Joe Riggs Has a Good Agent

by Michael Rome on Sep 17, 2008 9:06 AM EDT in News Comment 19 comments

One of the mysteries of fighter pay is the amount they are paid by sponsors. We only hear isolated numbers, so it is hard to get a real picture. Frank Mir made $85,000 in sponsorships against Brock Lesnar, Joe Lauzon made $52,000 in sponsorships against Kenny Florian, and Rich Franklin's agent says Rich made $1 million in sponsorships for his 3 fights in 2007.

In an interview with MMA Weekly, Joe Riggs claims he made just under $300,000 over four fights in 2006, even though he only made $102,000 in fight salary:

Riggs said some of his post UFC problems halved his income, going from earning just under $300,000 in 2006 to $130,000 in 2007. Not bad for a guy who used to make $1,000 a fight, but a concern for a man with a family to support.

Still, Riggs said he topped out at $17,000 to show and win, while his Strikeforce purses go to $25,000 for the same. Sponsorship-wise, no one can compete with the UFC.

These numbers are higher than I thought mid level fighters were getting.

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I heard agents don’t make any money off fighter salary. So exactly how do they make a living? Is it just off fighter sponsorship?

by steveoc24 on Sep 16, 2008 11:55 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Yes they do. Monty Cox for example gets 10% of everything Hughes does.

by banter on Sep 17, 2008 12:13 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Cox might be an exception with Hughes/Sylvia. But I thought the managers got paid around 10% for their fights.

by steveoc24 on Sep 17, 2008 12:15 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ok so what…thats 20%. The purse keep’s getting smaller…and so the life of a prize fighter.

And it keeps on going as you then have to pay for trainers….

by banter on Sep 17, 2008 12:48 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

i don’t think agents make anything off of the fights excluding cox.. hes a crooked hack.. i think agents just make some money off of the sponsorships they get for the fighters.. no way a fighter is going to cut 10% to the manager and 10% to the agent before taxes..

by steveoc24 on Sep 17, 2008 1:47 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

This makes me fell even less sympathetic

to the complaints made by fighters in today’s marketplace.

It’s not the difference between being able to support a reasonable lifestyle and living on the street. It’s the difference between living like an MD and living like an RN. As a nurse, I just find the notion that we’re not paid enough offensive, in general.

There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

by misterjonez on Sep 17, 2008 12:07 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

That’s why Dana always gets pissed when fighters complain about their salaries. Their bitching to fans who pay their salaries that make between 30-40k/yr.

by steveoc24 on Sep 17, 2008 12:16 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

“These numbers are higher than I thought mid level fighters were getting.”

I guess Condomdepot.com pays well

by Ashurbanipal on Sep 17, 2008 12:50 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

When you do the math (under the assumption that most people who buy a UFC fight do so with a group of people) thats a lot of captive eyeballs on each fighter for a possible 15-25 minutes plus entrances and post fight interview time.

Should see a lot more stories like this as more companies figure out the advertising bargain that sponsoring MMA fighters offers.

by Day Man on Sep 17, 2008 12:55 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

In this economy… UFC fighters are about the only people getting paid – too bad you can’t outsource this to india.

by mmalogic on Sep 17, 2008 1:16 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

...

::has a thought::

…

Indian Cage Bash Matches
Indian Combat Brawl Mash
Indian Crushing Blow Mania

Otherwise referred to as: ICBM

This might work…

There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

by misterjonez on Sep 17, 2008 3:45 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Indian Combat Brutal Massacre

by Eugene Schelfaut on Sep 17, 2008 4:04 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nice one.

I was struggling to come up with my three, and usually I can do that kind of stuff fairly easily.

Yours might be better than any of mine.

There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

by misterjonez on Sep 17, 2008 10:37 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

right now someone in India is registering those names.. ;)

by Benicio on Sep 17, 2008 4:39 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Who's to say I didn't do it already?

lol. That would be funny to go on there and find a 9-17 purchase date on their domains.

There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

by misterjonez on Sep 17, 2008 10:38 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Now if he only had a toy.

by Eugene Schelfaut on Sep 17, 2008 5:28 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Very enlightening. While not a lot of money, it is more than I expected for a somewhat lower level fighter.

I have never really gotten into the “pay fighters more” thing, except to say in broad generalization, that I wish they got paid more.

The number of fighters complaining about their pay is very small, compared to the number of fans who think they know what the fighters make.

I stand by my feeling that fighters as a whole should be paid more, but fans need to worry about themselves more. I dont see Randy blogging about how he is outraged that I’m not paid more.

"The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin'"

by BJJDenver on Sep 17, 2008 11:09 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs