Josh Barnett Says No Thanks To Affliction Pay Cut
After losing what even Donald Trump might call a small fortune on their first MMA showcase, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that Affliction proposed a 50% pay cut for the fighters competing in their second event, tentatively planned for October. Given the purses Affliction coughed up their first time around, I’d say that even half of those amounts would still leave most of the bigger names on the card well compensated. But Josh Barnett, who emerged triumphant over Pedro Rizzo at Affliction “Banned”, says he will not accept any such pay cut, and dished a bit about facing Fedor Emelianenko as well:
“We asked him about a report from Dave Meltzer, claiming that Affliction VP Tom Atencio would allegedly ask fighters to take a 50% pay cut to work the Las Vegas show in October. Barnett replied by saying that he was not going to take a pay cut to fight.
In addition, when asked about whether or not he’ll fight Fedor, Mr. Barnett said that it’s not up to him as far as whether or not the fight gets booked. He wants to fight Fedor, but can’t worry about the politics surrounding why the fight hasn’t been booked.”
Its unfortunate to see that Barnett is so closed off to the idea of taking a pay cut, especially since another performance on American soil could only help his popularity with the more casual fan base. But lets not forget that this is the fight game and cash is always king, so I imagine Barnett simply feels that he could get just as big, if not a bigger pay day competing back in good old Japan. One can only hope for Affliction’s sake that Barnett’s premature offer refusal is not indicative of things to come from the rest of the scarce, but promising, Affliction roster.
Tags: Josh Barnett
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Give him Fedor the name of a good plastic surgeon and a meeting with Vince Mcmahon…
How many yen does he make in Japan? He just got $300k for his last fight on Affliction. $150k does not seem too bad for his next fight. I’m guessing he’s just holding out to see if he gets offered $200k. Even an extra $25k for saying no today and yes next week is pretty smart. Plus he makes money from the sponsors, so I assume he doesn’t want to lose that cash. I believe he just may be a smart business man.
ya barnett knows he is one of affliction main draws witht he hardcore fans so i agree he is a great bisiness man he knows what he can get out of them…and they will pay him what he wants
Dietrich – I couldn’t agree more with your statement.
sounding like a boxer here f*cking w*nker, kick him out of mma, i hope this great sport doesn’t go the same way as boxing, overpaid w*nkers who dont like to put on a good show
JOHNBOY
What are you talking about overpaid. A big name with good draw that will get more ppv sales deserves more cash. besides this is not like the 20mil plus boxing salaries and will likly never be so eventhough mma fighters put so much more heart into the sport and take more punishment.
i was on about boxing when i said overpaid, i was just saying he sounds like a boxer saying he wont fight unless the price is right, and to me 150k is a hell ov alot of money!
SEE GUYS!!! This is exactly what I was talking about with the BIG salaries. Fighters are now going to start feeling bigger than the sport. The situation is Affliction’s own fault for trying to make themselves look good by paying their fighters more money than the UFC. Most businesses take a loss before maturing to success. I do not think this will ever be the case with Affliction. Their way of conducting business by using investors oppose to people who care about the sport will be Affliction’s biggest problem and reason for downfall. Barnett is good but F-em. I just don’t dig the guy. I don’t care who he KO….F’em. As a fan, reading this rubs me the wrong way. Now I dislike Affliction a hair more than yesterday and Barnett is officially a dick. I don’t feel he should take a pay cut but at the same time……if he believes in Affliction, the sport and himself…..why not fight? Especially to prove how BIG and BAD Affliction is with fighters ready and willing to fight whenever needed. Funny……I don’t recall the UFC ever having this problem…..they must have a better way of doing business. F Affliction! F Barnett!
Another quick thing. Affliction’s roster of veteran fighters past their prime and former champions is just a second class roster. They can provide fights we want to see but would have prefered to see and been better 5 or more years ago. Affliction is going to be its own worst enemy by paying these guys huge money. The roster is not worth the total salary being paid out…..it’s just NOT! NO way NO how! Fedor may be the exception but I’m still waiting for him to have some sort of “problem” regarding his contract and pay.
Fighters should care more about there legacy and less about the paycheck! 150k is still a **** load of cash!
MMA K9,
It’s all about the money. I agree with what you say but unfortunately that is our train of thought as fans. It’s no different than guys in basketball doing their mandatory 1 year of college and then going to the draft/pros for the BIG money. Once you can get big money or a taste of it, everything else gets diluted. Legacy and reputation take a back seat to money. Sucks….but it’s the truth of the matter.
they got over paid the first time so whats the big deal going back to where you belong
Joel,
If your job hired you at 100k a year and then after your first year your boss says, “Joel, I’m sorry but because I’m a financial retard who tried to play with the big bys, I can only pay you 50k this year…..is that okay? What would you say? I know what I would say.
“Look here co-k sucker! You’re going to f-ing pay me what I was hired for or you can f yourself. I will not have you filabustering me mother f-er. You owe me what you said you’d pay me. Right is right and you are f-n wrong. Scumbag. Try to change my f-n pay? F you!”
I’m pretty sure Barnett feels similar.
KOuch- could not agree more. espesially after barnett won his fight.
dirtydan,
The winning part is a big factor. Can you imagine succeeding and not being rewarded for your hard work?
KOuch i hear you. And your right a lot of these fighters do it for the money. I however as a young up and coming fighter, live to fight not fight to live. As long as i am paid enough to pay for my training, accomodation and family im happy. Look at Wanderlei Silva….dudes a warrior, he wouldnt say no to a fight if the money wasnt enough. Sadly, that trend is dying out.
Barnett is a helluva fighter. I think he could pose some problems for Fedor, he couldnt beat him…but pose some problems. How about Sylvia vs Barnett?
ya, even if 150k is alot of money, when you realize that you were originally promised double it makes it seem like you’re losing quite a bit. i can’t say i know exactly how it feels, but i do work in sales and my commission is based on how much i sell stuff for. many times i’ve ended up doing the same amount of work but making half the commission cuz i had to discount and all i could think of is that i just lost half my commission, not, hey i just made x amount of $$$.
mma k9, i half agree with you about fighters caring about their legacy. i do wish that fighters as well as other athletes would be at least a little concerned with their contribution to the sport but at the end of the day i think they still need to worry about their wallets too. these guys are gettin the crap kicked out of em for a living so you can’t fault em for wanting to get their piece of the action. especially when you see the amount of money that the sport is making.
it is funny how with the ufc you get the fighters saying they want more and the company is saying “you signed a contract, stick to it.” then you look at affliction and it’s the EXACT opposite.
Umm, $150,000 is NOT a lot of money when you’re a top ranked heavyweight in the world of MMA. Fighters maybe fight 4 times a year, 5 in really good circumstances. Now granted, $600,000 is a lot of money for a regular like you and me, but these are professional athletes. Compare an mma fighter salary to any other sport. Fedor is probably the highest paid and he’s maybe clearing what, 5 mil a year? Average at best compared to every other sports league…
2 million to 1 billion.
I don’t think but maybe a dozen guys in the US have a shot at a seven figure deal fighting. Rampage was in a movie I saw last night and no one recognized him and I saw the film with his core demographic. It was even worse then being in a full theater last June and not hearing a that’s Rickson during his Hulk cameo. The fighters don’t have crossover appeal yet.
i dont blame barnett though because when you think about it for them 150 k actually isnt that much…..i mean they have to support there family’s…pay there managers,gym and trainers….plus then you got there wants and there needs for there type of lifestyle….its probably pretty hard to adapt to getting less money..once you have tasted more money…its like going from tasting the sweetest appple ever to eating like a old moldy one!
I don’t blame him either.If Trump wants to waste his money on blond men instead of women so be it. i think Barnett has three fights in him but I don’t think he wants to fight. I think he wants to get paid and any story gets press right now. August is a dead time for news why should MMA writers have it anybetter?
haha good point
MMA k-9,
“I live to fight not fight to live.”
Great quote. You have a fighters heart of gold with that thought process. I wish you good luck. Is it too much to reveal who you are to all of us? I love following up and comers. Even better when I/we get to talk to real fighters. Besides, I’d do whatever I can to support any of you guys who are fighters.
KOuch i think you should visit the cote thread and look at BIGmmaFan’s comment i think he is calling you out
I think a 30-50% paycut is acceptable and would still be better than the UFC pays the fighters could still retain some leverage when negotiating contracts in other orgs.
As long as Trump knows the history of the UFC then he’ll know you gotta lose a few bucks on an MMA startup. It’s just the way of the world.
I think Barnett is getting too big for his britches. His last fight was boring as hell until the knockout and the fact is, he got OVERPAID at 300k when you compare it to UFC salaries. Barnett is not in the same league as Fedor yet he wants the same pay. I wouldn’t buy a PPV just to watch Barnett, would you?
I am so looking forward to The America says no thanks to Josh Barnett. Go dance for ladies on scooters Josh…
I wish HBO would get into MMA. They have world class production values, distribution, and prestige. MMA is a confused traveling circus … only the UFC has their act together but White is an a-hole.
And yes, MMA fighters are underpaid compared to boxers. Freaking Zab Judah gets his ass kicked over and over and keeps showing up on HBO and probably makes more than 99% of the UFC fighters.
GARBAGE
This is (*()ed up!
Did I miss something or is not Trump one of the richest mofo’s on the planet?
**** I hate the way UFC treats fighters but this ain’t cool either.