David Samuels has a great new interview with Lorenzo Fertitta in The Atlantic. He goes in-depth with the UFC co-owner and talks about everything from fighter salary, to how The Ultimate Fighter got started, and even issues a challenge to Rickson Gracie to get in the Octagon.
The Ultimate Fighter, now winding up its eighth season on Spike TV was a very important turning point in the history of the UFC. Lorenzo talks about how hard it was to even find a television station that was interested in airing the program, “We met with—you name it, MTV, CBS, ABC, ESPN, HBO, Showtime, Spike, USA. We probably met with the Food Channel too. I don’t know. We met with everybody. And to a ‘t,’ every single person said this won’t work. Get out of my office. This is a joke. It’s boring.”
Finally after some time, Spike TV agreed to give The Ultimate Fighter a run to see what kind of response they would get from viewers. However, the Fertittas had to bankroll the entire production from start to finish and finding advertisers who would put their name on the program was impossible. “Do you know how many commercials we sold and how many sponsors we sold that first season? Zero. Spike didn’t promote it at all. We had funded this thing, 8, 10 million bucks to produce this thing…So we spent like three million dollars buying billboards and radio and TV.” The Fertittas who had built their empire in the casino industry had made a huge gamble on this bet. Fortunately, it was a jackpot. “The ratings came back after the first one, we’re like holy shit. We started looking, compared to Spike’s ratings, we’re like ‘Wow! Those are huge!’
Samuels asks Lorenzo why UFC fighters are allegedly only earning 5-8% of the pay-per-view and live gate? Lorenzo responds, “What you have to understand is that the fighters make a base amount. Okay? And on top of that, they have incentives based upon how we perform. Because what was happening was, I was losing so much money every event that I wasn’t willing to go and guarantee big amounts. What I would say to a guy, —I’m talking about the guys that we think make a difference, like Chuck Liddell. ‘Obviously we want you in, we can pay you x, and you know, once we hit a certain mark, we’ll cut you in on the pay per view. Okay?’ I think Randy Couture broke his confidentiality agreement, put it all out, so everybody got a pretty good idea of how it works. It’s kind of, ‘you eat what you kill kind of thing.’ And the fighters like it. You know, they’re fine with it. So when people say, guys are only making 5-8% or whatever, that’s not counting the back end of the deal, which is multiples upon multiples greater than what the base amount is.”
Samuels presses the issue and insists that UFC fighters still make less than boxers on a whole. And then Lorenzo hits the nail right on the head and reveals the very most important point in the whole argument when people try to compare what UFC fighters are making to other professional athletes and if you read the next paragraph carefully it answers the entire argument forever.
In response to being told that UFC fighters still make less than boxers, Lorenzo responds, “Because it’s a different business model. In boxing, what happens is, the boxing promoter comes in, he doesn’t risk any capital. HBO comes in and does all the production. And does all the marketing. And they’re also carrying all the overhead. They got all the staff and everything. It shouldn’t be and it can’t be an apples and apples comparison. Now, do we make money? Absolutely we make money. But it’s not as simple as saying that boxers get paid 50% and we pay out 5-8%. That’s not correct. The guys that are complaining about their pay are making millions. I think Dana even put out there that—in ’07, or ’06, when Tito Ortiz fought three times, he made like 6 million dollars. Okay? And he’s the biggest guy saying I want to make more money.”
Many other topics are discussed and then Samuels asks Lorenzo his opinion on the Gracie family and what kind of impact does he think they have had on mixed martial arts and the UFC. Lorenzo responds, “It’s almost impossible to define it. They’ve had the most significant role that there is, ever. I mean, they created the whole way, the whole thing. They were the myth-breakers. They showed everybody that this is the most effective form of fighting.”
Then Samuels asks Lorenzo what he thinks about Rickson Gracie (at the age of 47 or whatever he is now) saying he could beat the crap out of today’s UFC fighters he sees on TV. Lorenzo seems to be slipping very nicely into his new promoter role within the UFC because he answers most appropriately, “Let’s do it! I mean, that’s the ultimate test, that’s what I said, right? Let’s find out! If that’s the truth, then let’s find out! I mean, don’t just say it. Let’s do it.”
Could it happen? Rickson Gracie to the UFC? Maybe the final season of the Ultimate Fighter should be the whole Gracie family, including Rickson, living in the TUF house. That would bring this whole thing full circle. But who would they get as coaches? Any ideas?
To read the entire in-depth interview with Lornezo Fertitta by David Samuels go to The Atlantic at www.theatlantic.com.
lorenzo i have trained in boxing since i was a kid over 15 yrs in karate and kickboxing some judo and then trained bjj with pedro sauer in salt lake.would have loved to have trained with rickson. but as a canadian and self employed couldnt get away’ i have watched every fight on tv watched videos read every book magazine boxing k1 ufc pride etc and i know fighters. you get rickson to have one fight in the ufc that would be huge. it would cause such a stir. people would start coming to ufc eg: fedor as far as brock i do not like him. i want to see someone in the heavyweight i can relate to . not some muscle bound freak that has no technique. rickson would be the peoples champion. adios
I think that all of the Gracies are way past their prime. When the ufc first started no one was really aware of bjj and it’s capabilities and that’s why people feared guys like dan severn because everyone belived that size mattered. When royce beat his ass, people had to sit up and take notice. But now every figter has some sort of stand up and some sort of ground discipline. So a gracie is just an aveage fighter these days eg. hughes vs. royce and personally I think that if rickson stepped into the ring with a silva or a bisping he would run back to the jungles of brazil with his tail between his legs. Love you daddy.