There are few things more American than talking about money and taxes, so this 4th of July, let’s go to Jon Fitch, who ahead of his fight with Dennis Hallman, discusses how the UFC has basically killed sponsors in MMA.
You can’t say he doesn’t have a point, and seeing as how he’s been on both sides of the cage/fence and knows what he’s talking about.
Props to Bloodyelbow for the interview:
The World Series of Fighting and even Bellator aren’t taking money from the sponsors for the privilege of sponsoring fighters, so that money is going straight to the fighters. That makes the biggest difference, because the UFC actually killed the sponsorship market. There are only a handful of sponsors you can actually get paid for these days; a lot of them have basically been bankrupted, so they can’t afford $100,000-$150,000 a year in fees to sponsor fighters. You don’t get that with the WSOF or Bellator; they let the sponsors come in and just sponsor the fighters, so the money goes a lot further.