Since retiring from UFC, Matt Brown has put quite a lot of time into constructing companies — most notably his fitness center — and setting himself up for achievement in a post-fighting profession.
Whereas he by no means headlined pay-per-views or gained championships, Brown spent 16 years within the UFC, and through that point he discovered loads about how the promotion does enterprise. It’s thanks largely to that have that the now 43-year-old former fighter believes the dialog about fighter pay is far more nuanced than merely saying UFC must be paying athletes more cash.
On the floor, Brown agrees that everyone on the UFC roster is underpaid in comparison with the huge quantities of income the group is producing. However the trigger and impact of why that’s taking place goes a lot additional than merely stating that UFC must pay extra.
“It’s exhausting to anticipate the UFC to only be utterly truthful about it,” Brown mentioned on the newest episode of The Fighter vs. The Author. “They’re operating a enterprise, and so they run it very f*cking properly. They’ve finished an incredible job constructing their enterprise. I believe 99 % of individuals of their footwear can be doing similar to what they’re doing.
“Does that make it proper? That’s as much as every particular person to resolve on their very own. I believe it’s simply far more complicated than individuals give it credit score for.”
As a lot because the duty at all times falls again on UFC’s shoulders for underpaying athletes, Brown says anyone complaining about fighter pay can’t anticipate enterprise homeowners to do something in another way than try to maximise income for his or her companies. However Brown additionally is aware of a number of the blame rests with the fighters themselves for not holding UFC to account over time — and he’s pointing the finger proper at himself as a part of the issue.
“If anyone is responsible for fighter pay, it’s the fighters — and I’m considered one of them, no less than previously,” Brown mentioned. “I by no means fought in opposition to the UFC about my pay. You’ve seen on Instagram, Twitter, totally different interviews the place the fighters stick up for the UFC.
“I’ve by no means heard of a enterprise in my life the place the workers — if you wish to name us workers and even subcontractors — the place they’re going to say, ‘I shouldn’t be paid extra, they’re paying me an ideal amount of cash.’ That’s so unbelievable to me.”
Prior to now, Brown acknowledged that his solely actual grievance about pay got here all the way down to an in-person assembly with UFC CEO Dana White the place he expressed his considerations. There was no actual argument or negotiation as a result of Brown says White agreed along with his argument and the 2 sides reached a brand new deal with none additional dialogue.
That mentioned, Brown by no means actually complained about his pay with UFC as a result of he basically understood that arguing in all probability wouldn’t get him anyplace good.
“Look, I’ve at all times been proud of how the UFC’s handled me, I like them,” Brown mentioned. “There’s no hate in opposition to them in any respect, but when I believed sticking up for myself and preventing with them about pay would get me paid extra, I’d completely do it in a heartbeat. I solely query if guys are saying that as a result of we all know the quantity of energy that [UFC] have.
“When you attempt preventing in opposition to [UFC], your probabilities of getting extra pay simply get diminished. You’re simply reducing your probabilities of getting extra pay. So after all you publicly stick up for them though one thing behind your head is saying, ‘Rattling, this isn’t actually what I need.’”
One other topic that comes up usually concerning fighter pay is the dearth of a union to characterize MMA’s athletes, which performs an enormous half in negotiations with different sports activities leagues like NFL or NBA.
However even that’s a tricky comparability as a result of the NFL is in the end made up of 32 groups and 32 homeowners, and the NFL Participant’s Affiliation represents athletes throughout all these numerous groups who be part of the union on the day they begin enjoying skilled soccer. Because of the income sharing mannequin arrange for the league, the competitors throughout the season nonetheless in the end advantages everyone below the NFL umbrella.
That’s not the case in MMA.
UFC is by far the most important and most worthwhile group, however there’s no relation between UFC and rivals just like the PFL or ONE Championship. A fighters’ union would nearly must be league particular, and that will get much more sophisticated if you’re coping with contracts, athletes signing or leaving UFC to go elsewhere, after which possibly even transferring on to a global promotion the place a union would haven’t any management or affect.
A greater comparability can be contrasting UFC to 1 NFL crew with no pure rivals to actually problem them on a world scale.
“UFC is just like the [Dallas] Cowboys if the Cowboys had gained the previous 20 Tremendous Bowls in a row and there’s not even a detailed second-place crew,” Brown mentioned with amusing. “Like, actually each school star solely desires to go to the Cowboys. They’ve full energy over each Tremendous Bowl.
“They’re going to win for the following 20 Tremendous Bowls and so they’re like, ‘You need to go play for the f*cking Bears? Go for it. There’s one other child popping out of school tomorrow, buddy.’”
Brown doesn’t know if there’s ever going to be an answer long-term to unravel fighter pay considerations, however he acknowledges there’s an ongoing antitrust lawsuit no less than making an attempt to take care of a number of the disparity between UFC and different main sports activities leagues.
Within the meantime, Brown provides recommendation to each different fighter both in UFC or hoping to make it to UFC relating to long-term planning for the longer term.
“When you’re an aspiring UFC fighter or MMA fighter, you’ll want to view the UFC for what it’s,” Brown defined. “It’s a stage to enlarge your model so you may make cash in different methods. That’s the place you’re going to make the true cash. Even Conor McGregor, he actually may have retired simply off the cash he made within the UFC, however he’s made what 10, 20 instances extra in all probability exterior the UFC? That’s the way in which you’ve acquired to do it.
“I hope that adjustments someday, the place like an NFL participant solely has 4 years however so long as they dwell beneath their means, which is fairly straightforward to do if you’re making thousands and thousands of {dollars} a 12 months, they will retire simply off of 4 years of [playing football], the place within the UFC that’s simply not the case.”
