update August 23, 2019 – Today the Nevada athletic commission responded to my public records request for all of Brock Lesnar’s UFC bout agreements in their jurisdiction.  As reported below these deviated Camiseta Selección de fútbol de Países Bajos from the pay he actually received for these bouts as revealed in the antitrust litigation.  These bout agreements can be found here – Brock Lesnar official Nevada UFC Bout Agreements

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Information recently revealed in the UFC anti depend on claim disclosed Brock Lesnar pay details.  These details revealed pay far greater than reported previously by athletic commissions.

Is this a problem?  Perhaps.

Athletic Commissions require varying contractual disclosure to be filed with them setting out contracted athlete pay.  This serves 2 purposes.  The first is to secure the fighter.  Commissions are a secure to guarantee promoters pay fighters their contracted purse.   The second purpose depends on if the athletic commission shares purse details with the public.  lots of do.  When fight purses are published otherwise private contract details are revealed.  This informs other fighters about market realities and helps them better gauge whether they are receiving fair pay for their work.  It places them in a better informed future negotiation position.

Enter Brock Lesnar and details revealed in the anti depend on lawsuit.  Lesnar has competed in 8 UFC events during his career.  According to information released by athletic commissions following these bouts Lesnar’s pay was reported as follows

UFC 81 – $250,000 According to the Nevada athletic Commission

UFC 87 – Not published by the Minnesota athletic Commission

UFC 91 – $450,000 According to the Nevada athletic Commission

UFC 100 – $400,000 According to the Nevada athletic Commission

UFC 116 – $400,000 According to the Nevada athletic Commission

UFC 121 – $400,000 According to the California state athletic Commission

UFC 141 – $400,000 According to the Nevada athletic Commission

UFC 200 – $2.5 Million According to the Nevada athletic Commission

As reported by BloodyElbow, UFC anti depend on claim papers reveal that Lesnar contracted to receive far a lot more than the majority of the above paydays.  Lesnar contracted to receive, by means of his company Deathclutch, $750,000 for bouts he was not a champion in and $1.65 million for bouts where he was the defending champion.  While it is unclear which bouts this pay scale applied to this information does not square with any of the information revealed by the above athletic commissions.

The following contractual clauses were revealed:

For each and every Bout, in which fighter participates where he is not recognized as a UFC Champion, by Zuffa, within thirty (30) days following the completion of each Bout, as contemplated in section 7.1 (c) of the promotional Agreement, Zuffa shall pay to DEATHCLUTCH, by means of bank wire or check, the amount of three Hundred Seventy five Thousand dollars (US $375,000.00), less all permissible or required deductions and withholdings. Within sixty (60) days following the completion of each Bout, as contemplated in section 7.1 (c) of the promotional Agreement, Zuffa shall pay to DEATHCLUTCH, by means of bank wire or check, the additional amount of three Hundred Seventy five Thousand dollars (US $375,000), less all permissible or required deductions and withholdings for a total combined payment of seven Hundred Fifty Thousand dollars (US $750,000.00).

“For each and every Bout, in which Camiseta TSG 1899 Hoffenheim fighter participates where he is recognized as a UFC champion by Zuffa, within thirty (30) days following the completion of each Bout, as contemplated in section 7.1 (a) of the promotional agreement Zuffa shall pay to DEATHCLUCTH, by means of bank wire or check, the amount of eight Hundred Twelve Thousand five Hundred dollars (US $812,500.00), less permissible or required deductions and withholdings. Within sixty (60) days following the completion of each Bout, as contemplated in section 7.1 (a) of the promotional Agreement, Zuffa shall pay to DEATHCLUTCH, by means of bank wire or check, the additional amount of eight Hundred Twelve Thousand five Hundred dollars (US $812,500.00), less all permissible or required deductions and withholdings, for a total combined payment of One Million six Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand dollars (US $1,625,000.000).

It is in fact speculated that with Pay Per view points Lesnar earned even far above these disclosed amounts.

Nevada requires that bout agreements be filed with the commission prior to a bout and that “An unarmed combatant need to be paid in full according to his or her bout agreement “.  California guidelines require that “The original contract entered into between…promoters and boxers shall be placed on file with the commission at the time it is approved pursuant to policy 222.” and additionally that ” No contract between a promoter and manager or boxer shall be enforced by the commission until all contracts between the promoter and the contestants for Camiseta SC Braga a particular match are filed with the commission and meet the requirements of these policies and the provisions of the code applicable to professional boxing. All contracts for an event shall be filed with the commission no later than the time periods specified in policy 240.”

Why would athletic Commissions reveal anything lower than actual pay?  Are they being deceived by promoters and fighters?  Or are they allowing themselves to be used as tools to deceive the public?  Whose interest is being served when an athletic commission either does not know how much a fighter is actually contracted to be paid or reveals a figure lower than the actual pay to the public?

This is an area deserving of regulatory scrutiny and reform.  Fighters, who do not take pleasure in a union or other organized labor organization to secure their interests, rely on commissions who exists for their physical and financial protection.  Regulators must not echo deceptive pay details to the public.  It is a poor practice at best and at worst one that hits fighters in the pocketbook taking away one of their crucial protections in an already physically and financially extreme industry.

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