Debate over UFC giving out bonuses

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2011/5/26/2191754/ufc-discretionary-bonuses-and-revenue-vs-fighter-payouts
At the UFC 130 press conference, Dana discussed the bonuses with MMA Junkie:

"

Quote :

We're the only promoters, and we might be the only bosses in the
history of the [expletive] world that pay guys more than what the deal
is," White told MMAjunkie.com.
...
"There are different factors
into why guys will get a discretionary bonus," White said. "There's
never these deals made where it's like, 'OK, this what we're going to
pay you on the contract, but then we'll cut you a discretionary bonus of
this.'
"First of all, sometimes an event becomes bigger than we anticipated
it to be. Sometimes there's more money involved than we budgeted or
thought could happen. What do we do? We share with them.
...
"The
other reason a guy might get a bonus is because me and (UFC co-owner)
Lorenzo (Fertitta) are sick, insane fight fans, and we might be sitting
there in our chairs, and when we jump up out of our [expletive] seat and
start screaming, 'Holy [expletive],' we're writing that dude a check,
no matter what."

White went as far as saying the bonuses are to the benefit of the fighter:

Quote :

"When you're the guy that gets - and I'm just using this as an
example, when you get a million-dollar bonus - let's say you get a
million-dollar bonus. People come crawling out of the [expletive]
woodwork, man. Every uncle, cousin, nephew, people you didn't know you
were related to need money. Everybody comes asking you."

More quotes from White, and a look at the publicly-available UFC finances after the jump.





White, on why fighters don't talk about their bonus money:

Quote :

None of you have ever done a story where guys come out and say,
'Yeah, here's what happened: I fought a great fight, I came out, and
this was my bonus.' You know why? Because they don't want you to
[expletive] know, and they don't want anyone else to know, either.
That's their business, just like you guys wouldn't want what you make
every year reported in the paper.

That's revenue and doesn't take into account expenses.

Bonuses are awesome none the less, though fighters could make more money.

I wonder how good it is for a fighter to be swimming in bank suddenly in terms of their ability as a fighter itself is concerned? The UFC factors that in as well with their pay-bonus structure. Gotta keep these guys hungry while ensuring fighting as hard as possible for a meal is well worth it.

An interesting article I read a while ago basically said that if a PPV event doesn't draw something like 250K+ buys it loses money. Now don't take that as a fact, but its close enough for you to at least get an idea.

OU wrote:

Card	Total Payout	Revenue	Split
UFC 126	$1,605,000	$21,725,000	7.39%
UFC 125	$1,112,000	$8,924,780	12.46%
UFC 121	$1,793,000	$28,487,000	6.29%
UFC 118	$1,608,000	$17,050,000	9.43%
UFC 117	$1,329,000	$16,560,000	8.03%
UFC 116	$1,373,000	$33,053,990	4.15%
UFC 115	$1,619,000	$17,221,787	9.40%
UFC 114	$1,741,000	$30,145,000	5.78%
UFC 109	$1,184,000	$9,148,000	12.94%
UFC 108	$1,045,000	$9,469,670	11.04%
Total	$14,409,000	$191,785,227	7.51%

It is good table work but remember, you are not Japanese! You are not a Tanaka!

Tanaka meaning:
middle of the ricefield

Ut Oh....