LA Times reports that Alistair Overeem has signed with the UFC and will be taking on Brock Lesnar on the December 30th NYE show being held in Las Vegas.
“Brock is a big name, a dangerous guy, and this is a dream matchup,” Overeem told The Times on Tuesday, just after signing a standard UFC fight contract in the office of Chairman Lorenzo Fertitta. “Brock’s a big guy, an exciting wrestler with his takedowns.
…
“I want to see this fight myself. Overall, I’m a different fighter. A striker, athletic, big. These are going to be two big trucks going at it on a collision course.”
VIDEO:
Payout Perspective:
Some notes from the announcement:
– The fight will be a 5-round non-title bout (PPV event). Overeem was stripped of the Strikeforce HW Title when he was released from Strikeforce just a few weeks ago.
– Alistair Overeem signed a multiple-fight standard contract, which means he is exclusive to the UFC and will not be allowed to participate in Kickboxing or Golden Glory events.
– It is expected that the winner of this bout will challenge the winner of Cain Velasquez vs Junior Dos Santos for the HW title.
– Overeem was offered a title shot against the Velasquez/JDS winner but Overeem didn’t want to wait that long.
– This event will take place on a Friday night, outside of the norm for the promotion who usually holds PPV events on Saturday nights.
– The UFC was looking to run the NYE show from Abu Dhabi this year from that same Friday night, but instead moved the event to Las Vegas on that same day.
– Yesterday night, the UFC announced that they would be heading back to Japan on February 26, 2012 and would be holding their event at Saitama Super Arena, which will be configured to seat 20,000 fans. Alistair Overeem would be be one of their biggest draws if they could get him on that card along with “Kid” Yamamoto and Yoshihiro Akiyama to name a few. Yushin Okami could also be used, but will have to bounce back after a crushing defeat to Anderson Silva in Brazil at UFC 134.
– With the addition of Lesnar vs Overeem, the UFC will most likely host a 1 million PPV buy event this year. The last time they went through a year without hitting one was back in 2007. Last year, the UFC hosted 3 1 million PPV buy events, two which were headlined by Brock Lesnar.
This is why 1 major promotion is best. When all fighters are under 1 roof the fans win.
Brain,
I’m not sure that’s the case in the long run. I hope Overeem got a good contract, but I’m sure he would have gotten a better one if he had any leverage in his negotiations. Instead Zuffa has Strikeforce fire him forcing Overeem to negotiate with the UFC while unemployed (he had some alternatives with Golden Glory but I don’t know how much those are worth). That’s not a good situation for fighters.
In the long run what’s best for the sport is getting the best athletes in the world to compete – and that will require the best salaries in the world. I’m not sure we’re headed on that trend.
Regardless, I’m impressed that Overeem turned down a guaranteed title shot and chose to fight Brock instead and I can’t wait for this fight.
Diego,
Would you call being PROMISED more money and never seeing it a “better deal”? With the sort of debacles Overeem’s been used to in Japan, he’s probably happy to sign a contract with guaranteed money that will be paid on schedule. He also knows that if he’s able to become champion and continue to win, his compensation will only continue to increase. Add in the extra sponsorship money (I mean, all he really has to do is tell companies he’s in a main event with Brock Lesnar) from the greatly increased exposure he’ll get, as well as a possible signing bonus and he’ll do just as well as he could anywhere else. Who else can afford Alistair Overeem and actually pay him on time? The reality is the UFC is the #1 PPV supplier in the country, and now they have a deal with FOX and are on national broadcast TV. Who else can give him a higher profile? For a guy like Overeem, he’s doing the right thing in the “long run.” Think about Fedor… last I heard he was going to be facing Jeff Monson in Russia. He made more money, sure, but his legacy has suffered. Overeem seems like the type of athlete to which a legacy would be very important, and this is his time to try to be heavyweight champion of the world in the biggest and most prestigious combat sports organization; he needs to be in the UFC.
Your point is much more valid for guys like Paul Daley, who don’t have the tools to be a UFC champion but produce highlight reel finishes. Daley can certainly make more money outside the UFC because he’s a guy that can be in the main event of every non-UFC card he’s on, giving him more leverage.
Outside of situations like Daley’s, having one organization house all the BEST talent is what’s best for the fighters, fans, and the legitimacy of the sport. Undisputed champions are what sports need, not parallel sets of competitive hierarchies. As for the rest, there will always be exciting fighters outside the UFC and there will always be fans willing to pay to watch them.
Diego
Who is forcing the UFC to pay now? No one! Who is forcing the UFC to put on fights like Overeem vs Brock and Cain vs Santos? No one! The UFC already has incentive to do those things because they sell more PPVs by doing it. To be honest i could careless how much the fighters get paid. Money is what will kill this sport as it is doing to all the others. Everyone who has the skill to earn a second contract in the UFC lives very well. Competition does nothing for MMA and never has. It has taken fights away from us, the fans, while a promotion at one point or another struggles because there isnt any fights left because there are stars tied up some where else. Even the UFC network deal is something that was delayed due to competition. CBS looked for a cheap alternative to the UFC and Elite signed their soul over. CBS and Elite made it into a circus.
Like i said the UFC is paying big money with no one focing their hand. If a fighter down the road wants a lot of money the UFC will look at what PPV buys he will sell. If they will make money giving in to him they will do it. They will not pass on a 1 million PPV event on principal alone. If they cant make money off of the deal then no amount of competition is going to change that. In the end the fans and their ability to choose if and when they buy a PPV is controls this sport. There is a $17 million difference in PPV profits between a low level PPV and a superstar headlined PPV. That is why the UFC wants superstars and will do anything to get them and why they give us the fights we want.
I’m not sure you guys got my points so I will reiterate them hopefully with more clarity:
1) No matter how good the deal is that he’s getting from the UFC, Overeem could have gotten a BETTER deal if he had some leverage rather than being unemployed at the time of his negotiations (at the behest of Zuffa no less). I’m sure this deal is a good one and probably better than any other deal out there (otherwise I assume he would not have agreed to it) but virtually all of the negotiating power lies with the UFC, which cannot but hurt Overeem’s earning potential.
Based on the current state of MMA it’s true that Overeem made a good choice in signing with the UFC; my criticism is with the current state of MMA. My point is not that Overeem should have signed elsewhere, but that having one promotion with effective monopolistic power in the long run depresses the earnings of the competitors in the sport – this particular case is an example.
2) In order to attract the best talent in the world you have to pay the best salaries in the world. If competitors can make more money in other sports, they will go to those sports.
I would like to see a situation where MMA competitors are among the highest paid athletes in the sport so that athletes who might normally go to the NFL or boxing or soccer will come directly to MMA. The UFC has done an incredible job of raising the profile of MMA, which has allowed more money to flow into the sport some of which has gone to the athletes. However, in the long run, as the sport continues to “mainstream”, a monopoly will restrict the earnings of the competitors to the benefit of the monopoly.
Again, I’m happy to see this fight. But I’m concerned about the long-term consequences of monopolistic activity. This case is a particularly egregious example of the power a monopoly can wield considering that Overeem was first fired from a Zuffa owned company before being forced to negotiate for a job in another Zuffa owned company.
“1) No matter how good the deal is that he’s getting from the UFC, Overeem could have gotten a BETTER deal if he had some leverage rather than being unemployed at the time of his negotiations (at the behest of Zuffa no less). I’m sure this deal is a good one and probably better than any other deal out there (otherwise I assume he would not have agreed to it) but virtually all of the negotiating power lies with the UFC, which cannot but hurt Overeem’s earning potential.”
How does making the rich richer better for the sport or the fans? Who really cares if Overeem got 500K per fight or 800K per fight. Should the fans and the sport suffer over what level of rich Overeem or any other fighter will be? BTW Overeeem has other options. He would have went to K-1 or other Orgs he fought in recently. He had other offers on the table.
“2) In order to attract the best talent in the world you have to pay the best salaries in the world. If competitors can make more money in other sports, they will go to those sports. ”
I dont believe that one big and have never seen any proof to back that up. Granted you have to be able to make a comfortable living to be able to commit to something. But noone gets into sports because of money. That isnt why kids play football, baseball, or basketball. MMA is pay more than enough to make a living and the best end up very wealthy. But Peyton Manning isnt going to take up boxing because some boxers make in 1 fight what it take his all year to make. You do what you are good at and like as long as it pays the bills.
So you want MMA fighters to be the highest paid so they can go on strike like all the other sports? It is already to the point fighters make so much money they dont want to risk losing. Have you seen the number if fights where people pull out over “injury”. When a guy has a fight they might not win they look for any way out. When a guy wins a belt they dont defend it for 6 month to a year milking it before they lose it. The more the fighters make the more scared they will be to lose those paydays. That is why Pac Man and Mayweather will not fight until one of them gets desperate. Floyyd will not risk his 25 million per fight taking a fight he will lose. He wont be able to get anything close to 25 mill if he loses. So he refuses to fight him.
Again it is hard to take your post serious when you keep refering to the UFC or Zuffa as a monopoly. It isnt anywhere close to one. You also say Overeem was forced to negotiate with the UFC. He is the K-1 Champion. If you think they didnt make him an offer you are crazy. Overeem isnt allowed to fight for them again for at least a few years if ever.