Issue 065
August 2010
Some fighters wait their entire careers for a chance to fight in front of a live television audience. They dream of the day they could earn thousands instead of mere hundreds for their hard work in the cage. A little fame and full-time employment is the number one goal for fighters in MMA, but what’s a man to do when he makes it to the top and isn’t asked back?
There’s no concrete formula for a fighter to get from part-time pro to a five-figure salary, but one thing is certain: Winning doesn’t hurt. Undefeated records and first-round finishes have seen many fighters leap from the local scene into promotions such as World Extreme Cagefighting, Strikeforce and the Ultimate Fighting Championship, but once there they quickly find it takes even more effort to stay with the pack and not get left behind.
Kimbo Slice and Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley – to some extent, even Tamdan ‘The Barn Cat’ McCrory – came to the UFC with reputations that preceded them. All of them were known for their knockout power, though each of them came to the Octagon under very different circumstances. In little time, the hype around all of them had deflated.
These strikers all had the ability to stand in front of anyone in their division, but as they started to climb the ladder in their respective weight classes they were met by wrestlers who put an end to their win streaks with takedowns. In The Barn Cat’s case, his opponents at least had the courtesy to finish him off with some high-level jiu-jitsu – a submission being the ground equivalent of a knockout for grapplers – but Slice and Semtex had their reputations tarnished thanks to opponents such as Matt Mitrione and Josh Koscheck (the latter of which was willing to lie on the floor for three rounds and squeak out a win based purely on position and control). Daley was left so frustrated with Koscheck’s methods in their last fight that he snuck in a sucker punch at the end of the fight, presumably to give Kos a taste of what he would’ve felt if they had stood.
Needless to say neither Koscheck nor UFC president Dana White were particularly amused. Daley was fired immediately, regardless of the fact it was his first loss in the UFC and he’d TKO’d every other opponent they’d put in front of him. “It was really a thoughtless act, some frustration, a little bit of a response to Koscheck’s comments while we were fighting,” Daley said in the days after UFC 113. “I really don’t know. All I know is I regret it.”
The incident polarized fans, but some said the punishment for Daley seemed a tad harsh. He wasn’t reprimanded, fined, or given a chance to make a public apology. It’s important for standards and practices to be upheld – after all, the UFC doesn’t want every striker who gets laid and prayed to think he has the right to throw a punch after the bell (especially after White was so vocal in criticizing Strikeforce for their Shield-Miller-Diaz post-fight scuffle). But at the same time is it really that upsetting? “The UFC has fighters on their roster that have done far worse in the sport,” Daley noted. Heath Herring knocked a man out before they even touched gloves at a K-1 event in 2005, and the UFC signed him two years later. They even let him fight Brock Lesnar as the Minnesotan made his run toward the heavyweight title. What’s worse: attacking an opponent before or after a fight in the cage?
Daley may be out of the UFC, but he has already made a name for himself worldwide and he says that promotions were beating down his door following the incident in Montreal. “I am quite fortunate for the fact that there are still people that want to employ me,” he says. “I’ve always said that I wasn’t going to rush into the UFC. I’d be the warrior that travels and gets fans from everywhere. Guys will ask me, ‘The UFC have offered me a contract, shall I go?’ Obviously it’s the biggest thing, but I’ll say, ‘Look, you’ve got three fights behind you, what are you going to do after the UFC?’
“The UFC is the pinnacle of the sport, it’s the WBC, every fight’s a championship fight, so once you’ve lost that title shot what do you do after that? I’ve always thought that way and that’s why my career will go another ten years, still fighting, still making a hell of a lot of money and still having tons of fans. The UFC is not the be all and end all. It is the pinnacle, but there’s still money to be part of, and as long as you’ve got your fans you’ll be alright.”
McCrory and Slice were let go for their inconsistency.
Both fighters were able to conquer formidable opponents on their best days, but looked like local headliners with one-dimensional attacks on their worst. They also share a history: They’re both veterans of the Cage Fury Fighting Championships in New Jersey. McCrory signed his UFC contract following a win by submission at CFFC4, and Slice made his MMA debut by submitting Ray Mercer at CFFC5.
A brutal beatdown from Matt Mitrione may have ousted the heavyweight from the Octagon, but Kimbo Slice will be alright – this is a guy who made over $100,000 in his pro debut and will definitely show up somewhere, whether it’s in a cage, on a movie set or a box of cereal. Imagine it: ‘Kimb-O’s’.
At the other end of the scale, McCrory is just like a hundred other fighters: A step ahead of the rest at home, but just another fallen soldier on the battlefield that is the UFC. “None of my opponents beat me in a way that I didn’t anticipate going in,” he said. “When I lost to Gono I needed to do more jiu-jitsu, with Hazelett I got beat by a BJJ black belt and against Howard I lost by split decision. I shouldn’t have let that one go to a decision.”
There was a time when McCrory was the top ranked welterweight in the Northeast states. Aged 18, the New Yorker crossed state lines six times during his first year in the sport to put together a 6-0 record, with many wins coming by first-round KO or TKO. He was a boy among men with a unique look and a reach no one could deal with – but more importantly than all of that, he had not a single loss before turning 21.
He came to the UFC’s notice and was Signed by 2007, but, after a memorable submission win over Pete Spratt in his Octagon debut, The Barn Cat failed to rise to the level of his competition. He won twice more in the UFC, but couldn’t string those wins together. Losing every other fight was too much; his 3-2 record threatened his job security.
After dropping the decision to Howard at UFC 101, McCrory was cut even though he had just reworked his contract for the second time. Since then, he hasn’t been seen near a cage except when he’s cornering his fighters in Pennsylvania. “I’m training people. I got guys fighting and I’m running the school,” McCrory said. “Finally, it’s gotten to the point where my gym is making money to cover my bills, so now, when I fight, whatever money I make is extra. That takes a little of the pressure off too. I’m not fighting because I need a pay check anymore, but because I want one.
"I was smart with my money. I saved about $40,000 from the UFC and when I bought a car to celebrate beating Cummo I didn’t go out and buy a new one, I got a used car, a Subaru. I learned the value of a dollar when I was young. The way I see it, I’ve got a couple years’ worth of $400-a-week pay checks saved up.”
McCrory’s story hits a lot closer to home for the average fighter. Few make it past fighting on the undercard. Even after they’ve made it, most are fighting purely to get noticed for bigger matchups.
The WEC is home to the best sub-155lb fighters in the world. Owned by Zuffa, WEC is a sister promotion to the UFC and the rules are just the same. Screw up one too many times and it’s goodbye.
Featherweight John Franchi fought three times for the WEC, but most fans missed it – even though two of his opponents (Cub Swanson and Manny Gamburyan) are well-known names in the sport. He didn’t get knocked out, and he certainly didn’t get run over. In fact, he fought three hard rounds with everyone they placed in front of him – but he failed to make his mark and found himself handed his walking papers.
Before he signed with the WEC, Franchi destroyed every opponent he’d ever faced. He won by rear naked choke in 139 seconds and by armbar in 135 seconds, while his other two wins were by first and second-round TKOs. He was picked up by the WEC after only four pro fights, and had earned enough of a reputation to compete with the elite of the 145lb division. But once he hit the big time the featherweight was suddenly working to decisions instead of submissions.
“Going the distance for the first time in my WEC debut was good, kind of self-fulfilling to know that I could actually go three rounds with top-level competition,” said Franchi. “They actually gave me a five-fight deal, but cancelled my contract after three. I was surprised because I felt like I still had time to show what I was made of and I had a great fight with Cub.”
Not everyone gets years to chase down a title, and a loss can really set someone back. If a guy loses more than he’s winning, there are plenty of other fighters waiting in line to take his spot. The WEC’s featherweight division is full of talent, and similarly the UFC has so many welterweights itching for a shot at Georges St Pierre that losing a Paul Daley or Tamdan McCrory doesn’t faze them.
Fighters such as Slice and Daley will land on their feet regardless, but McCrory and Franchi aren’t getting the same kind of phone calls. There are no more sponsors, no upcoming bouts and it will probably get worse for these two before it gets better.
“I’m just fighting my way back up the ladder,” says Franchi. “Right now, I’m in the middle of trying to get married and working on buying a house. I do want to get back in there – I can’t wait!
But to take a fight right now I wouldn’t be giving 100%. When it comes to fighting I’m either 100% in or I don’t want to be
doing it.”
McCrory’s thoughts on the subject echoed Franchi’s perfectly. “I don’t ever have to fight again, but I do want to,” he says. “I want to fight. I want to get back to winning and taking belts, but basically I’m not getting any good paydays with where I’m at right now. People want me to fight for $1,000, and I was just making $16,000. I’m not really in a rush to fight for $2,000. Not for all the crap I have to put into a fight to get ready for it.”
McCrory was working on a fight for April but broke his foot. With no health insurance to speak of, the road to recovery is taking a little longer. Franchi said he was offered a fight with the Bellator Fighting Championships in May and would definitely fight for the WEC again given the opportunity, but first he’s getting his life in order outside of MMA.
“I just want to get back into a good promotion,” he says. “Once you get treated real nice at those high-level promotions it sucks going back. But if it has to be, it has to be. I consider myself pretty fortunate. Even after I got cut from the WEC it was a great opportunity and I took advantage. I just wish I could’ve had a better fight camp those two weeks leading up to my last fights. I was sparring with a guy who stands 6’1” and weighs 190lb for my last two fights, which is fine for training but doesn’t translate well for simulating an opponent like Manny, who only stands about 5’4”.”
With no upcoming fights or opponents on the horizon, Franchi is still able to live and train as a fighter full time thanks to some healthy pay checks from his former employers. He only earned a win bonus in his WEC debut versus Budnik, but still averaged $7,000 a fight for the WEC and has managed to avoid a day job ever since. “I saved up money, so I’m good. I’m still training, just not fight-mode training. I’m not doing the regular job thing anymore. I’m so happy about that.”
The fans have short attention spans, and with months often passing between fights in MMA it’s hard to build a lot of hype around an athlete who doesn’t win often and without question. Remembering whose hand was raised after 15 or 25 minutes of grappling is far more difficult than remembering the fighter who delivered an eight-second KO with a flying knee.
If an athlete wants to fight full time and earn a living in the process, there are only so many places that pay enough to do so. Making it to the top in this sport is about seizing opportunities, and if it doesn’t work out the lesson is clear: Fighters must have a plan ‘B’ and get ready for the toughest fight of their career.
Cast aside from their dream jobs, cut fighters have three choices:
- Pick and choose: Only take fights you feel you can win and start a new win streak that can’t be ignored.
- Fear no man: Fight anyone, at any time, for any amount of money – until your rep is restored and people are convinced you’re better than ever.
- Hang ‘em up: Open a gym, become an instructor, possibly pursue a whole new career – but leave the cage behind.
