Boneheads

I don't say that there are not a lot of very smart business people.

There are also many who do very bone-headed things.

Let's looks at the UFC. For years, they have been accused of underpaying and undervaluing the fighters that the sport is built on.

Let's look at a concrete example.

George St. Pierre is one of the biggest money makers that the UFC has ever had. About three years ago he decided to take some time off, and is now ready to return. In spite of all the wealth he had generated for the UFC in the past, and the potential future riches that might still come from his fights, the organization gave him a hard time about his return.

They played hardball with him, likely over the money that he wanted. He was still under contract to them, and they had to offer him a fight by a certain date, or they would be in default. They offered a nonsensical fight, with none of the conditions worked out just hours before the deadline. St. Pierre and his legal team decided the organization was in default, and declared that St. Pierre was now a free agent. Keep in mind, during his career, St. Pierre has fought everybody that the UFC asked him to, and never complained about money or treatment.

You see, fighters have a limited shelf-life. St. Pierre is 35, and can't afford to waste a year of two trying to negotiate his deal. This is what the UFC has been banking on. They pretend that they don't care about all the money that St. Pierre will bring in. It is a game of chicken, and they have proven many times that they'd rather miss out on huge paydays than to pay a penny more than they want to.

However, St. Pierre didn't fold, he left. Next the UFC said it would tie him up in the courts to prevent him from fighting for anybody else.

Then the company-man St. Pierre pushed back. He, and a number of other big-name fighters, have declared the formation of a fighters association. Dare I say union.

The UFC could have negotiated in good faith, and made a deal that would have benefitted them far more than St. Pierre, but also left him content. Instead, they have thrown their weight around, and ended up with a fighter who has gone free-agent and who is being instrumental in a potential fighters union.

Suddenly, Dana White, the UFC front man, is taking all lovey-dovey about St. Pierre, and how certain it is that a deal can be made. Strangely, for months all White ever said about St. Pierre was negative.

Not only did the behaviour of the UFC belittle one of their most loyal and successful fighters, they were willing to do so in a way that would not only have cost them huge amounts of fight revenue, but they have also managed to cut that potential revenue to zero by driving St. Pierre away, and might have been instrumental in the formation of a fighters union.

It would seem that they are now running in terror. They say that the fighters don't need or want a union. That would be true, except that due to the crappy treatment they have been getting they actually do want and need protection from the UFC's dictatorial no-protection and no-benefits system.

Can the UFC afford to support fighters more? Well, Dana White is just the front man, and receives a salary of 15-20 million bucks a year (sources vary), and made $180,000,000 from the recent sale of the UFC. His 9% ownership of the UFC ran from 2001-2016, and so he made $27,000,000 a year from that alone. Add on his salary, and he has been hauling in up to $50,000,000 a year. The major shareholders are worth billions.

The UFC has plenty of wealth that it could be sharing, and they would still be an incredibly profitable organization.

If they'd thrown perhaps an extra million bucks or two at St. Pierre, they would already be pulling in many times that due to his return, and still have him on their side, and in their stable, and not backing a union.

Well played, UFC.

Well played.