Author:
Neal Weaver
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Date Posted: 23:26:22 10/01/08 Wed
"But to some guys they sign these contracts because that is all they have in life. Take Forrest Griffin for instance...a helluva nice guy and great fighter. But he was living on someone's fucking couch before being picked for TUF 1. You think he didn't jump at the chance to chase his dream even though he knew he could get fucked in the process? He went for it. And he knew he might not have made it...but that dream was still burning inside him and he had to take the chance. There was no alternative. So now, as fate would have it, he is reaping the rewards."
You do realize Forrest is a college graduate and was already a police officer before he took the "MMA Plunge" dont you? Its not like the guy was going to starve if MMA didnt work out for him and in reality had it not worked out, he would have just gone back to police work, merely 4-5 years "behind" in his career worst case.
Comparing professional athletes to coal miners is flat out silly. Coal miner DIED often back then and die pretty often now a days. People mine coal to feed thier kids, people fight in the UFC because they want rock star treatment. IF you are fighting for nothing and have kids, you need to adjust your priorities and go get a REAL job.
Fighters should take care of themselves. Fighters have always been at the weaker end of negotiations most likely since Romans enjoyed gladiatorial spectacles. IF you decide to take a bad deal its on you. Plain and simple.
I dont remember Dana taking Tito and Randy's wives anywhere. Also I have a feeling if you went into your bosses office after telling him he sucks and that you deserve alot more money that things wont go all that great with your interpersonal relationships. I do think Dana can be petty and gets a bit too personal sometimes. But really do you know anything about promoters? ALOT of them are like that. Elite for example, Gary Shaw is about 10x worse than Dana, bet on that. Right now a guy who is fighting in the prelims of a UFC gets 3k/3k. He also gets some endorsments for getting to the big show (just being in the org gets you paid) IF he finishes his fight he gets a bonus (10-20k, dont know what it is now) IF he gets a KO/SUB of the night he gets a 40K bonus, and if he gets fight of the night he gets a 40k Bonus. Go look and see what guys on big boxing undercards get paid. You will see the UFC is great money for up and comers.
Do some guys sign contracts where they are on the losing end? Yes. Do they get money to PLAY A SPORT? yes. But if you want the big money, you had better have something the UFC cant get from someone else, which is true of any big money combat sport. The fight game is rough business and always has been. You think the UFC is bad, look around at professional boxing and see what guys fight for, that is bad. Yes there are 20mil guys but sometimes there are guys fighting on the same card as those guys for 5-6 hundred bucks. That is screwed up.
Lots of people hate the UFC, and alot of people hate Microsoft, Or GE, or whatever. Something about being the biggest makes you a big target for peoples critiques, but if you really think the UFC is ultimate hardball fight game wise, you need to get around some of the other combat sports or other MMA shows. IME the UFC seems about par for the course rather than some super manevolent entity. But I have never met Dana or had any contact with UFC folks, they could all have forked tails and horns so far as I know. I just dont see anything they do as being out of control in terms of standard fight game practice, they are just the highest profile.
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