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MMA-GAF |OT5| Father Time Is Undefeated

V

VoxPop

Member
Was looking at some upcoming events and looking forward to quite a few fights. Things seem to be looking up after a lackluster 2014.

Dec 6 - UFC 181

Hendricks x Lawler
Pettis x Melendez
Browne x Schaub
Duffee x Hamilton
Ferguson x Trujillo

Dec 13 - UFC on FOX 13

Dos Santos x Miocic
Diaz x Dos Anjos
Overeem x Struve
Mitrione x Gonzaga
Cejudo x Kimura

Dec 20 - UFC Fight Night

Machida x Dolloway
Barao x Gagnon
Barista x Can
Erick Silva x Mike Rhodes

Jan 3 - UFC 182

Bones x Cormier
Cerrone x Jury
Lombard x Burkman
Marquardt x Tavares
Horiguchi x Gaudinot

Jan 18 - UFC Fight Night

McGregor x Siver
Alvarez x Bendo
Uriah Hall x Philippou

Jan 24 - UFC on FOX 14

Gus x Rumble
Davis x Bader
Mousasi x Hendo

Jan 31 - UFC 183

Silva x Diaz
Woodley x Gastelum
Mein x Alves
McCall x Lineker
Tate x McMann
Lauzon x Iaquinta

Feb 14 - UFC Fight Night

Brown x Saffediene
Holloway x Miller
Wonderboy x Thatch
Makovsky x Elliott

Feb 28 - UFC 184

Weidman x Belfort
Rousey x Zingano
Jacare x Romero
Mir x Big Foot
Kos x Magny
Kid Yamamoto x Can


We will probably only get half these fights due to injuries but should still be good
 
I

industrian

will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
From my understanding, this is the WWE method - where the UFC will create and control merchandise and give fighters a cut based on how well they can replicate John Cena.

This has the potential to backfire dramatically. The UFC's sponsor tax was bad enough.
 
K

killamajig

Member
BigJonsson said:
Reebok uniforms starting in July

http://www.mmafighting.com/2014/12/2/7316263/ufc-inks-exclusive-deal-with-reebok-uniform-program-to-roll-out-july
Click to expand...

Was this the big announcement they didn't have ready for the press conference?

Edit:No more banners? Goodbye BJ banner gif :(
N5bzqmt.jpg
 
O

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
this weekends card looks pretty fucking good. really excited to see ruthless get that belt from that hillbilly, pettis to smash that strike force can, faber to smash that generic label can, tony and abel banging it out, and browne demolishing shlub with questionable elbow strikes. may even make the wife sign up for a fight pass trial to see lil'sergio in action again.
 
R

RBH

Member
slea1f7ggdnbq3wrkwum.jpg


The UFC just got in bed with Reebok, and in doing so, threw out a load of its old sponsors. It's the sort deal a grown-up company makes, and also the sort of deal that reminds you that the UFC has some growing up left to do.

The exclusive deal runs for six years for an unspecified amount of money (MMA media is guessing eight-figure per year range), and begins this July. At that point, fighters will no longer be walking billboards for Condom Depot or Dynamic Fastener or whatever, and will have to wear official Reebok apparel at UFC events.

This is reasonable in a lot of ways. If the UFC wants to function as more of a traditional sports league—instead of a cartel, like boxing—then the gear athletes wear is a perfectly reasonable thing for it to take ownership over.

Individual fighters will have personalized looks, so while there's some chance that this improves on the UFC's pervasive aesthetic bankruptcy, chances are strong that this will simply be a Reebok-branded expression of the garish 2002 Cali-bro apparel we have now. (If Reebok had any sense, it would force the issue and make everyone look like they're showing up to a kung fu tournament, but that's a big ask even in dreams.)

All of the up-front money from Reebok will go to the fighters, and will pay out in a tiered system based on official UFC rankings (which are decided by a panel of voters comprising MMA media members regularly cowed by the organization, which will be its own nightmare). Champions make the most, then rankings 1-5, 6-10, and 11-15 earn a different pay grade, and there is a base rate for anyone under that.

How those tiers break down specifically will be crucial, especially at the extremes. Any flattening of payouts is always going to hit the biggest stars—Jon Jones will probably take a hit the same way LeBron does—but the guys at the bottom, the ones just starting out in MMA, often make more off of their sponsorships than they do from their UFC contract.

Fighters also get 20 percent of all royalties for any merchandise bearing their likeness. This is more fraught than it sounds, which Kevin Iole explains in some detail at Yahoo:

The UFC and the fighter will share in the profits from those sales. There will be a lot of Ronda Rousey, Jon Jones, Vitor Belfort, Anderson Silva and Cain Velasquez apparel sold, but probably not much merchandise with the likenesses of, oh, Walt Harris and Bubba Bush.

The bigger the star, the more apparel that's likely to be sold. It's probable that 20 or 25 fighters will sell a ton of branded apparel and that the vast majority of fighters will sell next to nothing.
Click to expand...

Managing merchandising royalties isn't a problem for other leagues, which negotiate their player licensing through their unions. But the UFC doesn't have a union, so its lower class is left to fend for itself. This could work out if the base rate for appearances is solid, but that's another unknown.

It's also believable that the UFC has to some degree nailed its dick to the floor. Back in 2006, the NBA signed an 11-year apparel deal with Adidas for $400 million. At the time, that was a ton of money. But $36 million per year will look a lot different by the time the deal is up in 2017—with its new broadcast deal, that might not even be one superstar's annual salary. (Manchester United will make $130 million per year from Adidas for its merchandising rights.) Then there's the NFL, which got out of its 10-year $250 million Reebok deal a few years back and entered a five-year $1.1 billion deal with Nike. The scale moves quickly, that is to say, and for an upstart like the UFC that should reasonably be looking to scale even more rapidly than more established leagues, six years is a long time.

Any strain from a six-year apparel deal would fall short of the dilution that came out of the seven-year broadcast deal with Fox—which to be fair was for a reported $100 million a year, bigger than MLS's combined deals and within docking range of the NHL's $200 annual broadcast rights—but it's still long enough, early enough in the growth cycle of the sport, that if one thing or another shakes out wrong there are going to be some serious problems.
Click to expand...
http://deadspin.com/ufc-gets-a-reebok-deal-possibly-no-longer-aestheticall-1665761256
 
N

Ninja Scooter

Member
I wonder if this is something that Bellator can use to lure a lot of guys who aren't big names over into their fold. "We can't pay you as much up front but we'll let you have your own sponsors."
 
H

Heel

Member
Ninja Scooter said:
I wonder if this is something that Bellator can use to lure a lot of guys who aren't big names over into their fold. "We can't pay you as much up front but we'll let you have your own sponsors."
Click to expand...

They just drove all the shitty sponsors to the #2 promotion. Could be a good lure for fighters who just got pinched, depending on how all the math works out.

Also, MMA managers are sweatin' somethin serious on Twitter right now lol



"We can't pay you as much up front but we'll let you have your own sponsors."

A few years back I remember a fighter saying the UFC pushed something similar when he signed. "We can't pay you much, but the sponsorship money is better."
 
N

Ninja Scooter

Member
This whole thing just feels like Dana and the UFC's continuing misguided attempts to turn MMA into a "legit" sport. He desperately wants to be on the cover of SI again. He wants to be on the front page of every sports page in america. He wants to be on the front of ESPN.com or the lead story in Sportscenter, and a few years ago I thought that was possible but the reality is that it's just never going to happen. MMA is a sideshow. Embrace that.
 
N

Ninja Scooter

Member
TheKaeptain said:
Wait what does this mean for Bones and other Nike sponsored fighters?
Click to expand...

Probably the same thing it means for Adidas guys who play in the NFL: Tough shit. They have to sport Nike gear and the NFL fines them for trying to cover up the Nike symbols or not wearing the official gear. I'm sure Dana will do the same. It just makes it that much harder for guys to land Nike type contracts (as if it wasn't hard enough, who had one other than Bones and Silva?) since they don't have the same kind of exposure as NBA or NFL players. This really fucks over like 99% of UFC fighters.
 
A

AwesomeSauce

MagsMoonshine
Ninja Scooter said:
Probably the same thing it means for Adidas guys who play in the NFL: Tough shit. They have to sport Nike gear and the NFL fines them for trying to cover up the Nike symbols or not wearing the official gear. I'm sure Dana will do the same. It just makes it that much harder for guys to land Nike type contracts (as if it wasn't hard enough, who had one other than Bones and Silva?) since they don't have the same kind of exposure as NBA or NFL players. This really fucks over like 99% of UFC fighters.
Click to expand...

Junior Dos Santos had a nike contract too I think. And didn't Bones just lose his sponsorship with Nike? Eh who cares. I'm surprised I know all this tbh
no im not
 
J

Jest Chillin

Member
I think it has less to do with Dana trying to make it more like a "legit sport" and more to do with him forcing sponsors to pay the UFC. Giving fighters less outside income also plays into power games with overall and individual contracts. Want to eat? Better stop picking and choosing opponents and fight dates.
 
I

industrian

will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
I can understand the UFC's mentality in taking away the "stress" of finding and negotiating with sponsors. But unless this translates into significantly more income for every UFC fighter then it's going to backfire.

That and I see it as a sly way to force fighters to market themselves better. Especially if their profit is based on how much merchandise they sell and how much mindshare they have.

But one question to ask Dana is this: if a fighter leaves the UFC then I assume the UFC will retain the rights to sell his UFC merchandise forever. What happens if the fighter joins another company or wants to sell his own stuff from then on? Will they be sued?

BigJonsson said:
What does this mean for Tapout, Affliction, Dethrone etc...
Click to expand...

Fire sales at your local MMA webstore followed by significant downsizing and at least one of them going bust.

Or maybe the "MMA culture" audience is big enough for them to still make a decent profit.

TheKaeptain said:
Wait what does this mean for Bones and other Nike sponsored fighters?
Click to expand...

Bones lost his Nike deal after the DC scuffle. I wonder how Luke Rockhold is feeling, as he recently signed a deal with Adidas.

I imagine that fighters will be able to shill their sponsor's stuff on social media and in non-fight related media work. But with that said, these sponsors will only care about the top fighters who people actually care about and listen to.
 
A

alr1ght

bish gets all the credit :)
From what I understand, they will still have other non-clothing sponsors, all approved by Dana and Friends.
"If there is a sponsor on our uniform or on our kit, it's going to be a major global brand like you see in some of these other sports, like the European soccer leagues. So just that alone is going to completely change the perception of the sport, the perception of the athlete, the level that we're at.
Click to expand...

20% royalties, with Dana and Friends taking the rest.
While not delving deep into detail, Fertitta explained that each fighter will be distinguished by their own personalized kit, and that in addition to a flat sponsorship income, athletes are also expected to receive 20-percent royalty payments dependent on sales for their individualized kits into perpetuity, meaning retired fighters will also draw from the program.
Click to expand...

"At the end of the day, the more successful you are and the more demand there is for you, as an individual brand, [the more] you're going to sell. That's the way the system works, it's a capitalistic system here at the UFC."

"You guys have seen it when we've had press conferences before and fighters are upset about sponsors, guys are walking in wearing UFC clothes because they don't want to haggle with the sponsors anymore," said UFC President Dana White. "
Click to expand...
Kind of like restricting sponsors by having them pay you $100k to just be allowed to sponsor someone.
 
G

Gr1mLock

Passing metallic gas
Scumbag shit through and through. I hope Bellator starts aggressively going after the lower ranked top ten guys just to skim their stable. 'Come on over guys. Bring Condom Depot with you'.
 
H

Heel

Member
Gr1mLock said:
Scumbag shit through and through. I hope Bellator starts aggressively going after the lower ranked top ten guys just to skim their stable. 'Come on over guys. Bring Condom Depot with you'.
Click to expand...

I think some of the top-top guys will get pinched on this too, which makes it even more interesting. I don't know how long that kind of money will be floating around for those guys, though. I'm pretty sure Anderson and Bones lost Nike, etc.
 
I

industrian

will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
I imagine that the big earners will get hit the most, as they're the guys who can actually get sponsors that pay up with money.
 
S

slightconfuse

Banned
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

**Nate Diaz was quick to post a photo with the caption “Fuck You” for his thoughts on the UFC uniforms. His very next tweet read: “Oh shit my phone was hacked today”.
Click to expand...


AHAHAAHHAHAAHHAHAAHHAHA
 
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