Jay Hieron on EA and the UFC ban
by Zak Woods on Jul 24, 2009 11:00 AM EDT
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Cagepotato sat down to talk to Xtreme Couture fighter, Jay Hieron, who will fight Paul Daley on the preliminary card of Affliction "Trilogy." During their conversation an interesting exchange occurred around Electronic Arts, their new MMA game and the UFC ban.
We've heard a lot recently about fighters signing on to the EA Sports MMA video game. Have you been approached by the people from EA Sports about being in their game?
Not yet. But if the opportunity comes up it'd be great.
You wouldn't worry about the UFC's threat to blacklist fighters who sign on for that?
I would definitely think about that. But the thing about it is there are other fighters who are in the EA Sports MMA game already, and they fight for the UFC. And if a lot of other people start signing on, I don't know how much that blacklist stuff will really stand.
Hieron touches on an interesting point.
With the UFC's low paying rookie contracts and a new sponsorship tax it stands to reason that fighters who have an impressive resume will skip the UFC in favor of greener financial pastures. Take Ben Askren for instance. Why would this former Olympic wrestler join the UFC meat grinder when he could make equal money in Strikeforce or Bellator and then sign more lucrative sponsorship deals than his UFC counterparts?
The UFC's actions almost encourage the fracturing that happened with boxing as oppose to the centralized league that the UFC wants to establish.
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“The UFC’s actions almost encourage the fracturing that happened with boxing as oppose to the centralized league that the UFC wants to establish. "
i dont agree with this, everybody wants to be in the ufc…ask any good fighter if he wants to be in the ufc someday and they all say yes.
i believe that what u will see is a lot of guys make names for themselves outside of the ufc for awhile and make themselves marketable and then when they do that the ufc will sign them for a lot more money than just a regular prospect.
ex. king mo/bobby lashley….they are building a decent following and within a couple fights they could be in the ufc with 6 figure contracts.
i will say that with increased competition the ufc has stepped up its pay recently
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