Yahoo sports has a artcile about Jake Rosholt fighting MMA.
It says the terms of his contract are seven-year for $100,000 per year, complete with health benefits, a vehicle allowance and a housing allowance, they will split any prize money 50/50.
Seems overly genrous to me.
Re: [Something descriptive here will yield more responses]
I think I broke something again (scratches head) post editing works on my laptop and one of my desktops, but not on this one... pretty weird. Ill get it figured out after the NCAAs, unless it somehow fixes itself before.
Can anyone help me understand the financial structure for various MMA organizations, as they compare to WWE?
Why I ask... someone once told me, that, in terms of salaries, there are maybe a handful of pro rasslers who earn $1 million or more/year... about a dozen who make "very low six figures" (just over $100K) and the vast majority make less than $30K. Now, I'm not sure that's true, but, assuming it is...
... does that mean that Jake Rosholt is The Next Big Thing in the Octagon? Has he proven himself already -- or is this all based on expectations? And... what separates him/places him in a higher bracket than any other college wrestler who enters the Octagon? (The three titles? The four All-American honors? The Oklahoma State pedigree?)
(All that said, what would someone with Cael's credentials get if he were to compete in MMA?)
And... does personality and appearance have anything to do with expectations in MMA? Again... my sources RE WWE said that, when they considered whether an amateur wrestler was SmackDown material, things like titles and records and school seemed tertiary to 1. Personality and 2. How they look in trunks. ;-)
Thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide,
Mark
It's important to note that Jake's contract is not with the UFC or any fighting league, it's with Team Takedown, an MMA team. The UFC very rarely pays the big bucks to untested talent. They may pay through the nose for fighters who have done well in other organizations, say Wanderlei Silva who did well in Pride, or to a fighter who will be an automatic draw, like Brock Lesnar. Otherwise, fighters start on the low end of a contract, sometimes as little as $3000. These were the payouts for UFC 82:
# Anderson Silva ($140,000) def. Dan Henderson ($100,000)
# Heath Herring ($140,000) def. Cheick Kongo ($30,000)
# Chris Leben ($50,000) def. Alessio Sakara ($17,000)
# Diego Sanchez ($60,000) def. David Bielkheden ($8,000)
# Jorge Gurgel ($14,000) def. John Halverson ($3,000
The fighters generally have their contract configured so that they're paid so much to show, so much to win. Koscheck was on his last fight from his Ultimate Fighter contract. Some fighters, like Tito Ortiz, have great contracts, so they will get paid well even if they go and lay down in the Octagon. The UFC also gives out fight night bonuses that are not included in the aforementioned payouts. This money also doesn't include sponsorship deals which sometimes give out more money than the payouts.
Can anyone help me understand the financial structure for various MMA organizations, as they compare to WWE?
Why I ask... someone once told me, that, in terms of salaries, there are maybe a handful of pro rasslers who earn $1 million or more/year... about a dozen who make "very low six figures" (just over $100K) and the vast majority make less than $30K. Now, I'm not sure that's true, but, assuming it is...
... does that mean that Jake Rosholt is The Next Big Thing in the Octagon? Has he proven himself already -- or is this all based on expectations? And... what separates him/places him in a higher bracket than any other college wrestler who enters the Octagon? (The three titles? The four All-American honors? The Oklahoma State pedigree?)
(All that said, what would someone with Cael's credentials get if he were to compete in MMA?)
And... does personality and appearance have anything to do with expectations in MMA? Again... my sources RE WWE said that, when they considered whether an amateur wrestler was SmackDown material, things like titles and records and school seemed tertiary to 1. Personality and 2. How they look in trunks. ;-)
Thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide,
Mark
WWE performers are putting on mutliple shows per week (I believe, I am not a fan). Three fights a years seems like a full slate for a top fighter.
I also was wondering about the other Team takedown fighters, such as Johny Hendricks, Roller and the two Bradleys. Are they getting comprable deals?
While Cael has a Gold medal, I don't think he would draw that many new fans to the sport and hence not be paid that highly. Cael is a legend in the wrestling community, but is still unknown outside of it. Brock Lesnar's payday was becasue of his build and his pro wrestling background.
Im in Brazil working towards a pro debut and this is my career so, hopefully my name will be up there one day............
Its a long story so Ill post in 3 parts.
Part 1
Here it goes like this:
What you see as the salary figures are RARELY indiciative of what is really happening financially. The UFC, since it is now the king of the US market and ows the WEC and is closely affiliate with KOTC, has extremely binding contracts. Typically a contract willl forbid a fighter from fighting in any other organization, and in what is problematic for many fighters, competing in their chosen Martial Arts
If you are a Wrestler or BJJ fighter, forget about the Pan Ams or Brazilian Mundials, could get hurt and ruin the investment.
The contract will stipulate either a one-fight deal, meanng they will dump you if you perform badly, or a 3 fight contract meaning they own you.
The reported salary is per fight.
X dollars to show X dollars to win
In light of pay-per-view fighters are often offered bigger contracts with promised sponsorships, a percentage of pay per view profits, t shirt licensing and other goods and a sum total behind the scenes. Dan Henderson was payed a certain amount for the fight, with the standard win bonus if he performed up to par.
I personally know however, that he signed a deal worth over 2 million dollars. Benefits usually include gifts like humvees etc.....
Japan was FAR FAR bigger before Pride went down. If you dont know the story it is basically this. While MMA is growing in the US, it has been an established mainstream sport for over 2 decades in Japan, longbefore the UFC was a twinkle in Rorion Gracie's eye. Pancrase, Shooto (put together by Yuri Nakamura) and wokred shoot matches were huge draws. Stadiums had close to 50,000 in attendence or more and pay per view was a huge success along with DVD sales and merchandising.
Sadly Fuji TV was 25% of Pride's revenue stream and a story broke out about Yakuza influence, severely tainting Pride's image. The story went so far as to imply that Pride star Kazushi Sakuraba was threated and coerced into doing Pride's bidding (and if you saw some of the fights he took it sure seems that way) and Fuji TV withdrew. Pride quickly lost all of its top fighters as it had no salary to pay them and Minotauro,Wanderlei Silva,Shogun,Quinton Jackson,Dan Henderson and even Cro Cop went to the States.
Dana White enlisted the Fertitti brothers, two billionairs in something or other, to buy Pride out. His original claim was that he intended to co-promote shows in the US and Japan but it was pretty clear that was a pre-text to close down the competition.
Since then the US has boomed in media attention in terms of MMA. It has now come to the attention of mass media.........
Jake Rosholt Article: From Yahoo Sports 
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