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Leagues and Governing Bodies

UFC Fighters Becoming Increasingly Vocal In Their Displeasure Over Pay

With each passing UFC event, it is "becoming more and more clear that fighters aren't afraid to speak out when they're unhappy with their pay," according to Dave Doyle of YAHOO SPORTS. Donald Cerrone on Saturday "scored his 11th victory in his past 12 fights" at UFC Fight Night 89. Though he "earned a Zuffa-record 17th post-fight bonus for the third-round TKO," he "didn’t seem too happy with his payday afterward." Cerrone said bonuses "all sound nice," but "according to my pay I don’t mean (expletive) to the UFC." Doyle noted a number of things have contributed to fighters speaking out: "the emergence of the new-era, Viacom-backed Bellator as a legitimate free-agent option in the sport; sponsorship money lost in the conversion to Reebok as the UFC’s official apparel supplier; and the figures being tossed around in reports of a potential sale of the company, which have topped" $4B. Add in all those factors and an environment "emerges in which the UFC finds itself discussing money matters as much as the fights themselves." UFC President Dana White "used the debut of the UFC’s 'Unfiltered' podcast to address both" Cerrone and Joanne Calderwood, who has criticized UFC on Instagram. White said of Cerrone, "The kid made over $200,000 on a fight on free TV in the co-main event, and the gate was $900,000. I mean, how much money does Cerrone expect to make on a co-main event?" White "may have put out this round of brush fires, but the topic isn't going away any time soon" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 6/23). 

SNAP COUNT: The UFC on Friday is expected to announce it has agreed to a multiyear partnership with Snapchat in which the social media company will cover select events through its "Live" product. The deal will give UFC fans with the Snapchat mobile app on their iOS or Android devices the opportunity to contribute their experiences through photo and video snaps to one collective Snapchat "Live Story." The partnership will launch at UFC 200 in Las Vegas on July 9 (Liz Mullen, Staff Writer).

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