Earlier this week, UFC 278 co-main event participant Luke Rockhold shed some necessary light on a topic that has a major influence on the fighter pay issue in the promotion, and that is the questionable relationship some influential managers have with the MMA world leader.
Rockhold, a former UFC middleweight champion, is set to faceoff with one-time title challenger Paulo Costa on Saturday night at UFC 278’s co-headliner. It is his first bout in over three years in what has been an extended hiatus based mostly on a differing opinion between him and the promotion on what he deserves to be paid. While he and the UFC eventually agreed on terms to make this matchup happen, it has not stopped him from taking shots on how competitors are compensated by the top MMA organization on the planet.
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The issue of pay for UFC athletes has raged on for years in the media as the promotion continues to make record profits but athlete pay has not seen quite as big a gain. Rockhold has made his dissatisfaction with that fact public this week and did so again on Monday during a conversation with CBS Sports MMA writer Shakiel Mahjouri
“I think fighters need to grow a pair. You got managers that are in the pocket of the UFC that govern a massive umbrella of fighters. The UFC uses these two or three ‘managers’ — we all know who they are — who have lots of key players in the game. Those fighters under their banner will never speak up against the UFC. That is the UFC’s monopoly, their mafioso tactics. Imagine how much more intriguing it would be if the bonuses were 100 grand? How much more attention that would get from the public than 50 grand?”
UFC 278: MMA veteran expands on the ugly relationship between managers and the UFC
There are several managers that represent many of the top stars in the UFC and a large portion of the roster. It is worrisome if their clients have been advised to stay quiet on the issue and or have been undercut in taking part in what is likely the true answer to the problem, which is athletes forming a fighter union.
In 2014, several UFC fighters, including company veteran Nate Quarry, filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the promotion alleging the monopoly the UFC has on the industry and how they have been “systematically eliminating competition from rival promoters [and] artificially suppressing fighters’ earnings from bouts.”
On Thursday, in a tweet Quarry added to the idea that managers could be having a negative influence on fighter pay with unethical dealings with the UFC. That help their own management companies as opposed to their clients.
“In the discovery of our UFC lawsuit, we found emails from managers to the UFC brass saying their fighters will actually take LESS money than offered all to gain favor with the UFC as a manager that is ‘easy’ to work with. ‘Beloved’ managers. I can’t wait for it to be public info.”
Nate quarry on managers and ufc relationship
If there is evidence of managers undercutting their own clients to help improve their company’s status with the UFC, it could send shock waves through the sport. It would put fighters in a position where they may not be able to trust the person who has managed them throughout their careers. One has to wonder if it could lead to the government stepping in based on an inherent corruption at the top of a billion-dollar industry.