First GSP, now UFC Lightweight Champ Frankie Edgar has split with his agent Shari Spencer. Spencer had represented GSP and Edgar at the beginning of the year, now both have left her agency.
Edgar sent out a press release which stated the following: “Shari did a fantastic job with handling my business affairs however at this juncture in time, we decided to go our separate ways.”
Payout Perspective:
Interesting that GSP and Edgar decided to leave Spencer within a month’s time of each other. Bloody Elbow speculates that money may be the reason for GSP’s departure. It would be easy to believe that money was a reason for Edgar leaving as well. It was believed that Spencer was charging 20% of the deals that she brought to her clients. This charge seems very high considering agents in pro leagues (NBA, NFL) take on average 3 to 4% of the deals they broker for their clients.
The BE story states that Hollywood talent agency CAA helped facilitate GSP’s mainstream deals with Gatorade and Under Armour. Thus suggesting that Spencer did not get him these deals. Could we see Edgar following GSP’s example and sign on with CAA or another big talent agency and hire a confidant as his manager?
According to MMA Fighting, Spencer is evaluating her options in representing mixed martial artists. The news certainly says something about the state of agent representation in MMA.
Too bad they did it classy. “Malki, you’re fired.” I’ll never forget that. Spencer should see if Mitrione is interested…
This does indicate that the top fighters may be considering their management choices with more scrutiny in the future. It’ll be interesting to see what Edgar does next.
I don’t see Edgar as having the same opportunities as GSP. Yes, he’s the UFC LW champ, but I’m not sure he has the kind of name that will attract talent agencies. GSP may have outgrown Sheri, but I don’t know that Edgar is in that category yet. Let’s see where he goes from here.
…Are we talking strictly marketing/sponsorship deals here? Or was it with fight contracts? Or both? If it was marketing deals than a 15-20% cut of corporate is an industry standard (10% for endemics). A fight contract (including bonus structure and other incentives) is a different story and should be a lesser percentage – agreed.
But it is unfair to compare the 3-4% that stick-n-ball agents get to this situation. It just isn’t even the right argument. And I feel for SS – gotta be careful when you get into bed with the 800 lb gorilla. Cause you’ll be pushed out onto the floor if you don’t f@#k right!