** UPDATE **

The following information wasn’t posted by Josh Koscheck. It appears that his MySpace account was broken into and someone else posted the information. Koscheck has since denied and updated his site regarding the post. Regardless, whoever did hack into Koscheck’s site made some very good and valid points and was able to grab the “soap box” long enough to say what most of us are thinking. So, with that in mind, I’m leaving the rest of the post up.

Josh Koscheck finally said publically what most of the MMA world has been saying for the past few years. Through a MySpace.com bulletin, Koscheck became the first UFC fighter to publically criticize the current payscale for fighters fighting in the UFC.

UFC and boxing ppv dollars? UFC Prez Dana White is always quick to pull out the “boxing promoters are crooked” line during his frequent discussions about boxing. I would argue that the UFC Czar is just as crooked. Why did Chuck Liddell and Rampage Jackson only make about $500,000 for their recent UFC 72 showdown. UFC 72 did about 1 million pay per view buys at $40 a pop, Zuffa made 40 million alone in ppv dollars. Not to mention the live gate, over seas viewing rights, and sponsors that ponied up money for this fight. Why do UFC fighters get such a small piece of the pie in a sport that’s supposedly on the upswing? With the rise in of popularity of the UFC why aren’t their fighters paid MUCH more. I’m not saying there aren’t boxing promoters that don’t short change their fighters, but boxers can make alot more money over a career than a UFC fighter can. Shannon Briggs was paid 1.8 million for his meaningless title defense against Sultan Ibragimov last weekend. GO ahead UFC fans, defend your boy Dana White.

Additional Details

Nice try, as demand for the sport builds up so should the fighters salaries. I’m not buying that one. Zuffa is keeping as much as they can of the 100 million they made for UFC 72. They should be ashamed paying two of their top fighters $500,000.

Best answer

White and the UFC basically want to pay the fighters like a third rate sport but at the same time want to claim to be a legitimate sport. The average UFC fighter doesn’t even make a middle class living it is ridiculous. Even the elite MMA fighters are way behind other professional sports. White wants to say that Mayweather wouldn’t make it in the UFC and he is right Mayweather wouldn’t step in the UFC ring for the peanuts they pay. Why would he take about 1/20th of his normal pay?

UFC fans are in serious denial about this issues. They will say things like well athletes shouldn’t make that kind of money. Well somebody is making it so why should it all go to the promoters? Or they will say that it takes time but again the revenues MMA is generating is huge so it is a matter of changing the structure not time.

UFC fighters need some kind of union to make a larger share of the pie since it is the fighter that literally rolls the dice with his future health and even his life not the promoters.

This is a very bold move for Koscheck, but a very good move in my opinion. This type of discussion has been going on for quite sometime with MMA fans online, and needs to finally be brought to the forefront by a fighter actually involved in the situation. It will be interesting to see what kind of response, if any, we hear from the UFC and/or Dana White.