In a very preventable, very dramatic occurence, UFC Hall-of-Famer, Living Legend, and current UFC WORLD Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture has left the company and vacated his title and broadcasting position.
Its pretty easy to jump to conclusions here and blame Dana White.
Dana White, for those of you unfamiliar with the UFC, is the Vince McMahon like figure who runs the UFC for the owners, the Zuffas, with seemingly full autonomy. He's a former boxer and he loves MMA, but he's also very secretive, egotistical, emotional and never wrong. You can tell he believes this from his quotes and general demeanor that he likes the spotlight and thinks he's as important as the fights are to the success of the UFC.
And he may be.
A lot of the success and attention the UFC gets now can be attributed to Dana and his efforts, and I mean a LOT. He's the one that got the Zuffas to keep investing more money when things weren't looking right, he's the one at the forefront of getting the sport legitimized with rules and drug testing, he's the one going out and being the face of the company IN the face of tons of scrutiny from anyone who doesn't want MMA to go mainstream. He's the one who got ESPN coverage, etc etc. At least that's what you are lead to believe based on what info is out there. For that, I commend him greatly because I am a fan and if not for Dana White, I may not have been given the chance to become one.
But...
With the good comes the bad. Many of the recent failings of the UFC can also be contributed to Dana White.
The UFC deal with HBO is not happening because HBO wants to produce it. UFC wants to keep production. Why? They already produce enough TV with The Ultimate Fighter, Ultimate Fight Night, and their PPVs. Why not allow a veteran of the game like HBO to be a full partner and show you some things? I don't see the problem with that. I do see a problem with Dana going out and proclaiming in no uncertain terms that the deal would happen when it ended up NOT happening. But again, I'm not Dana White.
Fedor Emelianenko is not signing with the UFC, but instead, some upstart promotion in Russia called M-1 Mix Fight. Why? Who knows. But White going out and calling his managers "crazy Russians" probably didn't help. In Boxing, at the end of the day, people want to know who the Heavyweight Champion of the World is. Luckily, some big name fights in other weight classes have come on and kept the sport more-than-alive. In MMA, it may not be exactly the same, since the skill and other factors make the Light Heavyweight and Welterweight divisions very attractive, but the #1 Heavyweight in the World is out there and you don't sign him? How?
Fighters want to fight the best. UFC has the most talent so Fedor would naturally want to come here. He even said he's down with fighting Couture. But Dana plays hardball with him and now he goes elsewhere...Well that's dumb.
And now the #2 or 1A heavyweight around, goes and QUITS the entire organization, because you weren't giving him his money. Well, you already had this guy in the fold, so that's dumber.
The UFC has always been very interesting when it comes to fighter salaries and overall negotiations. They tell you what someone's base and win bonus are but they don't report the true amounts fighters make, which includes a lot of behind the scenes bonuses and PPV revenues.
Now, if UFC has a PPV with 500,000 buys at $40 a pop, that's $20 Million. If the fighter base salaries add up to less than $1 Million, that is a problem. These numbers are close to what happened with the Rampage - Liddell PPV. I think there were more buys than that even. And let's not forget sponsorship and live gate. So about $25 Million is made on the PPV and the fighters end up with how much exactly? What are these mysterious bonuses and who is getting them? How much are they and what are they based on? Where's the transparency?
As for the fighteres where is the financial risk/reward for putting your life on the line and getting in the cage in the first place? Its insulting to me to see a fighter listed with a base salary of $5,000 for a fight that airs on Ultimate Fight Night on Spike TV or $10,000 for a PPV. Even with these random bonuses, how are they supposed to make a real living? Who determines your fate if you don't know how much you are making?
At the end of the day, that's why Couture left. He was told he was the #2 paid fighter in UFC. But he did a survey of guys, who talk to each other, and found out that could not have been the case. Plus the new guys from Pride (Rampage, Shogun, and the offer they made Fedor) were given contracts that dwarfed his.
Dana White could've prevented this. He blames the internet fan-run "newssites" that help drive his organizations popularity for spreading rumors and lies, but that's not where the problem lies. I'm not going to say that full fighter salaries need to be disclosed to the public, but at least to the fighters, they should be honest in their dealings. Fighters can be sworn to secrecy or whatever, but they should know who is making what and how they can get to that level. If a fighter comes to you and says "you told me I was the 2nd highest paid guy but I just found 4 people who make more than me", show them your books - if he's important enough to you - and yes the World Champion and top color commentator is important enough.
But maybe in Dana's mind he isn't. Sure, the UFC will continue and Brandon Vera could return to his meteoric rise to the top and come out as UFC champion sometime next year (IF...big IF he can beat up the huge former champion in Tim Sylvia next weekend and then probably Big Nog next year) and you'd have a marketable star with the belt. That would be ok, but Randy "The Natural" Couture has something a lot of fighters just don't have yet.
Respect.
Randy is one of those guys that when he speaks, you listen. That would explain why his gym is cranking out top performances (who REALLY saw Forrest Griffin taking out Mauricio Shogun Rua last month? Be honest. Couture picked him unconditionally and Forrest made him TAP!) and why he keeps picking upset after upset and being right. That's why if Randy Couture comes out with a diet exercise and nutrition book, it'll go platinum. He has the respect of the fighters and fans. That covers everyone it seems, except perhaps Dana White, who doesn't really show a lot of respect to anyone. Like Vince McMahon. And if you didn't know, the WWE is heading DOWNwards and has been for years since they bought WCW in 2001, just like the UFC has been having these issues since they bought Pride last year...Hmm...
