MedicatedEmu

[MedicatedEmu @MedicatedEmu]

@MikeBohn It is why I absolutely love this sport more than any other. If you watch every fight you can understand strengths and weaknesses and develop an informed opinion about how a fight will go down. On fight night it can mean absolutely nothing.

[MedicatedEmu @MedicatedEmu]

@FrontRowBrian Bro I was so worried when I checked the forecast and it showed extreme thunderstorms 1hr after the event started. What a great night. Really brought back the old UFC feel where every fight mattered and delivered but with a spectacle that cannot compare.

[MedicatedEmu @MedicatedEmu]

@FightOpinion Can an org even present a competitive front at this point? The UFC is like a major food brand filling the shelf to eliminate competitive options. Who has time to follow the UFC and anything more than the occasional showcase like MVP? Strikeforce worked because UFC wasn't weekly.

[MedicatedEmu @MedicatedEmu]

@FrontRowBrian IFL was fun but no thank you.

[MedicatedEmu @MedicatedEmu]

@FrontRowBrian How many fights does he have left? Isn't it a lot after his complain about pay and sign a new contract after every other fight strat?

[MedicatedEmu @MedicatedEmu]

@FrontRowBrian Definitely not. Do you really think 15 for Honda and 10 for Gina? Jfc, but then again that prob tracks for a promoter putting Honda, Nate, and Ngannou on the same card. They basically burned 5 cards with this lineup. Could have been a perfect launch for a promotion.

[MedicatedEmu @MedicatedEmu]

@FrontRowBrian I thought the Honda and Carano purses were realistic for a promoter looking to be profitable but Ngannou, Diaz, and even JDS seemed way too low for what we know they have been getting.

[MedicatedEmu @MedicatedEmu]

@FrontRowBrian I know people have hated Mauro for decades but I've always liked him. He had me cringing all night though.

[MedicatedEmu @MedicatedEmu]

@FrontRowBrian But yeah, they aren't going to compete. Netflix isn't interested in trying. No one has a competitive business plan in place to compete with UFC or WWE even though tv rights are making it worth pursuing like never before.

[MedicatedEmu @MedicatedEmu]

@FrontRowBrian True but meaningless. UFC has ~800 events on record. MVP is a start up. TKO is prime for start up interruption on both UFC and WWE fronts even though both have seen multiple successful wins in the past. AEW got WWE to almost double pay which they are now trying to bring back.

[MedicatedEmu @MedicatedEmu]

@FrontRowBrian He is definitely engaging the hate machine. They don't seem to want stars though. They want cheap fighters.

[AFeldmanMMA @afeldMMA]

Let’s not forget: Manny Pacquiao made $2.25 Million from trunk sponsors in one night.

A UFC champion today makes $42,000 whether 100K people watch or 5 million.

Nick Khan just testified in front of Congress on the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act and slipped in a quick sales pitch to young boxers for Zuffa Boxing.

Part of his message:
“If you want exposure…trading card deals…merchandise deals…video game deals…all of which the fighters would participate financially…come this way.”

That all sounds great!

‼️But if history tells us anything, here’s what Zuffa and the UFC actually did:

They saw the opportunity in fighter sponsorships and centralized fight week and fight night revenue.

A massive shift.

Sponsorships that were once fighter owned became promotion owned
and it happened right as fighters gained the tools to truly monetize themselves.

Today’s UFC fighter is:

👤 Audience owner
🏢 Monetization tenant

They can build millions of followers, drive engagement, sell products on social.

But the moment that matters most for every combat sports athlete, fight week and especially fight night, when the most eyes are on them, isn’t theirs to capitalize on.

That’s the gap.

Now imagine what a company would pay to be on a UFC superstar’s fight shorts today.

Because in the creator and entertainment economy:

📈 Peak attention = peak revenue

In the UFC model:

📉 Peak attention = fixed pay

No matter the viewership
No matter the value generated

That upside flows to the uniform, the canvas, the broadcast.

Not the fighter.

That’s why the UFC is the outlier.

🌍 In every other category, creators own their biggest moment
🥊 In the UFC, the promotion does

Which is why pressure is building:

📱 Fighters have portable audiences the UFC doesn’t control
🤝 Brands are routing around the system, working directly with fighters off platform
👊🏼 Other promotions allow fight night monetization
📊 The gap between what fighters generate and what they capture keeps widening

The market has already moved.

But the model hasn’t.

So when the pitch to boxers is “come here for financial opportunity” outside of the ring

The real question isn’t whether the opportunity sounds good.

It’s whether fighters will actually financially participate in the value they create

Or just create it for someone else to own…like they already do in the UFC.

And this goes much deeper than just fighter sponsorships.

📊 Full breakdown in the graphics below.

[MedicatedEmu @MedicatedEmu]

@GubenMMA @FrontRowBrian Netflix has always been about selling previously established popular media. Their budget for new media is relatively small. They aren't really trying to compete against new media. They want Friends and The Office. If they can create another Stranger Things that is a bonus.

[MedicatedEmu @MedicatedEmu]

@FrontRowBrian Netflix wants one off sub counts not to be competitive. They know that Paramount vastly overpaid for the UFC. If they were going to spend that kind of money it would be as an owner and they already passed on the UFC.

[MedicatedEmu @MedicatedEmu]

@SmashleySuplex I haven't watched it yet but I love a good monster movie. There's another plane crash shark eats survivors movie in the theaters right now too.

[MedicatedEmu @MedicatedEmu]

@FrontRowBrian Bro? Boxing, NFL, NHL, NBA, & MLB all pay better. UFC barely pays better than the WNBA who I don't think even turns a profit. Golfers putting a tiny ball into a hole have a better revenue split. Athletes are better off in almost every other sport.

[MedicatedEmu @MedicatedEmu]

@RobDaReal100 @MacMallyMMA Facts not trash.

[MedicatedEmu @MedicatedEmu]

@MacMallyMMA Right? Her entire career was an ignorant heel acting as if they were a babyface. Strikeforce and the UFC just spun her as the anti-hero. Even the whole DNB movement she spawned for a bit was nothing but tearing down other successful women. We even let her hate on using lube.

[MedicatedEmu @MedicatedEmu]

@GubenMMA @FrontRowBrian Netflix has absolutely no interest in competing with the UFC. If they wanted in that game they would have already bought the UFC broadcasting rights or the UFC entirely. They passed on both opportunities.