The UFC has the most on the line. It has the deepest roots. It has the biggest roster. It has the farthest reach and the biggest impact. You want to bankrupt the base? Start paying every fighter who pisses and moans a million bucks. You want to see this sport turn into a Hollywood charade really fast? Bring in more and more “agents” and “promoters.” Then you’ll see a meat market that couldn’t care less about the sport, the fans, or the fighters. Let’s say GSP is worth 1.2 MM for his fight the other night and he takes $400k. Where do you think that other $800k goes? Into new Hummers for Dana White? Not hardly. It goes back into the corporate coffers as operating capital. It’s used to pay the salaries of MORE fighters, it’s used to build the brand and strengthen the sport. It’s spent on advertising and production. It’s used in every other intelligent way that successful businesses operate. By refusing to acknowledge this, fight fans ironically insult the intelligence of the very fighters they “support.” GSP, and other fighters like him, are making a sacrifice for the sport. They know they are worth more and could make more, but they are willing to give up some of their blood “for the family.” They know they are well paid. They know they will continue to make more and more – relative to the size, growth, and success of the sport and their organization. They know that what is good for the goose is good for the gander. It’s really business 101, people. Plain and simple.

Marlo’s comment is rather irrelevant because boxing was so well established by the time Don King arrived, it’s not fair to compare someone like him to Dana White, or anybody else at Zuffa in my opinion. DK was and is a disgusting opportunist that did nothing for the sport. Larry Holmes’ comment is a good example of why boxing is almost dead, “[he can get you] more than anyone else can get you.” But that’s not what it’s about. MMA is not every man for himself. MMA is not about playing both sides to the middle with some agent siphoning off a living. MMA needs a solid foundation – a well established organization with deep roots, sounds business practices, and the ability to guarantee the future of the sport, not to mention the athletes and their livlihoods. What good does it do for a franchise like Affliction to or EliteXC to throw a bunch of money around, stir up a bunch of irresponsible and disrespectful hype, and eventually fade away into oblivion? The sad fact is, most “fans” won’t even realize that organizations like these are never more than a distraction – a flash in the pan – and many will see their demise as the result of the “greedy” executives at Zuffa who created a monopoly. In reality, Zuffa will hold its course while battles rage on all around it, and while everybody else jumps on the bandwagon for a free ride and tries to stir up controversy, it will be the UFC that gave them all a house to live in. If you’re Affliction or any of the other promotions, it’s easy to talk about fighter pay and throw your money around when you have a sugar daddy (the UFC) doing all the dirty work and taking care of all the details.

It’s sickening to see all these parasites show up and feign interest in MMA. Affliction saw Zuffa and, licking its chops, wanted in on the action. So they show up preaching this crap about unfair pay – as if they really give two ****s. Why? To persuade fighters to abandon their loyalties and follow the easy money. Funny thing is, look at how they bill most of their talent as “former UFC” this, and “former UFC” that. The brand must carry some weight, huh? And who have they brought, besides Fedor, anyway? Ex-UFC fighters who are on their way out? I mean, Tim Sylvia? Please. He’s enough to destroy MMA all by himself. And Andrei Arlovski is overrated. After all, he lost to Tim Sylvia in back to back fights. Why in God’s name he gets paid so much is beyond me. It must be the fake teeth and the legions of Wrestle-tainment fans that get turned on by that. Anyway, I think the story has been told simply by the fact that the real talent stays with Zuffa for less money, while the washed-up sell their soul for a little extra dough. Fine with me. They’re just seperating the wheat from the tares anyway. Zuffa ought be be grateful that these other fly-by-nights are getting them off their payroll. They are their liabilities now. If I could trim my overhead and get rid of dead weight at the same time, I’d say that’s the gold standard for successful business in America.

By carefully controlling fight purses, Zuffa has intelligently garaunteed the future success of their company, the sport, and their fighters. And by not disclosing all their numbers they are keeping their blood sucking competition, in the dark – not their athletes. Whiney fighters are just greedy. Everything is negotiable. If they don’t like it, they can quit or go elsewhere – but don’t bite the hand that feeds you, which is exactly what Zuffa continues to do both directly for the fighters in its stable and indirectly for the mutineers who have abandoned ship by keeping this sport at the forefront and by creating the most exciting and entertaining and professional fight productions around. If Zuffa makes a billion dollars in the process, good for them. You don’t hear people ****ing about Bill Gates because he makes so much more than his employees do you? Anybody who succeeds deserves to be rewarded – especially when you’ve built an entire industry that supports and provides for myriads of people from fighters, to producers, to venues, to merchandisers, etc., etc., etc. – not to mention other promotions.

What has Affliction or EliteXC really done for this sport? That’s a difficult question to answer – but I’ll tell you what’s an easy question to answer: what have they done for themselves? Almost everything. Aside from some flashy fighter payouts, and some big hair financial backers (ala Donald Trump, not to be confused with the aforementioned Don King), they haven’t really contribuited. They keep playing the same note over and over again. They say they are all about unifying the belts. BS. If the tables were turned, I can garauntee they’d be playing their cards close to the vest, and they’d probably be paying their fighters less than Zuffa is. I know a lot of business people who take and take from their businesses – slowly bleeding them dry. But it’s rare to see a company pour all of their revenue back into strengthening their foundation and expanding their reach. It’s the difference between the small business and big business mentalities really. I watched one of the Affliction press conferences the other day, and it was like a three ring circus with a bunch of suits mixed in with a bunch of punks. Even Oscar De La Hoya (whom I’ve always respected and admired) sounded unconvincing and contrived – and don’t get me started on Affliction’s VP Tom Atencio. “Sorry. Bear with me. I think I messed up. Hold on a second.” It was a total and complete disaster. He may very well be the worst promoter ever. He shoud definitely stick to t-shirts and the skateboard demographic. If I had to guess, most of these guys don’t know **** about MMA and probably not much about business either. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Tom Atencio sitting ringside with an interpreter: “What’s that arm thingy he’s doing? Why do they call it a rear NAKED choke? Sounds exciting!”

Bottom line is – the more money the UFC makes, the better able they will be to grow their business, promote the sport, and take care of their fighters. I’ve said it once already here, but I’ll say it again: What’s good for the goose, is good for the gander. The better the UFC does, the better MMA and ALL it’s fighters and promoters will do. Kudos to the Fertittas, Dana White, and everyone involved at Zuffa LLC. I appreciate everything you’ve done for MMA and I’m excited to see where you will take the sport next.

as for zuffa buyin affliction i doubt it. alot of these guys have made it clear that there fine not fighting in the ufc so f um let um fight overseas or where ever they go cuz the ufc is doin fine wit out afflictions lil stable.