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Yahoo’s Kevin Iole is not a fan of UFC using locker room bonuses

By Zach Arnold | June 24, 2010

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The initial discussion (transcript included in this post) is about Shane Carwin and Steve Cofield driving home the point that perhaps the reason Carwin isn’t doing a lot of PR for this fight is because there isn’t a heavy financial incentive for him to do so. This was a segue into their discussion about ‘discretionary bonuses’ and how UFC’s bonus system is used for leverage.

STEVE COFIELD: “What do you think about what Shane Carwin is doing, not only from the media standpoint but he actually said, I don’t think he’s turning down media requests, but he wants things more official, but he said, he wrote it, that some of the higher-ups in the UFC weren’t happy with him in terms of how much he was helping promote the fight.”

KEVIN IOLE: “Well, I don’t you know, I have no problem with what Shane Carwin’s doing. I have not interviewed him yet, I’m going to interview him here in a little while, but I have no problem with what he’s doing. He’s getting ready for the fight. And Shane is not Brock. I mean, here’s the thing — Brock is going to be a guy that can attention to a fight just by what he says and by his commanding presence. You know Shane is one of those guys that he’s always been a soft-spoken guy, I’ve done a number of columns on Shane, you know I had lunch with Shane and his wife… and he’s a soft-spoken, quiet guy. You know, he’s going to make headlines by knocking guys out violently. And I think that’s what he’s banking on, you know he’s doing the interviews that he’s asked to do and you know I think that’s appropriate. I think what’s happening and you know because he’s so accessible and he’s on Twitter and he’s available to the fans that some of the people think they know him personally when they really don’t and they think they can just reach out and try to get you know things but you have to put yourself in his shoes. You know, people, he’s highly-demanded, he’s in demand at all times but now when he’s going to fight in the biggest fight of his career, he’s really in demand. So you have to do that and I think he’s doing things the right way.”

STEVE COFIELD: “I think he got burned a little bit, there was a report probably six months ago now on Frank Mir where he was alleged to have said that Frank Mir was mentally unfit and a terrible person and I think that may have had an effect on him and I think it’s a learning lesson for a lot of fighters out there that every MMA whatever, dot-com, that calls you it doesn’t mean you have to do an interview with them because you don’t know who you’re talking to.”

KEVIN IOLE: “Yeah, I mean, there’s no doubt about it. You know me, Steve, you know I’ve tried to do interviews with everybody you know I have a degree in journalism and I kind of feel like you know if somebody has a podcast they’re trying to do journalism even in some way and I want to encourage both journalism and the sport of MMA so I do a bit sometimes you know there are some that are better than others, you get asked some crazy questions and you know I’m not in 1/100th of the amount of demand that a major fighter like Shane Carwin is, so I understand you know what they’re up against and I mean it’s tough, you know you got people on the internet that are impersonating you, people are intentionally misquoting you, writing crazy things, so you know and this day it’s great to have the social media where you can interact so closely with the fans but there’s also a downside to it and that’s sometimes you know people go a little overboard and you don’t know who’s real and who’s not.”

STEVE COFIELD: “Now he did go on the record with a trusted site out there and they do a good, MMA Junkie, which is a partner of Yahoo. Were you surprised that he actually released what he’s getting paid for the fight? He’s getting $40,000 to show and $40,000 to win and actually admitted, I thought this was really in violation of UFC policy, that he’s not getting back-end on the PPV and you know how do you tie that to the amount of effort you put into a media promotion when you’re not going to benefit from PPVs if it’s 1.1 million or 1.7 million?”

KEVIN IOLE: “Well, I think the one thing that he will benefit from is the UFC does this and you know I don’t like it because then it’s you know it’s always kind of behind closed doors, but they give bonuses to fighters for performing in a fight in the locker room after the fight and they have wide discretion there, that way it’s not known. That’s why you see some of the fighters that are making a lot more money than what their contract calls for, you know there’s been guys that have made a million dollar bonus in the locker room. I’m not saying that Carwin’s going to get that kind of bonus, but certainly that’s what he’s fighting for. He’s fighting for the Knockout of the Night bonus, get the Fight of the Night bonus, and he’s fighting to get that discretionary bonus that the UFC gives. You know I wish it was more up front and on the table, you know, as opposed to you know such a discretionary thing but at least the fighters do have another source of income out there.”

STEVE COFIELD: “But you don’t see the fact that he admitted he’s not getting a back-end PPV bonus and that he’s getting 40k/40k that they’re going to hold that against him and not give him his bonus and does it get that petty? I don’t mean the 40/40, but the stuff that you were talking about, some of the back-end bonuses behind the scenes that they would you know that they would be petty and stick it to him if he comes up with a big victory and puts on a big show.”

KEVIN IOLE: “Well, I mean, you know, if they do that then that’s pretty bad. I don’t expect them to do it because he wasn’t critical. IN other words, he hasn’t going out and saying I’m upset with the amount of money that I’m making, I’m getting screwed here, whatever. He was just stating a fact. I mean I think that give the guy a break, you know, he said, he spoke his mind, he was honest and he has the right to do that. Some fighters don’t want to talk about their pay, they don’t have to do it you know. The contract that he signed is going to be public in Nevada, some states it isn’t public, Steve. Texas doesn’t release that but Nevada is good, they put that and they make that a public document so it’s going to be released on Saturday July 3rd anyways. So, I don’t see any problem with what he did.”

STEVE COFIELD: “Is it a model they need to be a little afraid of in terms of guys going out and pushing the PPV when one guy’s getting a bonus and the other guy isn’t? Obviously an official in-the-contract PPV back-end bonus…”

KEVIN IOLE: “Yeah, I mean, certainly, I mean I could see it happening but by the same token I think that a lot of the fighters understand the UFC the way they do things. You know, I wish in these big fights that all the fighters would share in it. I think the fighters take huge risks and I’d like to see the fighters get rewarded for it, taking that, and have a known quantity that they can rely on. But having said that, I think that most of the fighters look at it and they see they’ve seen those discretionary bonuses come out so that’s what motivates them to fight the way they do is that they know hey, you know, I need to you know put on a show in order to get that pay they need to really step it up and put on a show and so I think that you know it’s really not going to be a problem, at least for the near future.”

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

11 Responses to “Yahoo’s Kevin Iole is not a fan of UFC using locker room bonuses”

  1. mattio says:

    If I ran an MMA org, I would make every dollar paid to the fighters known, and I would do that in the hopes that the super athletes of the future decide to test their mettle in the cage instead of the ring, rink, court, field or gridiron. A fight promoter trying to make it appear like his salaried fighters (even those in the top tier) aren’t being paid dick doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

    I think White and The Fertittas are either ridiculously respectful of their fighter’s privacy or they just get some perverse thrill out of handing out the “secret” bonus check to the fighters behind the curtains.

    Shane Carwin worked himself up to the main event, so he should get a really good payday out of it. (He might even get one and we’ll never know.)

    If I was a fighter and the owners were rewarding me with a main event slot fight, but were not upping my pay for that night, I would still hype the fight up like no tomorrow. It’s a ridiculous publicity machine. If Carwin does beat Lesnar, he’s going to regret not getting his name out as much as possible during this big media blitz he is on.

    • Oh Yeah says:

      It’s a form of control, and less than perfect information on the fighter side works in Zuffa’s favour in negotations. This helps them earn more money now, which is likely better than potentially more money later. Is the sport better off with better athletes? Will they be significantly more popular (profitable)? Not necessarily.

      And who knows if MMA can really blow up big, or will remain a niche sport?

  2. Phil says:

    I do not understand why any fighter or fan or anyone would be upset about the promoter paying more money than they are contractually obligated to. Would anyone really be upset if their boss handed them more money?

    The other thing that I don’t get is why every cent Zuffa hands out that isn’t in the fight purse is always classified as some secret, back room, solely at Dana’s discretion bonus. We know Randy had a signing bonus for the contract he signed before he fought sylvia. We accept other things being worked out when it’s reported that Fedor gets $200k, or Frank Trigg gets $1, or Matt Lindland gets $1K, why is it so out of the question to think that Zuffa fighters have signing bonuses, championship bonuses, or anything of the sort?

  3. 45 Huddle says:

    There are two lines of thinking on this one….

    1) Everything a fighter makes, including bonuses and incentives should be spelled out in their contracts.

    2) Zuffa is generous for paying more then the contract price and nobody should be complaining about money being paid above the contract amount.

    I understand both sides. What Zuffa is doing isn’t the worst thing in the world. Paying out more money is a good thing. But for the people complaining about the bonuses being arbitrary…. So could the bonus and incentive structures in contracts. It’s really up to what Zuffa wants to put in there.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      I should also point out that a better method then the lock room bonus thing is to have contracts that are structured differently. Every fighter should have a championship clause in their contract (no not that one)…. That gives them a big increase in pay when they fight for the title. And if they win the title, the money stays higher.

      Carwin is likely to get paid good money for this fight. But he should know that going in. This is one thing a fighters union would help fix.

      • Brad Wharton says:

        Why should they? Did Justin Eillers or Paul Buentello deserve more money when they fought for the title?

        You get paid what you’re worth, end of. If you feel you are worth more, then you get your agent to hash it out before you sign for a fight, otherwise go get another job. It’s supply and demand, nothing more; Carwin isn’t supplying buys for this event, Brock is. If Shane ices him in spectacular fashion and actually pulls his finger out with regards to the press afterwards, he’ll get more next time.

      • Steve says:

        They might not have an automatic clause that bumps a guy’s pay when he wins a championship, but they do have a policy of renegotiating contracts upward when a guy wins the belt. Rashad Evans got a massive pay bump when he won the title. So did Forrest Griffin and GSP. I expect Frankie Edgar and Shogun are also going to show a massive pay bump the next time their salary is disclosed.

        Zuffa likes to keep their champions fat & happy.

        • Steve says:

          Also, there is no doubt in my mind that Shane Carwin will also receive an astronomical pay increase should he knock off Lesnar.

  4. EJ says:

    Cofield is an idiot but hey what’s new, the idea that Carwin is only going to get paid what is in his contract for a huge ppv like this and the fact that he’s the interim HW champion is idiotic. You’d think that these so called journalist that know so much about mma would actually know better, but when it comes to guys like Cofield and Snowden we’ll that’s out the window.

    Carwin will get taken care of, if you have a problem with the UFC paying guys more than what their iron clad contracts say they have to than you’re also an idiot. The fact is Carwin isn’t in some sort of special position this has happened in the past does anyone remember the Jardine controversy when he fought Chuck?. Every talking head complained that Jardine was only paid a small ammount of money as opposed to Chuck, but later it was revealed that Jardine got well taken care of with a huge bonus by Dana.

    This isn’t a secret lots of guys get paid well for taking and winning big fights, the fact that the UFC goes out of their way to do this is why so many fighters take risks because in the end they will be rewarded for that. This so called controversy is just an excuse for horrible mma writers to find another way to bash the UFC but in the end they show just how little they know from the average fan which is pathetic.

  5. Brad Wharton says:

    Let’s say for example that Mauricio Rua goes on a massive 3 or 4 year undefeated streak, finishing everyone in the first round to the point where the UFC are scrambling for challengers for him. Does that mean that every Bader, Matyushenko, Davis, etc that they wheel out to face him automatically deserves to be making $200k per fight? Of course not.

    Carwin is undoubtedly a top contender in the UFC, but lets not forget that he’s hardly gone on a tear through the best heavyweights in the world to get to where he’s at. He’s two fights removed from fighting the likes of Neil Wain (a part-time brawler) and Sherman Pendergarst (a mighty 2-13 in his last 15 fights).

    When Shane has earned his stripes, he’ll earn his cash.

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