Years Later, Frank Mir Realizes How Horribly Underpaid He Was For His UFC 100 Fight With Brock Lesnar

Frank Mir headlined one of many highest-grossing occasions in UFC historical past and was left with little to indicate for it.

Emanating from the Mandalay Bay Occasions Heart on July 11, 2009, the promotion delivered its first centennial occasion, UFC 100, that includes a blockbuster heavyweight championship main event pitting division staple Frank Mir in opposition to WWE Famous person turned MMA fighter Brock Lesnar. Promoting 1.6 million pay-per-views, it was the largest occasion in UFC historical past on the time and nonetheless holds sturdy because the promotions’ fifth largest vendor.

With premium playing cards costing $44.95 on the time, the occasion produced $71 million in income which was in the end break up in half with cable suppliers, leaving the UFC with roughly $35 million. Mir’s reported purse for headlining the historic occasion was a meager $45,000 — a little bit greater than 10% of Lesnar’s $400,000. This was earlier than pay-per-view bonuses had been factored in.

Mir in the end walked away with a sum that was nonetheless under the $1 million mark. In actual fact, Mir by no means as soon as cleared seven figures throughout his 15-year run with the promotion, making him one of the underpaid fighters in UFC historical past. By the point he realized what was happening, it was too late.

“I believe when it lastly dawned on me was the Deontay Wilder [rematch] with Tyson Fury,” Mir instructed MMA Fighting. “We nonetheless did extra buys than they did, me and Brock, after which I’m wanting on the pay-per-view price. OK, the cash was there. Who did it go to? Seeing these guys make $40 million mixed. I’m like wow. Brock clearly made seven figures off it, I believe he made $2.5 million. However I didn’t even make one million.”

The Wilder-Fury struggle generated roughly half of the buys that UFC 100 did, hovering within the space of 800,000 to 850,000. However with a price ticket of $79.99, the occasion introduced in $66 million. Wilder and Fury had been each assured to stroll away with upwards of $25 million apiece on prime of a share of the PPV income. A far cry from what Mir and Lesnar earned for his or her big-money rematch.

“Brock himself, a a lot greater famous person than [Fury or Wilder],” Mir stated. “How come he wasn’t making $20 million? That blows my thoughts, and I don’t perceive it. “Till Conor [McGregor] got here alongside, we had the document for probably the most pay-per-view buys bought.”

Frank Mir Hopeful that his daughter will fare higher within the struggle sport than he did

Wanting again, Frank Mir is understandably pissed off by the pitiable purses he had obtained, however the actuality is that the previous heavyweight titleholder merely didn’t know what sort of cash the UFC was bringing in on the time. Years later, he acknowledges that his lack of know-how and understanding proved to be a pricey lesson in an in any other case stellar profession.

“On the time, I didn’t know higher,” Mir stated. “We didn’t know. Simply now as time goes on, I’m wanting round like, maintain on a second, that is not sensible. A pay-per-view purchase is a pay-per-view purchase. Why is that this sport paying their athletes this proportion of what they’re making versus this one? It’s the gorgeous identical make-up. This isn’t two wildly totally different sports activities, boxing and MMA. They’re very comparable in the case of placing up a cage or a hoop, so it’s not like the prices are totally different.

“So what’s the distinction right here? Oh, that’s as a result of you will have competing promoters, they usually know what’s happening, and you’ll’t screw one another. Within the UFC, it’s the one promoter. In MMA, the present is the one promoter. It’s not like we’re going to have a Bellator fighter and a UFC fighter, they usually’re each on the cardboard, so each organizations know what they’re going to get their man, as a result of they each perceive the income fashions. They perceive what’s happening. They’re not talking from ignorance.”

The difficulty of fighter pay is still a contentious topic on this planet of combined martial arts. Notably within the UFC the place the promotion sometimes shares a paltry 15-17% of its income with fighters — a downright pathetic proportion when you think about that leagues just like the NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA commonly share 50% of their income with athletes, give or take.

In fact, fighters immediately make more cash now than throughout Mir’s heyday. Understanding that helps the previous heavyweight sleep a little bit higher at night time as his daughter Bella is ready to follow in her father’s legendary footsteps.

“I’m not as uneasy about it,” Mir stated. “Earlier than, it was like I don’t know that many individuals who do MMA and don’t nonetheless need to do one thing afterward. Myself included. Doing commentary, working for various teams and organizations. There’s a motive why I’m busy. To know she will be able to make a profession and a residing off it too, it makes that capsule a little bit simpler to swallow.

“As the daddy in me, I’m like OK, she’s going to be millionaire at the least. I’m not as scared about it as I used to be earlier than. As a result of you will have the danger of damage, and also you’re not going to be pursuing different endeavors in life that might handle you financially, and also you’re going to sacrifice that to observe this struggle profession, and you then’re going to be behind once you go into these careers.

“For what? For private achieve, for martial arts and pushing your self is superior, however as a father, it’s like what about your checking account? Your safety. Are you going to have the ability to handle your self? On the time, I used to be terrified. Now, not a lot. It’s a greater world now than after I was there.”