt to sign fedor on, not that im saying randy isnt being a bit of a b****, but hes not the root of the problem, nor the main source, white should let him fight fedor and be done, sure its a contract, but sometimes contracts arent good, at all
Well ereyna92806, if you actually understood what I said you would realize that I am criticizing Randy Couture and am saying that Brock is being paid for his name, cause he has one. Nothing wrong with using what you have. I am saying that a Win bonus should be the same for both the fighters. On the record in supporting the UFC and have called Randy a whiny little girl ( maybe b****) several times. Is English your first language?
Well ereyna92806, maybe you should work on both your spelling and predicting skills, obviously you suck out at both. I will agree that Dana White has made the sport what it is, but Couture efforts should be respected for his sheer dominance. As for the money, both Mir and Lesnar in theory deserve the same however Mir would not have been a headliner had he not been fighting such a marquee name. It’s all about the economics of the game – supply and demand – and at the end of the day there is no demand for Mir, there was for Lesnar!
We’ll Mir won, and he won in the 1st round which is as bad as it can get for the UFC. Too many Main Events have done badly lately.
The last really really good ppv ufc was the one where Diego Sanchez was on it and he fought some guy for most of a round on the guys back standing up still. This was about 8 events ago. Since then they have steadily gone down hill. Matt Hughs destroy Gracie, I mean it was a matter of time until he tapped/submitted. Since then its just bad matches… more GSP vs Hughes, more heavyweights that are afraid to mix it up and do anything more than box…
Lesnar made me watch tonight, I prob won’t get the next UFC it just isn’t worth it anymore… Not enough action except for maybe 2 matches per ppv and its only for 1 round normally. They usually arn’t even the main event. So while I like MMA, the big draws, main events have bombed lately.
ereyna92806 get out of your moms house and get a life. JW is dead on about couture. lesnar is a big strong guy but working in a “sport?” where everthing is planned out is not really the same as mma. he’ll have to get bumped down to the low levels of mma to get some wins. what is he now 0-2.
First this is not the wwe, it’s mma. Boxing is in the condition it’s in because of this very thing. Pay should be determined by what happens in octagon. I have never see Dana fight anyone. Without Randy, Chuck, GSP, Tito, Tim, Matt, and many other fighters fighting would you watch. NO so if you must be stupid do it alone. Dana White, has become the Don King of mma, and is killing the sport because it has turned into money over talent. I also can’t believe that more people are not outraged that a soap opera star with a 1-0 mma record gets a fight like this when the real mma talent had to work from the bottom up. They were already talking about lesner headlining a show before he ever won a fight. Does he belong yea in the wwe. There are other shows beginning to shine if the ufc is not careful no.1 will become no.2