Take an Intimate Look Inside of a UFC Fighter Contract

There is something to be said with how the UFC does business. It is typically a very hush-hush, closed-doors affair that the UFC runs. You won’t hear much about their contracts unless it is an ex-fighter complaining about them being unfair. In most cases, fighters keep a tight lip about their contracts as everyone wants to be a UFC fighter, and if fired, they want to get back into the UFC.

Eddie Alvarez’s contractual dispute with Bellator and Viacom has led to the contract that the UFC offered him becoming public record, which means that everyone has a chance to look over the contract. Of course, if you aren’t up on contract law, it might be a bit confusing. Enter my bud, Jonathan Snowden at BleacherReport. Snowden has worked in the law field and seems as good a fit as any to tear it apart, piece-by-piece with the help of a lawyer and with comments from former Rampage Jackson manager Juanito Ibarra, Randy Couture and UFC brass Dana White, Lorenzo Fertita and Lawrence Epstein.

What to take away from this is that UFC contracts are heavily weighed in favor of the UFC, not the fighter, and that as long as no one is unionizing or looking out for fighters’ interests things won’t change that much. A lot of it is information that has been around for a while, but seeing it for yourself is a different story.