May MMA Q&A looking at Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, the Jon Jones situation, the Reebok deal, and more.
It’s MMAy. So let’s waste no time and start answering some questions.
Did you watch the Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight?
This an MMA column.
So? Just about every MMA site covered the boxing fight.
We have morals here at 411. We don’t need to cover some boxing fight just for clicks.
Care to explain Dan Plunkett’s column?
No. I will let Dan Plunkett explain himself.
I’ve been writing for 411 for almost seven years without issue, so I’ve decided to start testing my limits. Instead of a Jon Jones hot take, I wrote a column on pay-per-view with a boxing focus. I plan to drift further away from MMA with each passing column. Next week, I’ll write an article calling for more regulations for hockey fights (all players must wear 5 oz. gloves underneath their hockey gloves). My goal is to write a made-up oral history about the Battle of Hastings before being fired. Maybe I’ll throw in a ridiculous column about <a href="http://411mania.com/mma/m-1-medieval-times-are-changing/">dudes dressed as knights bludgeoning each other with swords</a>.
That’s why I wrote about boxing, I swear. Either that or I intended to write more about UFC in the column but it didn’t end up fitting as I thought it would. Or maybe it was a muffled cry to bring back the Sports Zone (and Thag the Brute).
There you have it.
Did someone say Sports Zone?
Shhhhh.
Fine. I’ll relate my question to MMA. Do you think Boxing is dead and MMA won on May 2?
No and no. Mayweather vs. Pacquiao did over 4 million buys and both fighters made over $100 million. To put this in perspective, one fight did one million more buys than every single UFC event combined last year and both guys made more in one fight than Georges St. Pierre made in his entire career. Boxing might’ve peaked with Floyd vs. Manny, but when Floyd fights against in September he’ll do another million plus buys and make another $100 plus million. When Floyd retires at 50-0, then boxing could be in trouble for a bit, but someone will come along sooner or later.
And I don’t get how MMA won anything. They just did a terrible buyrate with Demetrious Johnson, a top five pound-for-pound fighter, and made no money from the fight. People on twitter might’ve been saying, “this is why MMA is so much better” after watching your typical Mayweather performance, but people have been saying that after Mayweather fights for years. And yet he keeps doing bigger buyrates than just about every UFC event on a yearly basis. MMA won the award for Biggest Inferiority Complex, but they win that every week, so it’s not really a big deal.
I’ll take no more question about Boxing. This is a MMA Q&A.
………….
Come on. SOMETHING happened in MMA.
Oh, right, Jon Jones. Tell us about Jon Jones. After being involved in a hit-and-run where he ran a red light and hit a car, breaking a pregnant ladies arm, and then fled the scene only to return to grab some cash and knowing that marijuana was found in his car, do you think the UFC was right in stripping Jones of the title and suspending him indefinitely?
Sure.
That’s a short answer for such a long question.
Well, you basically stated everything in the question. After reading it, I had nothing to add. The facts kind of speak for themselves.
Do you think Jones will fight again?
Yes, because he’ll go broke otherwise. Jones has made a lot of money in his MMA career, but he’s also spent a lot of money. Drugs aren’t cheap. Neither are really nice cars. Plus, he’s got a wife and kids to support. And it’s not like he’s making Mayweather money. You think Jones would ever put up $10 million to bail out Suge Knight? He’d be broke twice over if he did that. Jones might not need money in the near future, but he’s going to want it and the only way he’s going to get it is by fighting.
His next fight is going to do huge numbers too. The true champion returns from personal issues in an attempt to reclaim the title he never lost. It’s a story that sells itself and the fact that people don’t like Jones makes it even better. They’ll be pretty upset that he only spent 24 hours in jail (just a guess) for what he did and they’ll want to see someone beat him up. And they’ll pay good money to see it.
Jones will fight again and the UFC, while currently trying to distance themselves from him, will welcome him back with open arms.
How come Anthony Johnson vs. Daniel Cormier is the main event at UFC 187 instead of Chris Weidman vs. Vitor Belfort?
Because the UFC makes up things as they go. My original answer was that they like to put the heavier weight title on last, but then I remembered that the Featherweight title fight will headline over the Welterweight title fight at UFC 189. The Light Heavyweight title is the most prestigious title in the company, so it makes sense that it’s on last, but Weidman vs. Belfort is the bigger fight with Jones not fighting. Dana probably just flipped a coin.
Are you excited for Johnson vs. Cormier?
Not really. Johnson vs. Jones was an exciting fight because Jones was the best fighter in the world, but Johnson is a legit knockout artist who can end the fight in a variety of ways. Cormier just lost his shot at the title and didn’t exactly look competitive in the process. It’s a good fight and if it was a #1 contender’s fight then I’d be pretty excited, but as a title fight it doesn’t feel right since we all know that Jones is the unbeaten champion.
Alright, but Weidman vs. Belfort. Now that’s exciting, right?
Yes, I’m excited for that fight. But there is still plenty of time for one of them to get injured or fail a drug test.
Are you ready for the Thrilla In Manilla 2?
HYPE!!!!! Outside of Weidman vs. Belfort, Frankie Edgar vs. Urijah Faber is the fight to watch this month. Granted, I think Edgar will win and make it look pretty easy in the process since he’s the better boxer and can hold his own in the scrambles, but it’s still an awesome fight between two guys who are rarely in boring fights.
What about Carlos Condit vs. Thiago Alves?
MMAy!!!! That might actually be the best fight of the month. Can you imagine if Jones didn’t screw up and Khabib Numagomedov didn’t get injured? We’d be looking at five legit fight of the year contenders in one month. Not only that, but all five fights have some type of importance to them, they aren’t just fun fights with no relevance. We still have three fights intact and hopefully things remain that way.
AND THE MONTH KICKS OFF WITH MARK FREAKING HUNT!!!!!
CM Punk had his second MMA scrimmage. When will he fight?
If he fights this year, the best case scenario is that he fights on the big December card at the end of the year. I don’t think he’s going to fight this year though, and I still have my doubts that he fights at all.
When will the UFC open their own training camp to properly train these guys?
That’s a great question and definitely what we need. Dana can’t drug test all these guys by himself, but I’m sure he can train them all. As Dana has said, a lot of these guys just don’t know how to train. They go in the gym and beat each other up in order to prepare for a fight. But that’s not how you prepare for a fight. You prepare by going to the gym and getting jacked, bro. These guys don’t need to be hitting each other, they need to be hitting the weights. Maybe do some cardio, but mainly just hit the weights and get ripped.
Dana and Lorenzo are going to show these guys how to get pumped. They’ve never suffered a serious injury and they train all the time, but they don’t train wrestling and striking and grappling. They train quads and lats and arms. That’s how you stay safe during training and also look jacked.
The Reebok numbers finally came out. They seem awfully low.
That’s because they are awfully low. Everyone should’ve known they were going to be low when the $70 million over six years figure was reported. I get the outrage because the fighters are taking a huge cut in sponsor money, but only the most naive and blind UFC defender thought was a good deal when it was announced months ago.
It also looks like the fighters won’t get “every penny.”
Nonsense. Dana said they would. So it must be true.
Nope. Numbers were crunched. The fighters are getting around 60% of the money.
Well the other 40% must be nickels and dimes, because the fighters are getting every penny.
Eddie Alvarez is going to make $2,500 from Reebok because he only has one Zuffa fight. Gleison Tibau will get $20,000 from Reebok because he has 25 UFC fights. Fair?
I thought it was pretty dumb to base the Reebok money on the official UFC Rankings because media members are dumb and rankings are dumb, but basing it on tenure isn’t much better.
How would you change it?
Base it on card position. Using the Reebok numbers, here’s how I would do the payouts:
*Fight Pass prelim fighters receive $2,500
*TV prelim fighters and Fight Pass main card fighters receive $5,000
*TV main card fighters, Fight Pass co-main event fighters, PPV/FOX prelim fighters receive $10,000
*TV co-main event fighters, Fight Pass main event fighters, and PPV/FOX main card fighters receive $15,000
*PPV/FOX co-main event fighters and TV main event fighters receive $20,000
*Title challengers and PPV/FOX main event fighters receive $30,000
*Champions receive $40,000
This puts the onus more of the UFC than anyone else. It doesn’t allow the media members to dictate pay and it doesn’t force the fighters to take a bunch of fights in order to move up the tenure ladder. This system puts emphasis on card placement, hopefully leading to to better cards and main events.
Will this deal lead to fighters fleeing to Bellator or WSOF?
Possibly. Some fighters have mentioned that they made more from sponsors fighting on no-name events than they will from this Reebok deal so one would think that they’d make pretty good money fighting on SpikeTV or NBC Sports, but the MMA boom is over and many sponsors aren’t shelling out money like they used to. That said, if you’re an up-and-coming fighter with some promise, fighting for Bellator and getting that sponsor money probably sounds a lot more appealing than fighting for UFC and only getting $2,500 from Reebok.
It’s really up to Bellator and WSOF to make a run at these fighters. They can’t offer the fight/win money that UFC can (or at least they shouldn’t) but if they offer fair value and let it be known that there are no sponsor restrictions then that could sway some guys.
I’ll take one more question.
When is Samer Kadi coming back?
That’s all the time I have. Follow me on twitter @jeremylambert88
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