UFC veteran bantamweight Dominick Cruz is doing his own negotiations these days. Appearing on The MMA Hour, Cruz openly wondered what the point of a manager is for any MMA fighter, himself included.
“In the UFC, we’re signed to a six-fight contract. Are we not? Four-fight contract usually, at the lowest. So why would I pay somebody for four fights when it’s set after one? That doesn’t make sense to me.
Dominick Cruz Questions Role of MMA Managers
And then on top of that, with a manager, how are they supposed to be bringing in sponsors if the UFC dictates the sponsors? So now the UFC dictates the sponsors, and UFC dictates the contract, so what is the manager actually doing?
They’re just talking and creating the communication. And what managers are good at, from my experience, is making it seem like they have all the hookups — but in the UFC, what hookups can you get when the UFC makes the decisions for you?
Now, if you’re in Bellator, if you’re in PFL, if you’re in any of these other organizations, it makes perfect sense to me for a fighter to have representation, because sponsors can get brought in, they can build relationships elsewhere. They can have a lineup of like 10 fighters, and because one manager has a lineup of 10 fighters, sponsors might come to them directly and say, ‘Hey, do you have anybody?’ So then it makes sense.
But in the UFC, how many sponsors are even allowed in the UFC? Very few. And they’re already decided by the UFC. So the UFC sponsors who they want and the UFC makes the contracts.”
Cruz continued, explaining why he negotiates on his own behalf these days. “So for me, after the manager renegotiates my contract from one fight, I feel like I’ll pay them on that, and then from there I can do the communication for myself, because it’s already [there].
The contract is set. It’s only going to go up a certain amount each fight from there and that’s already dictated after the first conversation. So a manager is really only having one conversation and it’s getting is getting paid out for four fights? That doesn’t make sense to me.”
Of course, being a two-time champion with a good reputation helps. “They’ve always been willing to work with me. I just don’t talk [to them] like a prick.
It’s really easy if you just talk to them; talk to [UFC executive] Hunter [Campbell], talk to Sean Shelby. They’re very open to listen to you if you can create the conversation from a neutral place. It’s when you come at them all crazy [is when things go wrong], ‘I deserve this.’ You’ve just got to come from a neutral place. Nobody deserves anything. You earn everything you get in this sport, so you’ve got to understand they’re running a business.”
Will we see more independent MMA fighters like Dominick Cruz? Let us know in the comments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtcVHlSozlY
