By Kelsey Philpott It’s safe to say that the MMA community was holding its breath this weekend as the world watched the UFC’s centennial offering. The event on Saturday night was essentially MMA’s biggest opportunity yet to show the world what it’s all about. How did it fair? That’s up for debate. Most look to the general […]
opinion and analysis
Fighter Salaries Revisited: More Sponsorship Tax & EA Ban Analysis
By Kelsey Philpott The recent kerfuffle due to the new “sponsorship tax” that the UFC has levied against companies looking to sponsor (read: advertise with) UFC fighters has brought me back to some pieces I did last summer on addressing the problems behind MMA’s compensation system. It should come as no surprise that fighter pay is still […]
Snowden: UFC 100, Bad for the Sport
For all the talk of competing with the NFL, with basketball, and even internationally with soccer, the UFC showed clearly last night that it wasn’t ready for primetime. It was a promotion and a sport more comfortably spoken in the same breath with “WWE” or “monster trucks” than with “NFL” or even “Nascar.” The meme […]
Robinson: The UFC, Walking a Fine Line between Business and Sport
by Zac Robinson, for MMAPayout.com It would seem that Zuffa, owner of the UFC, is in the middle of operation clampdown. I’m referring to the banning of numerous apparel companies (or charging them a fee of $100,000) and now the alleged threat regarding the Electronic Arts (EA) MMA game. In most cases I’m a supporter […]
The Issues of Referee and Judge Certification
‘Showdown’ Joe Ferraro has an excellent piece up at Rogers Sportsnet that details his experience with ‘Big’ John McCarthy’s referee certification seminar, C.O.M.M.A.N.D. (Certification of Officials for Mixed Martial Arts National Development). The course is broken down into three areas and participants require a passing grade of 90 percent (at minimum in all three) to be certified. […]