I like to start with a cliché or a sound bite; this is my thing and normally somebody, whether a fighter, a fan or a journo has given me the ammunition to unload so to speak and it’s allowed me to go off on a one man diatribe. This week however, has been a little different. It’s not through the lack of news, it’s just that sometimes the news is not something I want to dramatise or go to town on.
As said, this is the position I find myself in this week and it’s one of the more difficult articles I’ve had to write. That’s not an overly emotive statement I hasten to add; I’m not sat here thinking woe is the world. It’s just that it’s much easier to write an article with the intention of dramatisation or targeting a particular piece of nonsense than it is to write something that is concise, meaningful and yet attention retentive. So where do I start? I’ll start with a thought that’s been going through my head…
It’s strange that while the UFC has already had several events this year, cutting a swathe across the globe with not only events but it seems weekly scandal as well, UKMMA has been polar opposite with only UCMMA, BAMMA and WFS hosting a single event each. Cage Warriors unfortunately have had to postpone their event again and the growing promotions such as FCC, BCMMA and Shinobi have events coming up in March.
Whilst we’re on the subject of the different franchises; I realise there is an obvious rivalry between promotions especially when you consider Bellator and UFC. What I’ve never really understood however, is why it exists in UKMMA. Of course I understand it from a business perspective but there is a real partisanship within the fan base especially. I don’t know if it’s an innate sycophancy that embeds in some fans and journo’s because they think it might endear them to the favoured promotion or if it’s akin to the same madness we see on ‘the terraces.’ I’m showing my age a bit there. Oh while I’m on that note; I really do hope those wankers from the metro in France have the proverbial book thrown at them. In this day and age there is zero room for racism, it’s abhorrent and inexcusable.
Anyway, back to point and regardless of stand point or particular inclination towards a promotion the one thing hopefully all UKMMA fans will agree on is that a promotion hitting the rocks is not a good thing. Unfortunately, this is what is looking ‘apparent’ with one of UKMMA’s leading promotions.
No doubt everybody has heard the rumours about Cage Warriors since Graham Boylan announced his resignation as CEO and normally I pay little attention to anything that’s not fact. However, in this instance whether credible rumour or not the very thought of a promotion as big as Cage Warriors potentially going out of business must send shockwaves through the industry. Not because it’s not possible, of course it is, but it’s because of the implications or should I say ramifications of that happening which ring alarm bells.
Now you’ll have to forgive just how close a sentence that is to ‘Sources say…’, we all know my view point on that kind of crap, but in this instance whether true or not and I do hope it’s not, the idea of a leading UK promotion hitting the rocks is not one I like to dwell on. In the UK we have a relatively fledgling industry; we’re not a multibillion dollar behemoth such as our American twin, we’re more like a really angry ‘…moth’? that punches well above its weight and as such there is sod all money in it. Some promotions do better than others, no surprise there, yet the one constant throughout all these promotions is that very few of the fighters make any decent kind of money. Let me give you a comparison; in the UFC the lower paid fighters are on between $8-10,000, in the UK the highest paid are probably on that kind of money and might get in two or three fights a year. These figures were accurate as of 2012 and I’m led to believe that there’s not any great difference, if any. Again, this isn’t sources say bollocks, this is a fighter telling me what he earned.
My point? My point is that a lot of the fighters on our domestic scene work every day jobs as well, if they’re lucky, and their fight purse either boosts their day to day income or is their sole income. Consider losing £12,000 a year based on 3 x £4,000 fight purse and imagine the effect this has on a household? Could you afford to lose £12k a year? It might even be that this money is put aside for a rainy day or for a retirement fund, you’ve then got to consider the money earned from your daily wage now has to incorporate savings. Talking about economics in MMA, what a cracker?!
Consider now that if a promotion goes out of business – I remind you that this is hypothetical – not only are the back room staff suddenly out of a job but an entire roster of fighters is also. While the back office staff can go on to apply for jobs with other companies, it’s unlikely they burnt bridges to work for CW. This, however, cannot be said for some of the fighters. I know for a fact that at least a half a dozen fighters burnt bridges to join Cage Warriors and would likely find it difficult to go back to former promotions. If they did the former promotion would have a much better hand to deal from at the negotiation table than perhaps previously. Again this reverts back to my previous note on money earned by fighters; that hypothetical £4k per fight now reduces further.
So where did all this come from? Well, the first announcement we heard was that Graham Boylan is stepping down as CEO of Cage Warriors. This was surprising to all but a few. First shockwave; not monumental but enough to raise a few eye brows. However, the source of the rumours about troubles at CW came from the fact they then postponed CW75 which was further followed by an announcement that all fighters would be given a one fight sabbatical from their contracts. At this point people starting adding 2 + 2 together; let’s hope the answer is 5 and Cage Warriors rise again.
Rushy out.
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