The Case for UFC Salary Reform
The Case for UFC Salary Reform The last year of Anderson Silva’s career provides a good example of why the…
The Case for UFC Salary Reform
The last year of Anderson Silva’s career provides a good example of why the Pay Per View percentage deals do not make sense for the UFC. After signing a deal with a Pay Per View bonus, Anderson Silva headlined UFC 90, and got a terrible payday because the buyrate was so poor. He then took an extended break, and agreed to fight Thales Leites only because he was told that either St. Pierre or Chuck Liddell would be on the card as well. The show broke the 600,000 buy mark, and Silva made a killing.
Silva’s next Pay Per View fight was against Forrest Griffin in a marquee match on a huge show with two main events. The pay was great, and now Silva is playing the game again. He refused to fight on the UK card, and while people think he is ducking Henderson and Marquardt, I think his real goal is to get on a stacked New Year’s card for the buyrate.
We saw this last year too, when a number of fighters turned down fights toward the end of the year to try to get on the New Year’s show. As more and more fighters sign these deals, we are going to see wild swings in card quality. A show like UFC 100 will attract all the top stars, but the result is shows like UFC 103 with no Pay Per View draws in sight.
The PPV bonus scheme is also unresponsive to the needs of the sport.
