Former UFC fighter Chael Sonnen has seen the outrage from fighters regarding the UFC-Reebok payout tiers, but unlike the majority of competitors who voiced an opinion on the matter, Sonnen said he’s unable muster much sympathy for those negatively impacted. In fact, he said fighters are lucky the deal didn’t go into place much sooner.

“As fighters, we never should have been able to get our own sponsors,” Sonnen today told MMAjunkie Radio. “No executive producers of a show, whether it’s the silver screen or your television set, allows paid talent to come in and then have outside sponsors. If you watch ‘Saturday Night Live’ and a guy shows up in a Nike shirt, you can bet your ass that NBC got the check for that Nike shirt and had wardrobe put it on that talent. Nowhere in the world does this happen.

“If you pay for the camera and the lights and venues and take all the risk and are the entrepreneurs, you get all of the revenue. (UFC President) Dana White broke that cycle a number of years ago because the UFC was so small that he was ashamed of what he was having to pay his guys. So he said, ‘Get money wherever you can. I’ll approve every sponsor, and I want you guys to have every dollar.’ I was there when he gave that speech to the fighters in 2005.”

The UFC first announced its “athlete-outfitting” partnership with Reebok in December. At the time, details were lacking.

Earlier this week, though, the UFC revealed the tenure-based tiers, which go into effect on July 11 with UFC 189 in Las Vegas, will determine the payouts. Fighters with 1-5 bouts receive $2,500 per fight; 6-10 bouts get $5,000; 11-15 bouts get $10,000; 16-20 bouts get $15,000; and more than 21 bouts get $20,000. Additionally, title challengers receive $30,000, and champions receive $40,000.

As a retired MMA competitor who’s not directly impacted, Sonnen said he’s able to step back and assess the situation with less emotion. He said the UFC’s previous strategy of an essentially free market for fighter sponsorships was created out of necessity, not desire. With the Reebok deal set to begin in two months, Sonnen said the UFC has clearly shifted to a strategy that better serves its interests.

“Eventually (fighters getting own sponsors was) going to go away, but it never should have been there in the first place, and that’s the part people are forgetting,” Sonnen said. “Now, you get a major sponsor like Reebok. Imagine if that happened with any other executive producer of a television program. They’re going to get the money. Instead, the UFC is paying it back out, and people say, ‘Oh, that’s not enough.’ That’s normal human psychology. I’m not turning on the athletes, and I’m not trying to be a corporate guy here, but if you’re going to be objective, we should have never been allowed sponsors in the first place. That’s the part people are missing.

“You’re looking around at what some guys are losing. Other guys are laughing all the way to the bank. But the bottom line is, we’re not entitled to that money. We’re hired under somebody else’s dime. It doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world – sport world or entertainment world – except the UFC.”

Sonnen is among the few who have come out in support of the Reebok deal and the pay structure. He said he doesn’t take pleasure in the possibility of fighters getting less pay, but he said he can’t blame the UFC for making a decision that’s beneficial to its business.

“You look at the UFC; I had my first fight in 2005, but the minimum pay back then was two and two, meaning $2,000 to show and $2,000 to win,” Sonnen said. “The minimum pay now, 10 years later, is eight and eight – $8,000 to show and $8,000 to win. That is a 400 percent increase for the minimum. There is no company in the world – Fortunate 500 or you name it. Go to McDonald’s, Chevron, anything – nobody is paying 400 percent more a decade later except for the UFC. It’s unheard of how much more they’re paying percentage-wise, so it does matter.

“Back when you allowed everyone to get their sponsors, it was because, ‘If you have a way to do it, go out and do it.’ That never should have happened. We’re fortunate that it did, and now there’s a major phycology that athletes are losing money when the reality is, it’s like, ‘Hey, thanks for that money we were given an opportunity to make.'”

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