The duel of Francis Ngannou vs Ciryl Gane in the UFC 270 event, the struggle for the UFC heavyweight title at the Honda Center, Anaheim, California on Saturday, January 22, 2022 or Sunday in Indonesia, has attracted great attention from MMA addicts around the world. However, what about the fees for the two who appeared in the main party of the UFC 270 event? Are they getting paid, millions of dollars for the fanfare?
Ngannou vs Gane, which was widely reported in almost all parts of the world, was won by Ngannou through a 5-round victory. The three judges scored 48-47, 48-47, and 49-46. Ngannou remains the UFC heavyweight champion.
According to a release issued by the California State Athletic Commissions (CSAC), which oversees professional sports activities in the state, Ngannou and Gane's fees did not touch the $1 million mark. As the defending champion, Ngannou was paid 600 thousand US dollars (approximately Rp. 8.6 billion) while Gane as the challenger received 500 US dollars (about Rp. 7.6 billion). It is not reported that both of them get additional pay or bonuses.
Ngannou's pay is only $20,000 less than what he received when he won the title last year. Ngannou, a 35-year-old Cameroonian fighter who now lives in Las Vegas, won by knockout over the previous champion, Stipe Miocic (USA) in a duel in Las Vegas, USA on March 27, 2021.
Gane is a little luckier, as his payout has increased by 150 thousand US dollars from his last duel. The French fighter won by TKO over Derrick Lewis of the US in the fight for the UFC interim heavyweight title in Houston, Texas on August 7, 2021. His status as interim champion brought Gane to challenge Ngannou.
Compared to Boxing Lose Far
For comparison, the amount paid by Ngannou and Gane is comparable to that of Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder. Fury is the current WBC heavyweight world champion, while Wilder is a former champion. Fury fought Wilder three times, in 2018, 2020 and 2021 respectively. In those three fights both of them received over 20 million US dollars (Rp. 286.7 billion).
The last heavyweight boxing bout, the WBA/IBF/WBO title fight between Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk in London, England on September 25, 2021, also showed the payoff was way above what Ngannou and Gane received. Joshua, who was the defending champion at the time, received US$13.6 million (Rp. 195 billion), while Usyk as the challenger was paid US$4.1 million (Rp. 58.7 billion).
When asked about the fee, Ngannou told ESPN that the duel against Gane was the last time he was paid in figures under a million dollars by the UFC.
"I'm not going to fight for 500 or 600 thousand dollars anymore. I accepted the offer to fight Gane for personal reasons. I want to make sure that there really is no concern here, it could even be called injustice. There's been a mistreatment of the UFC towards me. Right now my obligation is only to complete the remaining eight fights of the contract," said Ngannou.
Ngannou's contract with the UFC began in December 2017 when he was about to face Dutch MMA fighter Alistair Overeem. The contract has a duration of 5 years, with a total of 9 fights. The contract will be automatically extended for a year if Ngannou is still a UFC world champion, because it contains a "champion clause". Ngannou now has a choice, fight again under UFC promotion for the next year or stay without appearing in the octagon until December 2022.
“The UFC contract is very complicated. That's why we can be under contract for 40 months, and in the fourth year we are still in the same contract agreement without any changes even though we continue to fight. I have completed my obligations, and if the UFC does not offer me a contract with a new value then I will not fight," said Ngannou again.
In fact, Ngannou and Gane should be able to receive more payments than that if there is a distribution of other benefits, for example from tickets or the purchase of pay television broadcasts. The price of pay-per-view television broadcasts for the UFC 270 Ngannou vs Gane fight is set at 75 US dollars. There is no data on the total number of channel sales for the Ngannou vs Gane duel at UFC 270, but The Mirror estimates that at least 1 million channels have been sold. That means that the income from television broadcasts is at least US$75 million, or around Rp. 1 trillion.
Monopoly Policy
Allegations about the lack of pay for fighters in the UFC were then directed at the monopoly policy implemented by UFC management, under the command of Dana White. The UFC is currently the most successful professional MMA promotion venture in the world. They have no close competitors, so they can easily manage the fighters under their cover.
“Boxing can get a higher payout because there is a lot of promoter competition in it, so boxers can set a price. While in MMA there is only the biggest UFC, so they are free to control the fight, who will win, and much more. While in boxing, a boxer has many choices because there are many promoters and boxing bodies," said US boxing promoter Gary Shaw.
“In MMA, a fighter belongs to the UFC or another promoter. But the UFC is the greatest, so fighters who are already in it have no choice. If he left the UFC, the payouts received from other MMA promoters would be much lower," Shaw continued.
The monopoly in the UFC became even more intense after the promotion company had an exclusive contract with British sports equipment company Reebok. The contract was started in 2014 for six years, valued at US$70 million or around Rp. 1 trillion.
As much as 60 percent of the contract value is paid by Reebok to the fighters who appear while the rest belongs to the UFC. In total, over a 6 year contract, Reebok paid out nearly $40 million to the fighter. As a consequence, MMA fighters in the UFC are not allowed to put another sponsor's logo on their fighting pants or their limbs.
According to MMA observer Tomislav Sivanovic, the ban on private sponsorship costs the fighter at least $20,000 per fight. If in a year they can fight three or four times, then they will lose 60 thousand to 80 thousand US dollars a year.
"I'm not satisfied with the way the UFC deals with sponsorship. We fighters became like enslaved. We're not allowed to bring personal sponsors into the octagon, so we've got nothing left. MMA is a fighting sport, and it would be unfair for a fighter to only receive $500 with the consequence of being crushed in the face in the elbow,” Vitor Belfort, a Brazilian fighter who was once the UFC heavyweight champion.
At present the conditions have not changed, because after the contract with Reebok was completed in December 2020 the UFC signed a new contract with the fighting sports event Venum. The exclusive contract starts in April 2021 with clauses that are not much different from that of Reebok, but with a shorter duration.
The issue of minimal pay has always been a hot issue related to the UFC. If this problem is not addressed immediately, then Francis Ngannou will probably make UFC 270 his last fight, and switch to other fighting sports to win more coffers of dollars like Conor McGregor did.
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