Video: UFC Legend Jens Pulver Brutally Knocked Out by Tim Elliot

I was thinking the same thing. A big punch, a front kick and a knee to the face and all they can say is “oooooohhhh”

Methinks people have gotten too used to the voice shouting about taps to the body or Joe Rogan screaming about every submission attempt.

You know, that chain of UFC gyms that also offers MMA training to people?

As it is, the sport of MMA as a major sport is still in an embryonic level. While MMA has been around for 18 years (or more if you include early Shooto), in the United States it has only been a major sport for a little over 5. Outside of the Big Four sports (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL), only the PGA has a pension plan, and none of them have a pension where one can collect before the age of 50. NASCAR, with an estimated value of $50+ billion, still does not have a pension plan. The NFL, despite being the league with the most annual revenue in all of sports globally, has a pension that for many players is still below the poverty line, at about $200-300 per month per season played, with a minimum of 3 seasons played as the starting point.

Right now, any sort of pension is frankly premature. Fighters do not even get a monthly per diem (yes I know that technically translates to “per day” but as UFC fighters are technically independent contractors and not employees, they would not be paid a “salary”) should really come before a pension plan. And Jens Pulver is 37, he is not an old man. What he needs is another career. He is just higher profile than most UFC burnouts because he was so great at one point.

I would start with small signing bonuses (negotiated individually but starting at maybe $2000 as a base) plus a very small monthly per diem for fighters at about $1000 a month to supplement purse income. I think that’s something that should be done very near term.

If the UFC completes its first seven-year Fox contract and comes back with an even more lucrative one to follow it, and if they manage to move their business model away from being so heavily PPV-centric so it can be a bit more stable (even the WWE at their peak never relied on PPV as heavily as the UFC does, as they’ve always had a much more even mix of revenue from merchandising, tv rights, and live gates (including house shows)), then we can talk about very low-level pensions to start, maybe starting with a threshold of fighters who have had at least six fights under the Zuffa banner, collectable when fighters turn 55 (this is in line with the NBA and NFL and when NHL players receive the bulk of their pensions; MLB, despite being the most generous of the Big Four with their pensions and also the most proactive, do not pay them until a player reaches 62), with payouts based on the number of fights they’ve had with Zuffa. Pensions could maybe become retroactive at that point anyway. Also, I would add a clause where any fighter convicted of violent felony after Zuffa hires them invalidates their right to a pension. Because fuck that shit, I don’t care if you fight ten times in the UFC and become a title contender, you beat your wife or rob a bank or whatever, no pension for you. As the UFC reaches absolute fiscal stability and also cultural maturity as a major sport (and no, they are not there yet even if they’re getting there) then we can talk more about making those initial low-level pensions larger.

The Fertitas as far as I know haven’t even paid off their debt on Station Casinos, although it looks like the UFC may enable that to happen, so let’s hold off on stuff that would be way down the line.

tl;dr: Pulver is 37. Dude needs another job not a pension right now.

nobody likes getting their brains scrambled for the “love of the sport” shit

This will happen more and more as the sports grows. MMA is no different than the NFL, NBA, ect… just because they make money doens’t mean they know how to save. Doubt Jen’s as a solid retirement plan.

awesome