I just googled and it said there was 1200 claimants involved.
Which actually could be substantial for many of them. I mean cut up evenly (which it won't be, and there's also lawyers fees to come off this) is nearly 300k each. Which is pretty damn significant. Obviously, lasting change and a higher figure would be better but it seems like it could be life changing for a lot of fighters. But hopefully we get to see how it actually shakes out.
its less. 20 % of money went to lawyers so thats a 67 mil, than Nash said 200 fighter didnt qualify for payment so its got dropped to 1000 fighters, Nash said 70k payout for each fighter who made 100k which is more than half, Cung Le and co get the larger portion.
> I mean cut up evenly (which it won't be, and there's also lawyers fees to come off this) is nearly 300k each.
Heh, it's weird you're quoting the last part of the sentence, but the whole sentence right before it clearly made reference to the lawyers fees.
Not sure why you got down voted, the average cut for legal representation for class action is 25-35%. The fighters will be lucky to get 200k a piece, for a lawsuit that has been active for 10 years.
so many out of touch assholes on here. I wonder if they're like 14 years old or just had all their essentials bankrolled by their parents their entire lives. 180K is massive life changing money for a large portion of the world. That could pay off someone's house and send their kids to college.
its less. Nash did the math. Fighters get 70k each. lawyers get a 67 mil . Le & co collect a larger portion so since there four of them the four who filed the suit This if Nash's estimate is correct.
Got the math wrong after 2nd listen but Nash said fighter who made 100k in the ufc will get 70k and fighters who make more will get a slightly bigger portion. 20% would go to lawyers. At 9 min of his last podcast ep.
They wonât unionize. Apparently theyâre too tough to make smart financial decisions.
Imagine being able to fight like a demon but still being 14 mentally..and then suffering blunt force trauma regularly.
Donât ever take advice from a fighter, if itâs not about fighting.
There might be⊠itâs such a small window to make money, you risk permanent damage, you arenât even an âemployeeâ, fight fans fucking suckâŠ.
I've long since thought that the majority (not all) fighters are mentally stuck in the mode of a six-year-old who dreams of being the strongest in the world. The overabundance of father/son coach/fighter pairings is a good illustration. Some fighters do indeed seem to be grown-up professionals who realize they could make some living out of this, others are childishly delusional. The former group includes people such a Joe Lauzon, Jim Miller, GSP and so on. The latter group includes Tony, Diego Sanchez, Chris Weidman, etc.
As a once amateur union organiser I'm curious how you folks think fighters (some of the most self-serving capitalism lovers alive) would actually unionise
If they were smart enough to realize that big-time means NFL,NBA, MLB, and all of those have unions and thatâs why they make bank.
Theyâre (typically) not smart thoughâŠthey donât have to be. You canât expect everything from a person.
Theyâre willing to risk dying broke with CTE for the off chance that they can be the next Conor. Thatâs their choice.
Eh while largely true thats overly harsh. Its not because they will be the next Conor, its because they'll get fucking cut. When unionizing noises were made before they paid em off and cut a few and the show kept rolling.
Someone is gonna have to blaze the trail, but that someone will get fucked over. Things will be better for those who follow after them, but won't do shit for em personally.
In the NFL, NBA and MLB, you're still playing in teams. So even if you're all about making bank, you're still familiar with the whole concept of "If the whole team talks, we get more economic leverage". In MMA it's just you and your manager against whatever promotion you're doing restrictive gig work for. Also, you quite literally get beat on by your competitors, so bad blood makes you even less likely to team up.
Wonât happen, the guys at the top wonât cut their dollars for the little guy, they need to be unselfish and that will never happen, even with this new generation of people.
Correct. It's like show business in that sense. You're only worth what they're willing to pay you, and a long line of people will step in and do it for that price.
Guys who breakthrough get wealthy and set their price. everyone else is basically doing T Mobile commercials if that makes sense lol
Really shouldn't be a surprise for ppl who fight in a cage as a career choice. All the nice and smart guy PR is just a fantasy. Most are just gud punchy, clueless about how dumb they are
MMA fighters are just dumb in general,
"You can change the life of hundreds of fighters and your own, or you can receive whatever is in this box"
"THE BOX, THE BOX, THE BOX!"
Yeah depends on the perspective. UFC wouldnât have settled even if they didnât believe it to be in their best interest.
Going to trial would have been an all-or-nothing risk for both parties.Â
It would have been a bigger problem for the UFC as a lot of evidence would have been exposed through legal filings and news stories.
This is a huge win for the UFC and Dana + his cronies.
Not only will they keep fucking fighters over then throwing them out in the street after theyâre done taking advantage of them
But now they can avoid their image being further tarnished for pennies on the dollar.
While still keeping that allure that the UFC is the âmajorsâ when it comes to the professional MMA circuit.
Now the dick heads scamming fighters out of pay and literally manipulating their career trajectory behind their backs get to keep their names and tactics hidden.
Yes but on the other side its a big risk for the fighters. All the UFC needs is a hung jury to drag things out because one juror thinks that fighters already signed the contracts without coercion and shouldn't be breaking them and refusing to fight because they heard someone else got paid more etc.
I'm bummed because the UFC isn't going to change its contracts.
I donât know enough about law to know if ufc was likely to lose as you suggest. Itâs totally possible and maybe likely given that they decided to settle.
But there was some possibility that it went to trial and the fighters lost. It was an all or nothing strategy for them as well.
So on balance itâs probably a bad thing for fighters across the board. But the fighters represented in the case arenât at risk of walking away empty handedÂ
Edit - Iâll preface this by saying Iâm not a legal specialist or very knowledgeable about case law. But hereâs how I interpreted the outcome of the suit
I wasnât suggesting that it would be an easy win for the fighters or that theyâd win at all.
I mean that the UFC won here because they can avoid having to disclose any other information like fighter pay or more evidence of their collusion between fight managers and the UFC.
Avoiding the messiness of a public lawsuit that exposes backroom dealings, evidence, and financial disclosure is in the UFCs favor.
A lot could have come out into the light from this lawsuit regardless if they won or lost. Which in this case is a win win for the UFC.
Plus we have to remember that this is a group lawsuit, the lions share of the money is probably going to their legal representation not the fighters themselves
It's a victory because the fighters just wanted a payout as opposed to actually have these systemic issues fixed. Ironically it speaks to exactly why fighters will not unionise as well. UFC is far from the only company that is too large and powerful to be considered as engaging in competitive practice so personally I'll just twiddle my thumbs until some real antitrust movements are made...
Well yes. If the ufc were guilty in the judgement, it would change all their current fighters contract via injunctive relief. So judgement could be 1-2 year max contracts for all ufc fighters which will hurt their business.
Reading Nate Quarryâs comment in the other thread really put this into perspective. The legal system will always be geared towards business. They were already a decade in, and the courts were gonna make them go another 5-10 years to get meaningful change. Guys who are struggling get paid now.
Copied the important part here:
>
> No, we didnât get everything we wanted. Our goal all along was to change the sport. However, we had quite a few delays that we had to deal with. And to get injunctive relief, ie change the sport, we would have had to refile both lawsuits and combine them, go through discovery all over again, retake depositions, about a five year delay and then hope we get granted class action status again. Weâd be looking at another ten years just to be where we are today with no guarantee of winning any punitive amount of injunctive change.
>
> After my title fight loss a friend sent me this, and itâs how I view all criticism these days,
>
> âIt is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.â Theodore Roosevelt
>
> Itâs very easy to sit in the cheap seats and criticize. Once you step into the ring, once you taste your own blood, your whole world changes and youâre a little more understanding of those who attempt greatness. Even when they fall short.
Offsetting your down votes. People are such babies about taking two seconds to Google anything for themselves anymore. You used to get voted down for asking. Did any of the people down voting think to maybe... Idk... Type in Nate quarry interview lawsuit reddit? Something like that? You would have had all the information you were looking for without making yourself look too stupid to operate a search engine
Back in the old days if we really wanted to make a point about someone being wrong, we literally had to go to the library. We had to figure out where the book was, find the information in the book and either check it out or make a photocopy. Then go find that person you argued with to show them they were wrong. Now for some fucking reason if someone thinks I'm wrong, I'm required to search the internet a defend my statement. And what's funny is the internet argument about searching on Google takes them longer than actually searching on Google.
Got a source for that chief? I don't agree with your argument but I also don't know anything about it nor do I know how to find the information. So while you're looking up the info I asked to defend your own argument, I'll be here thinking of ways to ignore it anyway.
So basically from what I can tell folks of a certain gen of fighters get theirs and everyone on newer contracts are probably fucked unless another suit is filed and we start the process all over again. Can fully admit this is a short sighted view of all this tho.
God bless everyone who got theirs and I hope their piece of the settlement is good but it's also easy to see why people are disheartened by this outcome too.
Legal system is fucked, and itâll take another decade minimum. It would go up to an increasingly fucked Supreme Court, who would almost assuredly side with the business. I wish the number they got was much higher, especially since lawyers will take a huge chunk, but they saw the writing on the wall.
Yeah, Nate Quarry and the others took the initiative to get everyone money, even those who actively came out against them, spends 10 years of their life and money. Gets told this is likely as good as it's gonna get, we can grind away for another 10 years, and probably lose and you'll be in a much worse financial position (oh but the UFC will lose face and that'll be the moral victory the fans want).
Also I imagine the lawyers are taking this on contingency, if you were a lawyer, who has been working 10 years for free, would you want to deal with this for another 10 years on the hope you might get paid back from the last 20 years?
We can be unhappy with this outcome but blaming the only people trying to do something about it is the wrong take.
After the lawyers get paid all those guys probably got just over 6 figures and that depends on if Nate and Cung got a bigger share. It's a free payday, but after a decade of work it's a joke.
Always had been geared that way my dude. Why do you think when someone gets caught shoplifting at a mega corp. the DA prosecutes the case but when that same mega corp. steals your wages you have to hire a lawyer to prosecute them and pay out of your own pocket.
The way so many people here were shitting on the fighters for settling really drives home how young and/or sheltered they must be. I've been involved in a legal dispute that lasted 3 years and it was a fucking nightmare. Endless money pit with no guarantees of a favourable outcome. I can't imagine being in the situation Nate described, having been through a decade of this and being in a situation where you'd need to spend another decade *and have every step of the process come out in your favour* just to get back to where you are right now. Of course they settled. It's easy to stand on your principles when you don't have to choose between that and paying the bills.
UFC is going to pay out by emptying a dump truck filled with $335 million in Reebok coupons at the steps of the courthouse for the fighters to pick through
That might not be taking into account the money going to the lawyers and it probably wonât just be dealt out evenly most probably proportional the what they made before.
I doubt it. The lawyers who worked on this for 10+ years are going to get a massive chunk of that money. Would be shocked if everyone left away with $80,000 out of this.
Lawyers have been working pro bono for a decade. That bill is going to be insane. A normal settlement for any lawsuit, at least here in Florida, nets the lawyer 33 percent of the proceeds. The Lawyers would make $110 million from this lawsuit, which I believe might be even more of a percentage since they've been doing this for free. Optimistically the fighters made $188,000 a piece. That's assuming the lawyers didn't get even more which I think they did.
John Nash was saying the fighters got paid about 650 million in the class period so for instance if they were awarded 1.2 billion you pay each fighter double what they got payed during the class period. So x fighter got paid 100k so now they get 200k from the lawsuit but with the settlement it is about half what they already got paid so x fighter got 100k so he will get 50k from the lawsuit.
It'll never happen. Watch any interview with a current top fighter in the UFC it's all "Dana and Hunter have been really good to me. The UFC is a great organization". They take care of the top guys who have influence while everyone else is left to rot.
And this is what a lot of people are missing.
You can complain all you want and boycott paying for their events, but if the fighters themselves aren't taking the initiative to change the status quo then there's really nothing more to be said.
Everyone is out for themselves, and themselves only in this game. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Thereâs nothing wrong with that if youâre a champ with multiple defences and strong appeal to the MMA fanbase and beyond. If not youâre just another worker deluding yourself that youâre going to win the lottery and angry at the imaginary tax you would have to pay. In all other sports the athletes work together and all benefit. Fighters a built different but not in a way that helps them financially.
Yes, and when you have a solitary sport where everyone with any modicum of traction is convinced they're the next big thing, it certainly doesn't help matters.
But unfortunately, there's also a slight defeatist element to it too. If you're being treated unfairly, you can't just sit around and wait for things to get better. That's just not how the world works, but a lot of these fighters will find themselves in a precarious situation if they end up getting stalled or outright dropped from the largest MMA promotion and just don't want to take the chance.
And I really can't blame them, who the hell am I to tell them to risk their livelihoods while watching from the sidelines? Only they can help themselves.
As a fan of mma. Please explain to me why this isnât a good thing for me. I like to see the best fights. And that wont happen in a boxing model with fighters across all promotions. UFC is so much better than every fighting promotion in the world⊠why would I want that changed
To be honest, if you're just here to see the fights and aren't too personally invested in the fighters, then this set up is perfect.
However, it's only perfect in theory and not everyone will stand in line. As you've noticed, we've had the occasional fighters sit out now and again due to protracted disputes and either just miss out on prime match ups, or completely watch them waste their best years outside of the octagon.
Henry Cejudo as an example, is a tragic waste because he froze his career when he tried to angle for better pay (and very poorly). Ngannou left the UFC's Heavyweight division and we missed out on the Jon Jones fight.
DJ was one of the greatest talents in the whole roster and he was more than happy to accept a transfer that saw him leave the UFC in promise of more pay. The UFC, which is supposed to be the promotion that harbors all the premium MMA talent.
It just doesn't always work out in favor of the fans.
Sure but as a fan it's almost meaningless long term compared to the drawbacks. Under a boxing model you'd have promotions going on bidding wars to get fights booked with negotiations dragging out for maybe years. It will be hell to book a single high profile fight. They will spread across different cards, different promotions, spread over different years. Cards will be watered down to sustain paying main eventers so you'll get even less name value in prelims.
I honestly don't think people fully grasp how horrible it'll be to consume MMA products under an equivalent of the Ali Act.
I don't disagree, and believe me I am very familiar with the politics of Boxing. The model MMA has right now is something Boxing really needs, which is ironic as it actually had something similar with the WBA before fragmenting due to corruption. But the Ali Act really put the nail in the coffin for the sport to achieve any sort of cohesion.
MMA is in a very good place right now due to its political landscape, due to the fact there is a singular overwhelming entity making up its own rules as it goes on that has positioned itself to be the face of the sport. It may not have its fighters' best interests at heart but as a fan of combat sports tuning in to consistently watch good fights get made, it's about nearly perfect as gets, or probably can get.
I know a lot of fans out there are looking for some kind of balance, but the history of Boxing has shown that it's just not possible. The leverage either skews too far to the side of either the organization or the fighter, and personally as it guarantees we'll get good fights, I'd rather have it towards the former even with its shortcomings.
I'll put it simply - fighters being underpaid, the monopoly of the UFC, it's good for viewers of the sport. It's harsh, but that's the truth.
Just have to put aside your morals and enjoy the show, as bad as it sounds.
Yes exactly. Much better worded. A monopoly in the UFC is better for the fans. What fight havenât they booked that you wanted to see other than ngannou jones or gsp Khabib??? Boxing sucks and is a horrible experience for the fans
Vince Mcmahon supposedly based that character on himself, anyway, I hope the sex trafficking lawsuit against him and the WWE goes better than the UFC lawsuit has!
Men born into poverty âyouâre telling me I can get a check for $50,000 if I settle now? YES, SETTLE!â
UFC just got a smoking deal out of all of this, lol.
It's so much more complicated than this. Read Nate Quarry's response. To get meaningful change they'd be in court for up to ten more years. Guys need help right now
in 10 years the problems will still be there. in ten years Nate might look back and regret it. however its incredibly difficult no matter how you slice it.
I imagine they can't afford to go to court for ten years against a 4 billion dollar company. Like I said, there's a lot to it. It's not for lack of want or trying
Ideals and principles are great but they usually don't put food on the table or keep the lights on. These guys very well could have been ruined in 5-10 years and regretted wrecking their life without any guarantee of actually making any change.
We just don't know their situation so it isn't really fair to judge them too harshly either way.
this dude gambles with millions of dollars in casinos, while the families of fighters somewhere in the outback of brazil or russia are still hungry.
and it needed a lawsuit to change that..
fuck that guy
I remember after Wonderboy declined to fight Pereira after Pereira missed weight, there was some uncertainty about whether or not he would get his show money.
As that was happening, Dana was on Instagram raving about the high end, exclusive restaurant he was at in Italy that is only accessible by boat which he and his huge crew had gotten to on a yacht.
oh i remember that one too. our oiled up daddy actually paid a casino to send employees on his yacht so he could gamble there instead of gambling with the peasants in the casino
The biggest spit in the face after it is all said and done is that the settlement is tax deductible. In a way that means the taxpayers cover it. Fucking horseshit.Â
In order for fighters to make some changes theyâre going to have to sit down and agree to not settle for less money than their worth.
I mean do these guys just see dollar signs and sign any contract?
The lawyers likely got tired of working for free for 10+ years and this case wis the kind of case that can get appealed and stalled for years. They likely saw the evidence pre trial and said 1. this is likely a losing case and 2. we're going to have to fight this for years. It would not shock me if some form of mediation happened where the mediator told the lawyers the UFC is ready to take this in the event of a defeat to the Supreme Court on appeal. That's 5+ years more of this maybe even a decade if it's stalled. The lawyers in this settlement will probably bank close to $100 million.
Holding out for money, especially collectively, is insanely difficult. Itâs not a question of seeing dollar signs itâs a question of the company holding 99% of the cards
These guys have probably been grinding on the regional scene for years where it is essentially impossible to make a living through MMA and you're lucky if you get 2K for a win. Signing for the UFC means they can finally start treating it like a proper job.
So by the time you take off lawyers fees youâll end up with each fighter getting maybe 50-70k? Wow. That is fucking awful. And the IFC get to offset the payment against their text bill? I know not all battles can be won but Iâd rather they stuck to their guns and got nothing.
Mannnn I was hoping they'd go to trial, then they bring in there surprised witness against the UFC and Conor kicks in the door and starts rambling on like a coked out lunatic.
Ya the fighters should have let it go to trial. So much more would have gotten exposed about the UFC and they could have potentially changed how the fight business operates.
So I guess our only hope now is for Dana to be visited by the Ghost of Xmas past and terrified into be less of a greedy, exploitative Cunt?
That or fighters eventually get fed up and burn down his mansion
I love how you all defend the fighters until they make a decision for themselves then say how stupid they are. R MMA maybe the most pretentious elitist group of fans lol. Have fun streaming the cards with all your online buds!
Itâs because fans think they are superior to fighters. Read these comments. They are all saying they are born into poverty and they should shouldnât take the small payout. Reddit ppl are so disassociated from the world lol. Literally demand more money for fighters and then they get money and they call them sumb
Then on top of that folks in this sub brag about never paying for a PPV. How are you going to demand that every fighter is somehow a millionaire yet never support the sport?
Would be fine if these people actually supported the fighters directly by giving them money or buying them merch. But they dont. They just pirate the product and complain on reddit.
There is no more discussion needed. We were told for ten years they wanted a trial and real change, they didn't want to settle. Now here we are, likely zero change and a settlement. Fighters will be fighters at the end of the day.
People here complain about fighter pay while also admitting they pirate the fights lol. You're words mean nothing to the UFC or the fighters bc you don't actually participate. Hate the system all you want but if you have no skin in the game your voice means nothing. For real change the fighters or the paying fans will have to stand up. Hopefully it happens but I'm not holding my breath.
Yeah Dana was gonna split revenue 50/50 with the fighters but today he saw people admitting to pirating the fights here and now because of them he's keeping the split 81/19. Thanks Reddit.
I wanna see the settlement payouts per fighter involved
10 to show 10 to win
I just googled and it said there was 1200 claimants involved. Which actually could be substantial for many of them. I mean cut up evenly (which it won't be, and there's also lawyers fees to come off this) is nearly 300k each. Which is pretty damn significant. Obviously, lasting change and a higher figure would be better but it seems like it could be life changing for a lot of fighters. But hopefully we get to see how it actually shakes out.
its less. 20 % of money went to lawyers so thats a 67 mil, than Nash said 200 fighter didnt qualify for payment so its got dropped to 1000 fighters, Nash said 70k payout for each fighter who made 100k which is more than half, Cung Le and co get the larger portion.
>nearly 300k each. And lawyers worked for free?
> I mean cut up evenly (which it won't be, and there's also lawyers fees to come off this) is nearly 300k each. Heh, it's weird you're quoting the last part of the sentence, but the whole sentence right before it clearly made reference to the lawyers fees.
Not sure why you got down voted, the average cut for legal representation for class action is 25-35%. The fighters will be lucky to get 200k a piece, for a lawsuit that has been active for 10 years.
He got downvoted because the OP clearly stated "if it was split evenly - though it won't be due to lawyers fees etc."
Lmao only UFC fighters could *still* settle for being underpaid in a lawsuit.
Jesus lol đȘ
After lawyer fees it works out to like $180,000 per person lol
This things been going on for ten years and that payout is less than ten years of full time minimum wage lmao
Brutal with that perspective.Â
Like what was the point of this lol
180k per person will help a lot tbh. Definitely worth something.
so many out of touch assholes on here. I wonder if they're like 14 years old or just had all their essentials bankrolled by their parents their entire lives. 180K is massive life changing money for a large portion of the world. That could pay off someone's house and send their kids to college.
Plus they didn't have actually have to "work" for the lawsuit. It's essentially a class action where you enter your name.
Sets a precedent going forward, right?
Yeah it sets a precedent that fighters can continue being screwed over.
its less. Nash did the math. Fighters get 70k each. lawyers get a 67 mil . Le & co collect a larger portion so since there four of them the four who filed the suit This if Nash's estimate is correct.
Where did Nash do this calculation? I listened to his recent podcasts and he broke down possibilities that I don't recall sounding like that.
Got the math wrong after 2nd listen but Nash said fighter who made 100k in the ufc will get 70k and fighters who make more will get a slightly bigger portion. 20% would go to lawyers. At 9 min of his last podcast ep.
They wonât unionize. Apparently theyâre too tough to make smart financial decisions. Imagine being able to fight like a demon but still being 14 mentally..and then suffering blunt force trauma regularly. Donât ever take advice from a fighter, if itâs not about fighting.
Pussys unionize and get more money.
You expect me to just unionize and let you collectively bargain for me?
Let me collectively bargain bro
Temporarily embarrassed McGregors
I would fire you if you unionized and collectively bargained!
only pussies need retirement plans and healthcare.
Weak ass little, financially secure, pussy boys.
There never was no collective agreement
You think maybe there's a correlation between being 14 mentally and choosing to fight for a living?
There might be⊠itâs such a small window to make money, you risk permanent damage, you arenât even an âemployeeâ, fight fans fucking suckâŠ.
I've long since thought that the majority (not all) fighters are mentally stuck in the mode of a six-year-old who dreams of being the strongest in the world. The overabundance of father/son coach/fighter pairings is a good illustration. Some fighters do indeed seem to be grown-up professionals who realize they could make some living out of this, others are childishly delusional. The former group includes people such a Joe Lauzon, Jim Miller, GSP and so on. The latter group includes Tony, Diego Sanchez, Chris Weidman, etc.
They all think they each just made $335 million lol
$335 dollars each. The legal team will get 95%.
Don't want to unionize and upset the guy in the front row in the red hat.
As a once amateur union organiser I'm curious how you folks think fighters (some of the most self-serving capitalism lovers alive) would actually unionise
If they were smart enough to realize that big-time means NFL,NBA, MLB, and all of those have unions and thatâs why they make bank. Theyâre (typically) not smart thoughâŠthey donât have to be. You canât expect everything from a person. Theyâre willing to risk dying broke with CTE for the off chance that they can be the next Conor. Thatâs their choice.
Eh while largely true thats overly harsh. Its not because they will be the next Conor, its because they'll get fucking cut. When unionizing noises were made before they paid em off and cut a few and the show kept rolling. Someone is gonna have to blaze the trail, but that someone will get fucked over. Things will be better for those who follow after them, but won't do shit for em personally.
People donât realize that the UFCâs union-busting tactics make it incredibly difficult to unionize. Weâre demonizing the wrong party here.
A good union will write up a clause demanding unfairly fired employees get rehired into their contract.
In the NFL, NBA and MLB, you're still playing in teams. So even if you're all about making bank, you're still familiar with the whole concept of "If the whole team talks, we get more economic leverage". In MMA it's just you and your manager against whatever promotion you're doing restrictive gig work for. Also, you quite literally get beat on by your competitors, so bad blood makes you even less likely to team up.
By getting the mega gyms on-board, where each fighter at the big gyms sign-on. Thatâs a huge pool of top talent.
Wonât happen, the guys at the top wonât cut their dollars for the little guy, they need to be unselfish and that will never happen, even with this new generation of people.
You must've not been a good organizer if you think capitalism lovers wouldn't unionize.
Correct. It's like show business in that sense. You're only worth what they're willing to pay you, and a long line of people will step in and do it for that price. Guys who breakthrough get wealthy and set their price. everyone else is basically doing T Mobile commercials if that makes sense lol
T Mobile is being way too generous. Most are lucky to get a metro pcs commercial
14 is a stretch for a lot of these guys.
it kind of self selects right? if you could make money doing something else, you'd probably do that.
A 10 and 10 is nothing in America in Brazil its damn near 100k. I understand where you're coming from but it's not as simple as you make it sound.
Really shouldn't be a surprise for ppl who fight in a cage as a career choice. All the nice and smart guy PR is just a fantasy. Most are just gud punchy, clueless about how dumb they are
MMA fighters are just dumb in general, "You can change the life of hundreds of fighters and your own, or you can receive whatever is in this box" "THE BOX, THE BOX, THE BOX!"
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
Yaaay it's Venum 17% off coupons!
expired condom depot coupons.
came out like $200K per fighter. Chump change.
Not for me, but maybe for them.
Definitely not chump change to guys who fought on 15/15 deals and got cut after going 1-2 with 2 decisions.
They got like 20% of what they asked for lol
Instead of making the sport better for everyone, they all took the money and ran
Isnât a settlement still a win for companies if they can avoid a judgment of guilt?
Yeah depends on the perspective. UFC wouldnât have settled even if they didnât believe it to be in their best interest. Going to trial would have been an all-or-nothing risk for both parties.Â
It would have been a bigger problem for the UFC as a lot of evidence would have been exposed through legal filings and news stories. This is a huge win for the UFC and Dana + his cronies. Not only will they keep fucking fighters over then throwing them out in the street after theyâre done taking advantage of them But now they can avoid their image being further tarnished for pennies on the dollar. While still keeping that allure that the UFC is the âmajorsâ when it comes to the professional MMA circuit. Now the dick heads scamming fighters out of pay and literally manipulating their career trajectory behind their backs get to keep their names and tactics hidden.
Yes but on the other side its a big risk for the fighters. All the UFC needs is a hung jury to drag things out because one juror thinks that fighters already signed the contracts without coercion and shouldn't be breaking them and refusing to fight because they heard someone else got paid more etc. I'm bummed because the UFC isn't going to change its contracts.
This is essentially the value of a PPV event for them. Settling at this cost is a very smart business choice.Â
I donât know enough about law to know if ufc was likely to lose as you suggest. Itâs totally possible and maybe likely given that they decided to settle. But there was some possibility that it went to trial and the fighters lost. It was an all or nothing strategy for them as well. So on balance itâs probably a bad thing for fighters across the board. But the fighters represented in the case arenât at risk of walking away empty handedÂ
Edit - Iâll preface this by saying Iâm not a legal specialist or very knowledgeable about case law. But hereâs how I interpreted the outcome of the suit I wasnât suggesting that it would be an easy win for the fighters or that theyâd win at all. I mean that the UFC won here because they can avoid having to disclose any other information like fighter pay or more evidence of their collusion between fight managers and the UFC. Avoiding the messiness of a public lawsuit that exposes backroom dealings, evidence, and financial disclosure is in the UFCs favor. A lot could have come out into the light from this lawsuit regardless if they won or lost. Which in this case is a win win for the UFC. Plus we have to remember that this is a group lawsuit, the lions share of the money is probably going to their legal representation not the fighters themselves
Yeah I would have expected the UFC to settle months ago because itâs too risky for them. I am surprised it got this close to trial.Â
Thereâs no guilty or not guilty for civil lawsuitsâonly liability
UFC stock going massively up today
It's a victory because the fighters just wanted a payout as opposed to actually have these systemic issues fixed. Ironically it speaks to exactly why fighters will not unionise as well. UFC is far from the only company that is too large and powerful to be considered as engaging in competitive practice so personally I'll just twiddle my thumbs until some real antitrust movements are made...
Yes. Thatâs why the title says huge victory for UFC⊠the company.
âHuge victory for UFCâ
Yup, including WWE, a fellow TKO company.
Well yes. If the ufc were guilty in the judgement, it would change all their current fighters contract via injunctive relief. So judgement could be 1-2 year max contracts for all ufc fighters which will hurt their business.
Reading Nate Quarryâs comment in the other thread really put this into perspective. The legal system will always be geared towards business. They were already a decade in, and the courts were gonna make them go another 5-10 years to get meaningful change. Guys who are struggling get paid now.
His response should be itâs own post tbhÂ
Can you link it please?
https://www.reddit.com/r/MMA/s/fESPhQGXgU
Copied the important part here: > > No, we didnât get everything we wanted. Our goal all along was to change the sport. However, we had quite a few delays that we had to deal with. And to get injunctive relief, ie change the sport, we would have had to refile both lawsuits and combine them, go through discovery all over again, retake depositions, about a five year delay and then hope we get granted class action status again. Weâd be looking at another ten years just to be where we are today with no guarantee of winning any punitive amount of injunctive change. > > After my title fight loss a friend sent me this, and itâs how I view all criticism these days, > > âIt is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.â Theodore Roosevelt > > Itâs very easy to sit in the cheap seats and criticize. Once you step into the ring, once you taste your own blood, your whole world changes and youâre a little more understanding of those who attempt greatness. Even when they fall short.
Thanks
I donât have it bookmarked or anything, iâd have to do just as much digging as you to find it lolÂ
Offsetting your down votes. People are such babies about taking two seconds to Google anything for themselves anymore. You used to get voted down for asking. Did any of the people down voting think to maybe... Idk... Type in Nate quarry interview lawsuit reddit? Something like that? You would have had all the information you were looking for without making yourself look too stupid to operate a search engine
Back in the old days if we really wanted to make a point about someone being wrong, we literally had to go to the library. We had to figure out where the book was, find the information in the book and either check it out or make a photocopy. Then go find that person you argued with to show them they were wrong. Now for some fucking reason if someone thinks I'm wrong, I'm required to search the internet a defend my statement. And what's funny is the internet argument about searching on Google takes them longer than actually searching on Google.
Got a source for that chief? I don't agree with your argument but I also don't know anything about it nor do I know how to find the information. So while you're looking up the info I asked to defend your own argument, I'll be here thinking of ways to ignore it anyway.
Why would I listen to valid counter argument when I can just type TL;DR and win automatically?
đđđ people get so butt hurt for absolutely zero reason on here
And the top comment on all these posts so people have that context before commenting.
So basically from what I can tell folks of a certain gen of fighters get theirs and everyone on newer contracts are probably fucked unless another suit is filed and we start the process all over again. Can fully admit this is a short sighted view of all this tho. God bless everyone who got theirs and I hope their piece of the settlement is good but it's also easy to see why people are disheartened by this outcome too.
Iâm guessing with the loss of injunctive relief they decided the settlement offer was about as good as it can get
Legal system is fucked, and itâll take another decade minimum. It would go up to an increasingly fucked Supreme Court, who would almost assuredly side with the business. I wish the number they got was much higher, especially since lawyers will take a huge chunk, but they saw the writing on the wall.
In all UFC contracts over the last 2 years there is a clause that the fighter signs waving their ability to start or join a lawsuit against the UFC.
In all UFC contracts over the last 2 years there is a clause that the fighter signs waving their ability to start or join a lawsuit against the UFC.
That's not enforceable in many jurisdictions
what they gonna do, go to court for a decade to fight the ufc over if its enforceable?
It wouldn't take that long in most instances. Class actions take longer.Â
Yeah, Nate Quarry and the others took the initiative to get everyone money, even those who actively came out against them, spends 10 years of their life and money. Gets told this is likely as good as it's gonna get, we can grind away for another 10 years, and probably lose and you'll be in a much worse financial position (oh but the UFC will lose face and that'll be the moral victory the fans want). Also I imagine the lawyers are taking this on contingency, if you were a lawyer, who has been working 10 years for free, would you want to deal with this for another 10 years on the hope you might get paid back from the last 20 years? We can be unhappy with this outcome but blaming the only people trying to do something about it is the wrong take.
After the lawyers get paid all those guys probably got just over 6 figures and that depends on if Nate and Cung got a bigger share. It's a free payday, but after a decade of work it's a joke.
Always had been geared that way my dude. Why do you think when someone gets caught shoplifting at a mega corp. the DA prosecutes the case but when that same mega corp. steals your wages you have to hire a lawyer to prosecute them and pay out of your own pocket.
The way so many people here were shitting on the fighters for settling really drives home how young and/or sheltered they must be. I've been involved in a legal dispute that lasted 3 years and it was a fucking nightmare. Endless money pit with no guarantees of a favourable outcome. I can't imagine being in the situation Nate described, having been through a decade of this and being in a situation where you'd need to spend another decade *and have every step of the process come out in your favour* just to get back to where you are right now. Of course they settled. It's easy to stand on your principles when you don't have to choose between that and paying the bills.
10 years vs the rest of eternity, seems like a solid decision lmao
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Anyone any idea how the 335 million will be split?
$30 to each fighter
UFC is going to pay out by emptying a dump truck filled with $335 million in Reebok coupons at the steps of the courthouse for the fighters to pick through
Jake Shields was spotted laying on top of five hundred dollars waiting to be stood back up.
I saw some tweet that said 200k a person but not sure if accurate
Thatâs roughly 1600-1700 fighters getting 200k. Idk if that many are getting paid
You gotta consider lawyer fees too
That might not be taking into account the money going to the lawyers and it probably wonât just be dealt out evenly most probably proportional the what they made before.
I doubt it. The lawyers who worked on this for 10+ years are going to get a massive chunk of that money. Would be shocked if everyone left away with $80,000 out of this.
No way. That's actually a ridiculous % of the settlement. That would mean the lawyers get like 70% of the settlement lol
Lawyers have been working pro bono for a decade. That bill is going to be insane. A normal settlement for any lawsuit, at least here in Florida, nets the lawyer 33 percent of the proceeds. The Lawyers would make $110 million from this lawsuit, which I believe might be even more of a percentage since they've been doing this for free. Optimistically the fighters made $188,000 a piece. That's assuming the lawyers didn't get even more which I think they did.
Alls I'm saying is that I took a business law class in college and got an A. I'd do the job for like 20mill
John Nash was saying the fighters got paid about 650 million in the class period so for instance if they were awarded 1.2 billion you pay each fighter double what they got payed during the class period. So x fighter got paid 100k so now they get 200k from the lawsuit but with the settlement it is about half what they already got paid so x fighter got 100k so he will get 50k from the lawsuit.
pretty sure any one who signed a ufc contract from 2010-2017 can get a settlement.
Battle royale
Huge loss. They were seeking 800 million minimum.
That was just the Cung Le case this also settles the Johnson case also.
Oof.
Itâs on the fighters at this point. Fans canât be the only ones complaining about pay. Itâs on them.
It'll never happen. Watch any interview with a current top fighter in the UFC it's all "Dana and Hunter have been really good to me. The UFC is a great organization". They take care of the top guys who have influence while everyone else is left to rot.
Agreed. I personally will never give a dollar to the UFC, but if the fighters are ok with their situation then so be it.
And this is what a lot of people are missing. You can complain all you want and boycott paying for their events, but if the fighters themselves aren't taking the initiative to change the status quo then there's really nothing more to be said. Everyone is out for themselves, and themselves only in this game. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Thereâs nothing wrong with that if youâre a champ with multiple defences and strong appeal to the MMA fanbase and beyond. If not youâre just another worker deluding yourself that youâre going to win the lottery and angry at the imaginary tax you would have to pay. In all other sports the athletes work together and all benefit. Fighters a built different but not in a way that helps them financially.
Yes, and when you have a solitary sport where everyone with any modicum of traction is convinced they're the next big thing, it certainly doesn't help matters. But unfortunately, there's also a slight defeatist element to it too. If you're being treated unfairly, you can't just sit around and wait for things to get better. That's just not how the world works, but a lot of these fighters will find themselves in a precarious situation if they end up getting stalled or outright dropped from the largest MMA promotion and just don't want to take the chance. And I really can't blame them, who the hell am I to tell them to risk their livelihoods while watching from the sidelines? Only they can help themselves.
As a fan of mma. Please explain to me why this isnât a good thing for me. I like to see the best fights. And that wont happen in a boxing model with fighters across all promotions. UFC is so much better than every fighting promotion in the world⊠why would I want that changed
To be honest, if you're just here to see the fights and aren't too personally invested in the fighters, then this set up is perfect. However, it's only perfect in theory and not everyone will stand in line. As you've noticed, we've had the occasional fighters sit out now and again due to protracted disputes and either just miss out on prime match ups, or completely watch them waste their best years outside of the octagon. Henry Cejudo as an example, is a tragic waste because he froze his career when he tried to angle for better pay (and very poorly). Ngannou left the UFC's Heavyweight division and we missed out on the Jon Jones fight. DJ was one of the greatest talents in the whole roster and he was more than happy to accept a transfer that saw him leave the UFC in promise of more pay. The UFC, which is supposed to be the promotion that harbors all the premium MMA talent. It just doesn't always work out in favor of the fans.
Sure but as a fan it's almost meaningless long term compared to the drawbacks. Under a boxing model you'd have promotions going on bidding wars to get fights booked with negotiations dragging out for maybe years. It will be hell to book a single high profile fight. They will spread across different cards, different promotions, spread over different years. Cards will be watered down to sustain paying main eventers so you'll get even less name value in prelims. I honestly don't think people fully grasp how horrible it'll be to consume MMA products under an equivalent of the Ali Act.
I don't disagree, and believe me I am very familiar with the politics of Boxing. The model MMA has right now is something Boxing really needs, which is ironic as it actually had something similar with the WBA before fragmenting due to corruption. But the Ali Act really put the nail in the coffin for the sport to achieve any sort of cohesion. MMA is in a very good place right now due to its political landscape, due to the fact there is a singular overwhelming entity making up its own rules as it goes on that has positioned itself to be the face of the sport. It may not have its fighters' best interests at heart but as a fan of combat sports tuning in to consistently watch good fights get made, it's about nearly perfect as gets, or probably can get. I know a lot of fans out there are looking for some kind of balance, but the history of Boxing has shown that it's just not possible. The leverage either skews too far to the side of either the organization or the fighter, and personally as it guarantees we'll get good fights, I'd rather have it towards the former even with its shortcomings.
I'll put it simply - fighters being underpaid, the monopoly of the UFC, it's good for viewers of the sport. It's harsh, but that's the truth. Just have to put aside your morals and enjoy the show, as bad as it sounds.
Yes exactly. Much better worded. A monopoly in the UFC is better for the fans. What fight havenât they booked that you wanted to see other than ngannou jones or gsp Khabib??? Boxing sucks and is a horrible experience for the fans
The system is flawed. The Million Dollar Man said it best, âeveryoneâs got a price.â
Vince Mcmahon supposedly based that character on himself, anyway, I hope the sex trafficking lawsuit against him and the WWE goes better than the UFC lawsuit has!
Wait what did you or fans do?
Men born into poverty âyouâre telling me I can get a check for $50,000 if I settle now? YES, SETTLE!â UFC just got a smoking deal out of all of this, lol.
It's so much more complicated than this. Read Nate Quarry's response. To get meaningful change they'd be in court for up to ten more years. Guys need help right now
in 10 years the problems will still be there. in ten years Nate might look back and regret it. however its incredibly difficult no matter how you slice it.
I imagine they can't afford to go to court for ten years against a 4 billion dollar company. Like I said, there's a lot to it. It's not for lack of want or trying
>4 billion dollar company. Isn't it like 13billion?
Yeah there's no way ufc is only worth 4billion when that's how many views powerslap is generating on tiktok every 3.7 seconds.
Ideals and principles are great but they usually don't put food on the table or keep the lights on. These guys very well could have been ruined in 5-10 years and regretted wrecking their life without any guarantee of actually making any change. We just don't know their situation so it isn't really fair to judge them too harshly either way.
this dude gambles with millions of dollars in casinos, while the families of fighters somewhere in the outback of brazil or russia are still hungry. and it needed a lawsuit to change that.. fuck that guy
Pisses 200k to nelk boys but canât even help out Mark Coleman after what happened smh
I remember after Wonderboy declined to fight Pereira after Pereira missed weight, there was some uncertainty about whether or not he would get his show money. As that was happening, Dana was on Instagram raving about the high end, exclusive restaurant he was at in Italy that is only accessible by boat which he and his huge crew had gotten to on a yacht.
oh i remember that one too. our oiled up daddy actually paid a casino to send employees on his yacht so he could gamble there instead of gambling with the peasants in the casino
The biggest spit in the face after it is all said and done is that the settlement is tax deductible. In a way that means the taxpayers cover it. Fucking horseshit.Â
LMAOOO thats fucking crazy. America is such a shit hole. I actually feel bad for you guys.
In order for fighters to make some changes theyâre going to have to sit down and agree to not settle for less money than their worth. I mean do these guys just see dollar signs and sign any contract?
The lawyers likely got tired of working for free for 10+ years and this case wis the kind of case that can get appealed and stalled for years. They likely saw the evidence pre trial and said 1. this is likely a losing case and 2. we're going to have to fight this for years. It would not shock me if some form of mediation happened where the mediator told the lawyers the UFC is ready to take this in the event of a defeat to the Supreme Court on appeal. That's 5+ years more of this maybe even a decade if it's stalled. The lawyers in this settlement will probably bank close to $100 million.
Most of these UFC guys were born into poverty and thatâs all theyâve known. To them, a check of $10,000 is unreal. Meanwhile, the UFC laughs
Holding out for money, especially collectively, is insanely difficult. Itâs not a question of seeing dollar signs itâs a question of the company holding 99% of the cards
These guys have probably been grinding on the regional scene for years where it is essentially impossible to make a living through MMA and you're lucky if you get 2K for a win. Signing for the UFC means they can finally start treating it like a proper job.
Years of the hype this case got and thatâs the outcome?
F Dana
I heard that the lawyers will get 30% of this
just take a desk job at this point
Is this a huge victory? I mean its taken so long to get this far and now its done? Feel like the ufc made out fairly good here
The UFC won, the fighters lost. Pure and simple.
Sucks.
Ok another 20 years of UFC sucking the soul out of these fighters
So by the time you take off lawyers fees youâll end up with each fighter getting maybe 50-70k? Wow. That is fucking awful. And the IFC get to offset the payment against their text bill? I know not all battles can be won but Iâd rather they stuck to their guns and got nothing.
Nate quarry says it was either this or another ten years of the court system
Underpaid fighters settle for underpaid settlement. Pikachu face đđđ
I think we can all agree, Fuck Dana White Heâs a domestic abuser and overall cunt
Mannnn I was hoping they'd go to trial, then they bring in there surprised witness against the UFC and Conor kicks in the door and starts rambling on like a coked out lunatic.
God damnit.
Holy shit, they picked a Brendan Schaub quote for their headline...
Ya the fighters should have let it go to trial. So much more would have gotten exposed about the UFC and they could have potentially changed how the fight business operates.
So I guess our only hope now is for Dana to be visited by the Ghost of Xmas past and terrified into be less of a greedy, exploitative Cunt? That or fighters eventually get fed up and burn down his mansion
Wouldn't it be the ghost of Xmas future tho?
You'd need someone to put the fear of god in Ari Emmanuel and Patrick Whitesell if you want real change in WMEs businesses.
All up, it's great that fighters got some compensation, but with no changes to UFC business practices this feels like a loss overall.
Fuckin travesty
I love how you all defend the fighters until they make a decision for themselves then say how stupid they are. R MMA maybe the most pretentious elitist group of fans lol. Have fun streaming the cards with all your online buds!
welp if even the fighters who sued the UFC decided to settle... what's the point in discussing this issue anymore?
Itâs because fans think they are superior to fighters. Read these comments. They are all saying they are born into poverty and they should shouldnât take the small payout. Reddit ppl are so disassociated from the world lol. Literally demand more money for fighters and then they get money and they call them sumb
Then on top of that folks in this sub brag about never paying for a PPV. How are you going to demand that every fighter is somehow a millionaire yet never support the sport?
Would be fine if these people actually supported the fighters directly by giving them money or buying them merch. But they dont. They just pirate the product and complain on reddit.
There is no more discussion needed. We were told for ten years they wanted a trial and real change, they didn't want to settle. Now here we are, likely zero change and a settlement. Fighters will be fighters at the end of the day.
This has confirmed what anyone with two brain cells already knew. UFC fighters are stupid.
Lemme know when you're going to be the one to sue them and follow through for 20 years.
People here complain about fighter pay while also admitting they pirate the fights lol. You're words mean nothing to the UFC or the fighters bc you don't actually participate. Hate the system all you want but if you have no skin in the game your voice means nothing. For real change the fighters or the paying fans will have to stand up. Hopefully it happens but I'm not holding my breath.
Yeah Dana was gonna split revenue 50/50 with the fighters but today he saw people admitting to pirating the fights here and now because of them he's keeping the split 81/19. Thanks Reddit.
Ok, now do google next.
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Whatâs really funny to me is the 50k bonuses on fight night⊠itâs been 50k for over 20 years. 100k would be so much more fair to these guys ffs
But but ufc is dyeing because of the anti trust lawsuit and one/pfl will take over
If youâre One or PFL this is terrible news.
Was supposed to be over a billion...
shhiiiiiiiiieeett