Bellator SHOCKER: UFC Announces Their Pay Scale for Reebok Uniform Deal

By Barnaby Kellaway

One week ago the UFC announced their pay scale for the Reebok uniform deal. In the immediate aftermath, as reported here at RSR, many fighters were dismayed at the news that next time they fight they can expect to receive a diminished pay check. In what is turning out to be a bad week for the company, the negative headlines did not stop there.

One such headline came from MMAFighting.com, who held an interview with perhaps the main beneficiary of unsettlement amongst the UFC roster, Bellator President, Scott Coker. During this interview, which took place on Monday, Coker revealed, “I will tell you this, the phone has been ringing… Managers and fighters. A lot of questions are, what’s your policy on sponsorships?”

He doesn’t specifically mention it but it is fair to assume than many of these fighters and managers getting Coker on the phone come from the UFC. With the UFC signing a $70m uniform contract you would expect fighters to be due a pay rise before they get a pay cut. Therefore It is logical for a fighter to start looking elsewhere in a situation like this.

When asked whether what the UFC is doing is good for Bellator, he replied: “I think time will tell. I think it depends on a couple of things and one is how the UFC will take care of the fighters that are losing money on the deal. It’ll depend, but all I can say is, I can’t speak for their business because that’s their business. I can only speak to, Hey, we’re open for business. If you’re a free agent, give us a call.”

As Coker says, time will tell if his company gains from these goings on. But over the course of the next year do not be surprised to see some high profile UFC fighters switch allegiance and move over to the more financially unrestricted company, Bellator.

One future fighter has already placed his faith in Bellator. Later on Monday, news came that three time national wrestling champion and four time All-American, Ed Ruth, had signed with Bellator. Here is what he had to say: “I’ve known for a long time now that after I get Olympic gold around my neck, I was going to go get some MMA gold for my waist,”…”I’ve been talking with all the major organizations, and at the end of the day, I really believe in what Scott Coker is doing with Bellator. They’re signing the top talent, they’re putting on exciting fights, and they’re letting me secure my own sponsors.”

As he suggests when he says he has been talking to all the major organisations, Ruth is a sought after name in MMA. Such a well regarded name in fact that former UFC light-heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, invited him to train with him in preparation for his UFC 182 bout versus Daniel Cormier. It is with that team, Jackson/Winklejohn MMA, one of the best in the business, that Ruth will train after becoming a full-time mixed martial artist.

He spoke further about the UFC’s pay scale when talking to sherdog.com: “I didn’t really pay too much attention to the tiers, but from what I understand it was $2,500 for the first fight to five fights and then they go up from there. Being a wrestler, the numbers we see, they kind of don’t go up that quick. But still, somebody with my background and my credentials, everybody’s just looking to make as much as they possibly can. That was one of the big things for me. I was like, ‘Man, I can do a lot better than that.”

Ed Ruth’s comments should leave fans wondering how many other fighters will think they can do “better than that” when looking at what the UFC have to offer.

It is not only the fighters who are concerned about the policy but also the managers. It is in all likelihood this concern that has led to the co-founders of MMA Inc, a company managing the likes of Uriah Faber and Anthony Pettis, to call a meeting with the most powerful managers in the sport. One of the founders, Meyer, did state that the uniform policy is not the only purpose for the meeting: “Reebok is only one component of a multitude of issues managers should be talking about… It’s just long overdue that management sits down and has a collective conversation about the state of the business.”

The fact that this will be the first meeting of its kind and it was announced in the same week that that the controversial Reebok pay scale was unveiled tells its own story and one can expect that, despite Meyer’s comments, the main topic of conversation will be the big news of this week. This inaugural meeting of managers is scheduled to take place in Las Vegas ahead of UFC 187 on July 24th.

That concludes a week full of bad press for the UFC.