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UFC Hall of Famer Georges St-Pierre wants to see fighter pay change in favor of the athletes, and puts the onus on today's top names to make it happen.
The former two-division UFC champion is no stranger to public disputes with the UFC over compensation during his fighting career and has kept conversations about fighter pay alive in retirement. St-Pierre knows the UFC worked hard to become the No. 1 name in mixed martial arts, so much so that the brand is synonymous with the sport itself.
"The UFC wanted to become the Vaseline of petrol jelly," St-Pierre said during a conversation with Demetrious Johnson on "TheMighyCast." "The proof of that is that people, they don't say, 'Hey, I watch mixed martial arts.' They gonna say, 'I watch UFC,' even if it's not a UFC. So, they call it UFC like we call it Vaseline instead of petroleum. They're masters on business and they wanted to take over to erase the competition – which is great for them, which is the job of every business owner. They're unbelievable. It's a big machine, and they took over, which is bad for the fighters because they have less power, and it's good for the UFC for their business."
St-Pierre used the power he had as the top star in the sport during the height of his career to force the UFC's hand when it came time to sign a new contract. Using his leverage, St-Pierre was able to get the promotion to open up its pocketbook to offer a much more lucrative deal in 2008, when he went from making thousands to millions.
"It's the job of guys that are now popular like we were, like we fought for our commission," St-Pierre said. "Like, I fought. I went head-to-head with the UFC on many things – for the fighter's pay, for the image that we were portrayed as a stereotype. I tried to make us have a better image. Go in with a suit at the press conference. For the drug testing."
Now that he's retired, St-Pierre's influence on the promotion doesn't carry the same weight, which is why he believes today's biggest names must step up to make the fighter pay change. Compared to other major sports organizations, such as the NBA, MLB, NFL, and NHL, which pay their athletes around 50 percent of revenue, the UFC pays far less, around 17 percent – despite recently securing a $7.7 billion-dollar media rights deal with Paramount.
"You went to ONE," St-Pierre said to Johnson. "You said, 'Oh yeah, you don't want to pay me what I'm worth?' You went. So, you fought and you did it for yourself, but in the same time, you helped the fighters that don't have the same platform, don't have the same power, and cannot do it because they need to do what they're told. They don't have the money and the power. I have the money. If they didn't want to compensate me the way I wanted, I would have gone somewhere else, and I was very vocal about it. We bumped heads many times, Dana and I – and it was not personal. Now, I'm good friends with Dana, it was business, but I did it for myself. But the way I did it, it was also to help other fighters.
"I think now, it's also the job of the celebrities, the ones that have a platform to be vocal to do it. The torch has been passed to them, and if they want fighters to be better treated, that's their job to do it, while they're on the spotlight right now."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Georges St-Pierre urges today's top UFC stars to demand better pay
Continue reading...
The former two-division UFC champion is no stranger to public disputes with the UFC over compensation during his fighting career and has kept conversations about fighter pay alive in retirement. St-Pierre knows the UFC worked hard to become the No. 1 name in mixed martial arts, so much so that the brand is synonymous with the sport itself.
"The UFC wanted to become the Vaseline of petrol jelly," St-Pierre said during a conversation with Demetrious Johnson on "TheMighyCast." "The proof of that is that people, they don't say, 'Hey, I watch mixed martial arts.' They gonna say, 'I watch UFC,' even if it's not a UFC. So, they call it UFC like we call it Vaseline instead of petroleum. They're masters on business and they wanted to take over to erase the competition – which is great for them, which is the job of every business owner. They're unbelievable. It's a big machine, and they took over, which is bad for the fighters because they have less power, and it's good for the UFC for their business."
St-Pierre used the power he had as the top star in the sport during the height of his career to force the UFC's hand when it came time to sign a new contract. Using his leverage, St-Pierre was able to get the promotion to open up its pocketbook to offer a much more lucrative deal in 2008, when he went from making thousands to millions.
"It's the job of guys that are now popular like we were, like we fought for our commission," St-Pierre said. "Like, I fought. I went head-to-head with the UFC on many things – for the fighter's pay, for the image that we were portrayed as a stereotype. I tried to make us have a better image. Go in with a suit at the press conference. For the drug testing."
Now that he's retired, St-Pierre's influence on the promotion doesn't carry the same weight, which is why he believes today's biggest names must step up to make the fighter pay change. Compared to other major sports organizations, such as the NBA, MLB, NFL, and NHL, which pay their athletes around 50 percent of revenue, the UFC pays far less, around 17 percent – despite recently securing a $7.7 billion-dollar media rights deal with Paramount.
"You went to ONE," St-Pierre said to Johnson. "You said, 'Oh yeah, you don't want to pay me what I'm worth?' You went. So, you fought and you did it for yourself, but in the same time, you helped the fighters that don't have the same platform, don't have the same power, and cannot do it because they need to do what they're told. They don't have the money and the power. I have the money. If they didn't want to compensate me the way I wanted, I would have gone somewhere else, and I was very vocal about it. We bumped heads many times, Dana and I – and it was not personal. Now, I'm good friends with Dana, it was business, but I did it for myself. But the way I did it, it was also to help other fighters.
"I think now, it's also the job of the celebrities, the ones that have a platform to be vocal to do it. The torch has been passed to them, and if they want fighters to be better treated, that's their job to do it, while they're on the spotlight right now."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Georges St-Pierre urges today's top UFC stars to demand better pay
Continue reading...
