ESPN Brazil reports that UFC Heavyweight champ Junior dos Santos. has signed on with Brazilian sports marketing agency, Fessports. You may recall last year, JDS left manager Ed Soares in favor of Ana Claudia Guedes.
JDS follows Anderson Silva in signing on with a Brazilian sports agency. Via ESPN Brazil (via Google Translate):
The contract was signed in Sao Paulo and provides for the career management of Gypsy (JDS) at various levels, from the legal and tax advice to media and image. Since 2011, the 9ine, an agency of former player Ronaldo, does the same with Anderson Silva.
The story does not indicate whether JDS has now severed ties with Guedes in favor of Fessports.
Speaking of JDS, another interesting tidbit was reported in a Brazilian paper which stated that dos Santos spent $100,000 of his own money to train for his big fight with Cain Velasquez.
Via CenarioMT (via Google Translate):
I brought people out to help in technical and physical preparation. I have to pay used to make food for the guys, stay well, give car. It is expensive, very expensive. I have my sponsors that give strength forever, but MMA does not yet give the “big money” all that most people think. In an interview with Folha de São Paulo, Santa Catarina said that the figure quoted was used to provide infrastructure to coaches, trainers and sparring partners guests, as is the case of Ramon Lemos (BJJ), Josh Janousek (wrestling) and Billy Sheibe (muay Thai). cost worth it, since Gypsy had a little over a minute to knock Velasquez at UFC on Fox, held in November last year, which gave him financial return about $ 1 million (adding values sponsorship, purse and win bonus).
H/T: Robert Joyner for both news items.
Payout Perspective:
It makes sense for JDS to sign on with a sports marketing agency as he should try to monetize his status as the Heavyweight champ. Certainly, he’s probably looking for some mainstream sponsors like Silva.
Another interesting note is the amount of money he spent to train for Velasquez. Its an interesting look at how much training camps can be for a fighter. While some camps may have a trainer (or fighter) that owns their own gym to minimize costs, there’s the matter of paying coaches and bringing in sparring partners. Obviously, having a training camp budget is necessary but JDS’ fight versus Cain probably deserved the extra attention (and monetary investment).
Things got pretty big here in Brazil, but over course of time people will see that signing with a “sports agency” is not gonna solve all problems in the world for a fighter. Anderson’s deal is with an agency that has a lot of prestige mainly due to the figure of Ronaldo, who’s a super star in Brazil. Signing with smaller agencies that are not really that powerfull behind the scenes won’t change that much, and it’s no coincidence that Ronaldo’s agency just wanted to touch Anderson so far.
With the amount of results and the persona Anderson is, things get easier and Ronaldo won’t play something to not be at the top.
For Junior, being a champ and mostly if he remain as a champ after Overeem, which I think he will, an agency can help! But they won’t do miracles, make no mistake about it. What I question the most is the decision making some of those guys are making in choosing their agencies. didnt seem to me this is a top agency that will really have levarage, and often times fighters are not the best ones to make those calls and understand what is a great agency and what they can bring to the table or not.
For some of these smaller agencies they are serving more as prestige to the company themselves than the opposite.
In the end, if you are not Ronaldo or the likes, a big company will sponsor or feature you IF they decided MMA is a good strategy, and you are a key figure (much like Junior is). Otherwise it won’t happen, I don’t believe this kind of agency will find ways to convince big players that don’t want to be around MMA to jump in for Junior or any other fighter. Ronaldo is a case appart.
And, as MMA became VERY BIG here in Brazil a lot of companies are jumping in, and if a big company creates a strategy and decides they want X fighter on their campaign, they will find you, no matter what agency or manager represents you. I know that for a fact.
I think over the course of time things will slow down and fighters will be a little more connected with reality here, and those “agencies” won’t be so eager to jump in this game all at once like crazy. Time will tell.
The cost of training camps is a subject that could n should be written up on this site.
Ive had the pleasure of talking to many fighters over the years about the cost of training camps n the one thing they always mention was how broke they were going into the fight.How they maxed out credit cards,borrowed from friends family n asked for advances from promoters just to make it to the fights!
i frequently run into both Cowboy Cerrone N Leonard Garcia at Defined Fitness n i remember him telling me all the hidden costs in a training camp that you wouldnt think of..for example,he told me they spend over $300 a WEEK! in just laundry soap n that they do about 4 loads a day from all the guys gear..that surprised me! of course they gotta pay someone to cook,clean,buy food,run errands just so they can have time to train.You guys should do a piece on Cost of Training Camps it be a real eye opener to everyone.
I think it is important fr people to realize that it doesnt always cost that much. Guys have gyms and teams they are a part of that dont cost that much. But there is always guys out there that are imo a little superstitious and think paying extra for a curtain trainer or person will make a huge difference. No way to know for sure if it does. I believe Ricco and Tito mentioned years ago how much they paid to bring people in for fights. In the end JDS makes it sounds like this is a problem with MMA Pay saying some guys dont make much. He made a lot of money. It comes down to each individual on how they manage their money. In the end if Santos isnt in a Gym that has adiquate wrestling, boxing, Thai, and BJJ coaches and sparring partners without having to pay to bring outsiders in then he should really rething the gym he trains at. Choosing to bring in expensive trainers is not a necessities and is choice. Not a problem with fighters pay. Of course it is alwaysa going to cost a lot to bring people around the world to you, stay with you, and make it worth their time to leave their life and cater to you. In this case Santos choose to stay with his local gym in his hometown rather than go where the best gyms are like almost every other fighter.
I agree with Mr Cruz that this was a special fight for Junior. In such a big fight with being on FOX it was worth the investment even if he broke even on that particular fight. But i just done like blmaing the pay scale when one chooses to make that investment. I still look at this as more a luxury than anything. He wanted world class training while not having to leave him comfort zone. So i see it more as Santos spending lots of money more than anything to do with the cost of fighters training. With that said most top gyms charge a % of your purse. So a guy making what Santos makes would pay lots of money anyway. But with Santos reported UFC purse only being a couple hundred grand he would have got by much cheaper to be in a big gym rather than bring one top him.
and you know those airplane tickets to brazil were expensive it would have been cheaper for him to have his camp in the states
It is his money and he can spend it how he wishes. But when you choose to spend it when you have many cheaper options dont say stuff like this “but MMA does not yet give the “big money” all that most people think”. Santos made 1 million for the fight. That is exactly what people think top athletes in other sports make. League minimiums in NFL, NBA, and MLB are just a few hundred grand for an entire year. Santos made that for 1 fight and tries to act like he is fighting for 20,000. Just goes to show that the fighters will never be happy with any amount of money which is why MMA without Fight Orgs keeping tight control is doomed to be the greedy money grab everyone for themselves sport that boxing is.
Remember JDS comes from a boxing background and a boxing culture. His main trainer is an old school boxing guy. He did his camp as he has always and just brought in a few more specialists. This is the old boxing model where sparring partners are paid by the round, trainers, massuer, paid a wage and placed in accomodation and fed all together. JDS is Brazilian and trained in Brazil which is his home. JDS and his closest people just do it as the old boxing model.
I did not read it as he was complaining-but just stating a fact. It was expensive to do his camp as he did. Maybe that was a mistake. Hindsight is 20-20. It costs a lot of $ to make a world champ. That is what he is. He invested 10% of his purse on his camp to prepare to win that World Championship. I am sure he gives well over 20% to management – maybe they did not do their job.
As an old boxing guy and a huge UFC & MMA fan I am always interested in the completely different business model the Big Show is. I would say it is much more like a global rock promoter w/ all the infrastructure and resources(and costs) than the old boxing model.
I was very interested to observe the 1st camp of Rashad Evans when he left Jackson & fought Tito-and did his own thing w/ Imperial & Blackzillians in Boca Raton. It has created the correct result for him. I saw this more like the old boxing model as he was surrounded by his own people. I am sure the costs there were not small. Tyrone Spong,Mike Van Arsdale, the MuayThai coach Diogenes & Babu BJJ could not be cheap.
At the highest level- World Champions should train w/ the best and expect to pay for it. Sports Medicine, allied health professionals- massage, physical therapy, ostepath, chiro, nutritionist, special diet, supplements, all the things a Pro Ball Player would never have to reach in his own pocket to pay for- or least up front are to be considered.
I definitely want some real research and strong journalism on this subject. As a huge fan I am intrigued and very curious. I still go back and watch Tito’s 9K Ft. Classic MMA legacy. I bet that was not cheap as a percentage of purse to do. Tito did not even have a true coach there. He was the Lead.
My guess as the Champs continue to amaze us so will their training camps and innovation. They surely will evolve from the 1 stop shop where you take what is in house.
I am amazed at how quickly the quality of fighter has evolved in the Big Show in virtually a decade.