THE CANADIAN PRESS
Caught in a high-profile dispute with Hall of Famer Randy Couture, the UFC took the unusual step Tuesday of disclosing its financial dealings with the disgruntled heavyweight champion.
A privately held company, the booming mixed martial arts organization divulges little about its finances. State athletic commissions routinely release purse figures from UFC cards, but those numbers do not contain bonuses or other clauses contained in fighter contracts.
Tuesday’s news conference in Las Vegas lifted a lid on that secrecy, with the UFC detailing Couture’s contract details and pay-per-view numbers on his last two fights.
For UFC president Dana White, it was a rare "show me the money" moment in revealing Couture will make US$2.9 million from the UFC for his two fights this year.
"Right here today, get all your questions out because I’m never going to talk about this ever again after today, and I’m never going to talk about the money again," said White, before motioning to co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta beside him on the podium. "And you probably won’t see him at a press conference for another 10 years."
Fertitta, who normally leaves White to do the talking, said once of his long-term goals when they bought the then-ailing company in 2001 was to be able to pay a fighter US$1 million a fight.
"Little did I know that was going to be the start of our problems," he lamented.
Couture quit the mixed martial arts organization on Oct. 11, citing issues with UFC management and unhappiness with his pay. Returning from South Africa, where the 44-year-old champion had been filming the prequel to "The Scorpion King," Couture held a news conference last Thursday to elaborate on his unhappiness.
UFC chief financial officer John Mulkey outlined the new contract Couture signed in January, after ending an 11-month retirement. The deal, which included an exclusive promotional rights agreement, called for a signing bonus of US$500,000.
Half the bonus was to be paid upon signing of the contract and half after his first bout — UFC 68 on March 3 when he defeated Tim Sylvia to win the heavyweight title.
Couture cashed the first bonus cheque on Jan. 30, according to the UFC.
Not counting the bonus, Mulkey said Couture made US$1.186 million for UFC 68. That included a US$250,000 basic purse plus a US$936,00 slice of the pay-per-view revenue, based upon the 534,000 buys for the fight.
Some US$924,000 of that pay-per-view cut has been delivered to Couture via five separate cheques through Oct. 12.
For UFC 74 on Aug. 25 on Las Vegas, when he defeated Gabriel Gonzaga, Couture made another US$250,000 purse plus a US$35,000 discretionary bonus for fight of the night. With some 485,000 pay-per-view buys, the card garnered Couture another US$787,000.
His total compensation for UFC 74 was US$1.072 million, according to the UFC. Couture said he did not get a bonus after that fight, as he usually did.
Mulkey said the UFC is due to collect its first pay-per-view cheque for UFC 74 in the next few days, with Couture’s cut to follow within 10 days.
At C$39.99 a buy, the pay per view revenue for those two fights alone totals C$40.75 million.
The champion’s "employment agreement" with the UFC also called for Couture to make US$200,000 a year plus some US$56,000 earned last year in commentating fees.
Mulkey disputed Couture’s reference to "off-the-book" bonuses handed out in locker-rooms after the fights, saying any discretionary payments were legally documented and reported.
"He made it sound like we were paying guys under the table, which is completely not true," said White, who said any such UFC bonuses were a reward for exceptional fight performances or cards.
The UFC also said Couture was wrong in detailing his pay per view bonuses.
White has maintained that Couture has the second-best deal in the UFC, behind only Chuck Liddell. Couture maintains talks with other fighters have disproved that, alleging the UFC tried to entice Russian heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko with a bigger signing bonus than Couture had ever earned for a fight.
White denied that Tuesday, repeating that Couture was happy when he agreed to the deal.
"He was paid half a million dollars for this contact to sign it," White said. "We expect him to stand behind his contract."
The contract has two more fights but Couture says his view of the deal is that it expires after 18 months since the signing. White declined to talk about other contract specifics.
Fertitta said after watching Couture’s news conference, he believed he had no option but to speak out.
"I have to be honest with you. I felt that the statements that he made had so grossly misrepresented the facts that I felt we needed to protect ourselves," he said.
Said White: "I felt I got kicked in the throat last week when this happened."
Still, White said he hoped to resolve the dispute and said he planned to offer Couture a fight for early 2008, probably against Antonio Nogueira.
"I don’t want to play this out in court," he said when asked about legal options. "We still consider Randy Couture a big part of this company. He’s achieved a lot of amazing things in this sport.
"We can honestly sit here and said we don’t even know where this is coming from."
White also repeated he has no plans for fighter pay transparency, even if it would seemingly serve to remove fighters’ perceived money beefs.
"If you talk to most of our fighters, they don’t want their numbers out there publicly either. They don’t want it. And I hate talking about money. I hate it
"It makes me sick to be up here right now passing these forms around and talking about the money."
