No one is forcing them to fight for the UFC or even be a fighter at all.

What next, you guys gonna go on a crusade on why McDonald’s cashiers are underpaid? Fighters that bring in PPV buys are very well compensated. Fighters that don’t, are not.

10-15 year career if you are lucky and decent at the very least. Why would anyone take a paycut to be a fighter or pro wrestler? The only exception is if you are an up-and-comer of course. I have heard quite afew stories (and even talked to one such guy) who are fighters or pro wrestlers (the dude I talked too, he is actually both believe it or not. He doesn’t really wrestle anymore) he was telling me that he got his master’s degree, got his teaching certificate, and got a job as a first grade teacher somewhere in New Jersey. He was a really cool guy, and his brother wrestled on the show that I met him at. He told me he became a first grade teacher so he can make enough money to take a trip to Thai Land to train in Muay Thai.

Which brings me to a question. If you have a master’s degree, and a teaching certificate, then why the hell would you want to fight? Fighting is a way out for most people. I hope he doesn’t face a huge culture shock in Thai Land, on the grounds that he is a white guy with blonde hair with money, and he probably never trained in a barn with a hose in the back to take baths with..

I don’t like to spend time arguing whether people that make more money than I do should get paid even more, especially when they’re famous, on TV, and do a job I’d take a significant pay-cut to have.

Or the fighters are getting payed shit because the owners are cheap pieces of shit. And about starting a union…..a hell a lot easier said than done, especially when it comes to combat sports. Because if fighters decided to try to form a union, and the bosses find out, then the fighters could get released from their contracts. I’m pretty sure Jesse Ventura got fired from the WWF in the eighties because he was ratted out to Vince McMahon because he wanted to start a union. It was rumored that it was Hulk Hogan who ratted out Ventura.

Oh, and you think there is no problem with the fighter salaries? How would you know? You are not the one making the money nor fighting for them, how do you specifically know how much the fighters are worth? How would you like it if someone said the salary you make isn’t worth as much as it is? It’s kind of arrogant of you to say there is no problem with any of the fighters’ salaries, whereas there are guys that are clearly underpaid by the UFC. Especially the prelim fighters. Many of the prelim fighters would probably make as much money fighting a swing bout in the UFC as they would the same card position on any other medium to medium-big promotion in North America. It seems like fighting for UFC is best for getting the best exposure, not exactly the best for earning potential for the most part. For earning potential I am sure K-1/DREAM is best in that regard. I think…

If fighters get paid shit, it’s because they’re not worth more. If they’re still unhappy, form a union.

What is the best way to protect fighters’ interests in today’s MMA industry? Should we even care about that and try to think of solutions?

Yes, that is what the contracts say, and no, that would never hold up in court if a fighter ever sued the UFC to challenege it. Like the “no-compete clause for life” deal with champions, it has no legal legs on which to stand. The UFC wouldn’t be able to use Brock Lesnar right now if a court hadn’t dealt WWE a setback in every step of the process when they tried to enforce a six-year no-compete clause on Brock Lesnar’s WWE contract (which would have prevented him from doing any MMA or pro wrestling until June 30, 2010).

However, even though it would never hold up in court if a fighter sued, this brings us back to the quote from UFC co-president Dana White in Rolling Stone that he’ll destroy anyone he deems to be an enemy. These circumstances mean that the “cost” of filing such a lawsuit for any given fighter would be far greater than just the attorney fees.