The state of sponsorships was brought up once again by dueling MMA Junkie articles which looked at the ways fighters can find additional revenue in what appears to be a dwindling sponsorship market.
The first article took a look at the MMA “crowd funding” in the form of Fund a Fighter. Essentially, the purpose of the company is for fans to contribute to fighters’ fundraising campaigns as they prepare during a training camp in lead-up to their fight. In exchange, the fighters provide the fans that contribute to their campaign with various “rewards” which varies based on the amount contributed. The “rewards” can include a simple recognition on social media, to a t-shirt, to fight shorts worn on fight night.
It sounds like a great alternative to seeking out sponsors and dealing with concerns over payment, or lack thereof. The obvious drawback is the uncertainty as to whether fans would be willing to fund a training camp for a fighter.
According to the Junkie article, the average campaign garners $2,100 which is far from the amount of money that a UFC fighter could have made in sponsorships a couple years ago.
Brian Ebersole and Dan Miller are the most notable fighters to use the web site which charges a 15% commission of the total amount each fighter receives. According to the Fund a Fighter web site he raised $3,250.00 for his fight against Rick Story at UFC 167.
On the other end, World Series of Fighter Rick Glenn received $275 for his fight at WSOF 5 in September 2013. There are other fighters on smaller circuits that utilize this web site as well with varying degrees of success.
A couple days later, MMA Manager John Fosco talked to MMA Junkie and lashed out about the “crowd funding” strategy and described the Fund a Fighter web site as “welfare.” Fosco had strong words for the perceived problems with the UFC sponsor tax and tightening of funds by sponsors. Essentially, he believes that there is still money out there for fighters citing (in the Junkie article) that he can get his fighter $8,000 for a Fight Pass fight and has done “way over $10,000” in sponsorships for a Facebook fight in the past. Fosco lays blame with “lazy managers.”
The article goes on about how Fosco’s company, VFD Marketing, has looked for opportunities for its fighters outside of the Octagon as well as traditional sponsors on their gear.
Payout Perspective:
MMA Payout interviewed Fosco back in 2010 when he originally had secured Safe Auto as a sponsor for some of his fighters. It became an official UFC sponsor. Fosco indicated that Safe Auto sponsorship was based on a cold call to the company.
The articles give differing views of the current state of sponsorships. It appears that Fosco has adapted with the sponsorship market and rails on those that complain about it. Then, there is a site like Fund a Fighter which is an “out of the box” way for fighters to fund their training through donations. Fund a Fighter appears to be a great strategy for fighters on the smaller circuits with regional popularity attempting to make it to the next step. Basically, this allows someone with a full-time job some money to spend on food; gear and the ability to take time off work without having it hurt them economically. From this standpoint, a site like this would be smart. Similar to a small-time filmmaker seeking a way to put the final editing touches on their film, “crowd funding” appears to be a good way to seek out the help they need.
On the other hand, based on the information from its web site, it appears that UFC-type fighters could (and should) make more in sponsorships than what is being collected on a Fund a Fighter campaign. There are many impediments of this happening: the UFC sponsor tax, “lazy managers” as perceived by Fosco or just the inability to land sponsors.
Even if sponsors are landed, there may be issues with how they are obtained. There are the Dynamic Fasteners and Auto Shopper.com’s which appear to have purchased sponsorships in bulk. In a recent article, Dynamic Fastener described this as “bundle pricing” when DF negotiates sponsorships with an agent for the agent’s entire stable of fighters appearing on a card. The problem here is whether the individual fighter is getting the best deal for themselves or are they being lumped in at a discount. Cole Miller spoke out about the obstacles of the lower-to-middle card fighters getting sponsorships (and sponsor money). Chris Camozzi and Mac Danzig have also spoken out about sponsors and both have refused to take on sponsors for their fights even though they are willing to pay. You may recall Danzig even went as far as to accept no sponsors for a fight on Fox.
With the possible advent of UFC uniforms, will the sponsorship market in the UFC change yet again? We shall see.
I think Fund a Fighter is a disgrace to the sport. Any top level fighter who goes this route should be ashamed of themselves. No one in the UFC is hard up enough to stoop to the level of begging fans for money. Many of which will never see the amount of money said fighter makes. But because they are loyal fans they are dooped out of their money.
These fighters are the reason the MMA sponsorship is in the shape it is in. To many fighters represent the sport as low class rednecks. IF it isn’t fighters taking low ball offers and killing the market for everyone else. Its fighters begging fans for money. Why would any fortune 500 company get involved in a sport where the fighters take money from the fans? Are you a Professional or not? A rough estimate of Brain Ebersol disclosed fight pay over the last 3 years in the UFC has him making around $200,000. Not including actual sponsors he has had. The guy is likely close to 100K per year the last 3 years. Why is he going to the fans for money?
Fund a Fighter at the top end is a scam. Fund a fighter at any other level just doesn’t make sense. No one knows who is going to be worth a damn. Throwing money out there one one of thousands of wanna-be’s who will use that money then likely get beaten out of the sport. It just doesn’t make sense.
If you want to help the fighters. Support the fighters and the UFC sponsors. By the products of the companies who support the sport.
“No one in the UFC is hard up enough to stoop to the level of begging fans for money.”
How do you know that? If a guy is on a 5/5 contract, that’s not a lot of money considering rent, food, gym fees, equipment, etc. Ebersole might be doing OK (which actually when you take into account all the expenses he’s probably not), but a lot of the fighters aren’t making close to that money.
“Fund a Fighter at the top end is a scam. Fund a fighter at any other level just doesn’t make sense. No one knows who is going to be worth a damn. Throwing money out there one one of thousands of wanna-be’s who will use that money then likely get beaten out of the sport. It just doesn’t make sense. ”
The point isn’t to pick the winning fighter. It’s to help a fighter pursue his dream regardless of how that dream ends.
“If you want to help the fighters. Support the fighters and the UFC sponsors. By the products of the companies who support the sport.”
Yeah, except that Xyence tastes like crap and I don’t have anything that needs to be fastened dynamically. So that’s not going to happen. Not to mention that a lot of the fighters on Fund a Fighter probably aren’t getting good sponsorship offers.
Thomas Dulorme v Karim Mayfield drew 742,000 viewers
Sergey Kovalev v Cedric Agnew drew 1.006 million viewers
http://espn.go.com/blog/dan-rafael/post/_/id/8353/kovalev-agnew-tops-1m-viewers
That’s part of life Diego. You take expenses based on your income. You don’t go to the most expensive gyms if you can’t afford them. They have the same room and board and food expenses that a mcDonalds worker has. To act like they are hard up when they make in one fight what many people make in a year is crazy. If you are fighting for 5/5 (which 8/8 is the new low for the most part) then you shouldn’t have much expeses. If you have a house, wife, and kids as a low fighter. Then that is that fighters mistake. If that is his situation then he should find another career. At that level guys are stay in gyms or with friends or family until they make it.
You are using senarios where people are living above their means and justifying the. Taking other peoples money. If you make 8/8 the. You make plenty to live on and train. I know plenty of guys from my gym who have been on the cusp of the UFC. I know how they live and I know they the ones who made it to the UFC and how they lived until they got bigger contracts. The eat sleep and train and live with training partners and hang with each other. Not a bad gig at all. But chasing an mma dream for so done who put having a family and a mortgage first is irresponsible. MMA is not for this people. Even still those people don’t have it as hard as people believe. They make plenty. This guys don’t stay at this contract for ever. If they don’t win they are out of the UFC. If they do win they will make about 30k the first 3 fights/year. Manager and gym take a percent which is almost nothing. That still gives them 20,000 to eat and live on. Which is plenty.
@Chang – post coming
@BS: FYI: $20K is around the poverty line. Also, here was a good piece on fighter expenses by Snowden:
“Jonathan Snowden talked with a number of fighters, managers, and assorted MMA industry figures to find out the cost of preparing for a main event contest with an eight week training camp.
Manager/Agent: $25,000
High level coaches (grappling, striking, conditioning): $15,000
Dietitian: $7,500
Travel: $10,000
Housing: $10,000
Additional Training Partners (Five): $3,500
Rental Cars: $2,400
Food for Training Partners: $2,400
Flights for wife and kids to visit once: $1,500
Food: $2,000
Supplements: $1,000
Gear: $100
Rehab Sessions: $600
Massage: $225
Gas: $800
Taxes (18 %): $45,000
Total cost fo training camp: $127,025
Main event purse: $250,000
Take home Pay: $122,975”
I am aware of that Jose. My point is who is to say an entry level fighter has to train at the elite gyms in the world? Gyms are over rated imo. BUt even still many fighters stay at their original gyms starting out. Where a new UFC fighters gets off thinking he needs to be at Team Jackson or any of the other fly by night “best gyms” while he is fighting an opponent who is still at his local MMA gym. I cant understand it. Now I realize that if someone wants to make that sacrififce that is their decision. But it isn’t a requirement. No one has the right to over spend then bitch they cant makes it. I can do the samer thing in my life. Buy a car and house I am not in a position to buy. Then cry to my boss I cant afford food.
What rookie pays a flat rate for a manager? Most pay a percent it lower paid guys do not pay $25,000. Those expenses are numbers of someone who has no concept of money and are wasting money of things that are not needed at the bottom levels of the sport. Yes a rookie in the UFC is the bottom levels because there is no set requirements to get there and you are not any better than a large number of guys outside of the UFC (yet).
Why does a rookie pay 10,000 in housing? What rookie isn’t splitting cost with another rookie? Who needs to pay a dietitian 7500 when they fight 3 times a yeat tops? A rookie doesn’t need a live in, weekly, or even monthly visit from a dietitian. Travel $10,000? LOL Where are these guys traveling to? UFC pays for fight travel. I drive a hummer and I don’t spend a fraction of that traveling any where. These are all purposely misleading numbers that shouldn’t apply to up and coming fighters and doesn’t apply to many fighters at all.
Look at college football players on scholarships. They cant work and when if they do there is strict limits on how much they can make. Basically thye aren’t allowed to even work for money. At the same time they are expected to live in low cost dorms. They don’t get to and aren’t expected to have their own home while in school. They aren’t expected to have a wife and kids. They are expected to make those sacrifices while they go to school and play ball. IF you try to have those things you will struggle and often people have to give up their schooling because they don’t or cant make that sacrifice. The lower level so the UFC should be no different. You are trying to make the team so to speak and you are generally the same age. As you work your way up like the rest of us do. You can put more money into your career. Low level UFC fighters have a turn over rate like McDonalds. Its is irresponsible for anyone in that position to be spending that kind of money on luxuries in an unstable job.
A guy from my gym started out and made much less than what the UFC pays today. He made like 4/4. But he lived with partners and coaches and within a year he earned a better contract. After a year he was up around 16/16 and had won a few OTN awards. He THEN bought him a home. If you do it backwards and spend money you don’t have on stuff you don’t need and put yourself in a bad position. That is on you. Its not the fans problem to send you money. It isn’t the UFC’s job to pay you more. Buying a Lamborghini while working at Wal Mart doesn’t warrant you a raise. That isn’t how it works.
Are you saying all boxers should have training camps that cost the same as Floyyd Mayweather Jr’s? Just because someone spends that doesn’t mean they get their monies worth or that everyone should do it or has to do it. Junior Dos Santos claimed he spend 100,000 training for Cain and he didn’t even include all the inflated stuff listed above. So should everyone from the top to the bottom spend 100K? No, there is no reason to. Its wasteful and irresponsible.
Every low level fighter I know lives like a college student. So yes 20K is poverty but there are entire families who live on it. A low level young fighters would have plenty of money to last him until he gets a better contract. 20K is a ton of money if they make the right decisions. Not counting the fact that if they win 2/3 fights and get typical rate for sponsors. They would make about $55,000. at 8/8 contract and 5k per fight sponsorships. I own my own business and I choose to pay myself 15k per year. I make it just fine. When you look at the big picture and act responsible. That is plenty of money to go a year or two and see if you are UFC material. All fighters in the UFC are making way more than 15K.
Jose lost me at Snowden.
If a fighter is paying a dietician $900 a week, they need a better manager. And who spends $250 a week on food? My wife and I spend less than half of that. $100 on gas? Again, we spend MAYBE 45 a week. Snowden’s numbers are way off. And taxes….here is a shocker: MOST TRAINING EXPENSES ARE TAX DEDUCTABLE. Where is Snowden these days? Not working for any reputable news org.
Regarding Fund a Fighter: Albums, novels and films are being made using this funding, why would fighters be different? For an Indie fighter, it will be tough. But a fighter in the UFC, WSOF or Bellator, this could be a very interesting alternative.
I don’t get why anyone would donate to this site. Do you donate and the site chooses who gets the money? Why would anyone do that? Do you get to pick the fighter who gets it? Why not give you money directly to the fighter rather this give this company 15%?
Lower league guys are only getting a few bucks. Mostly less than $100. How is that doing anything for them? The only thing it accomplished is a fan is walking around $100 lighter and the fighter has turned into a bum/charity case.
I will never support any fighter who gets involved with this. There is many ways you can get money rather than using your position as a public figure to manipulate fans who look up to you. Any celeb can go up to a person on the street and ask for money and get it. A fan would be more than happy to hand over all their money and have a story to tell. But what kind of low life person would do that? Just because you can doesn’t mean you do it.
live and let live?
You all are forgetting that on a 250k purse half is taxes so 250k becomes about 125 k so the fighter actually lost $2025. and that doesn’t count management and agent fees. Also drugs and masking specialists for some. And unforeseen costs