Let’s be honest, in today’s version of the UFC a fighter’s pay depends more on their entertainment value outside of the octagon than within it.
There’s a reason why WME-IMG invested billions in the company but the bloodshed, perfectly placed gogoplatas and 3-round jiu-jitsu decisions aren’t why they shelled out the big bucks. McGregor’s mouth, Rousey’s crossover appeal and real-life comic book characters like Lesnar are what they gambled on the future of the promotion.
The UFC is now closer to WWE than it is boxing, it’s more Hunger Games than Olympic competition.
This brings us to the latest Georges St-Pierre vs the UFC saga. The past few weeks GSP has publicly outed the UFC for failing to renegotiate his contract and allow him to return to competition. St-Pierre claimed that he and former UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta were close to a deal that’d allow him to fight at UFC 206 in Canada but it all fell through when WME stepped in as ownership.
“I think we were close to an agreement toward the end, until the big news arrived, and the news was the UFC had gotten sold to new owners,” St-Pierre said. “We were told that everything was put on ice until the new owners take charge.”
This is no different from what happens when most companies go through ownership/management changes. Deals change, people are let go and operations differ from the previous regime.
The underlying narrative is that GSP doesn’t fit the mold of a current UFC superstar and the company isn’t at fault for doing their due diligence before paying him like the star he once was.
Instead GSP, or maybe his management, knows that he needs ‘heat’ (to steal a wrestling term) to get the money he desires. He’s not a natural talker and isn’t returning with a built-in angle, so it’s hard to sell him in this era of the UFC.
Georges St-Pierre is now using the only card he has left to play, him vs the UFC. GSP used the ‘I lost my smile’ angle when he left in 2013 but didn’t realize that the new UFC ownership didn’t owe him the opportunity to get it back.
My apologies, if you weren’t wrestling fan in the late-90s the ‘smile’ reference will fly over your head. GSP used the Shawn Michaels ‘I lost my smile’ to explain how he no longer wanted to fight and how his passion for the business was gone.
It’s a smart way to gain pity from the last of his UFC fan base but the new owners of the UFC could care less about his departure. The Heartbreak Kid worked the angle perfectly when he gave up his WWE title and returned to the main event picture immediately upon his return, the same cannot be said for St-Pierre.
GSP lost his smile at UFC 167.
At the time GSP left the UFC he was one of only 2 true stars, alongside Anderson Silva, and neither relied on their speaking skills to sell fights. The hardcore fans flocked to their PPVs to see whether someone could finally end their reign and casual fans followed out of curiosity.
As we’ve seen with Silva, after his mystique was broken by Chris Weidman he became much less of an asset for the UFC. They tried to use his last bit of star power to attract fans for a last-minute UFC 200 fight against Daniel Cormier but even then it was not enough for them to headline the card. In fact, they had to fight 3rd-to-last on the card because two other fights were deemed better.
Unlike Silva, GSP didn’t lose in the octagon but did lessen his mystique by walking away without reason after a questionable defeat of Johny Hendricks at UFC 167. He pulled the plug to get his life in order and expected the MMA world to pause and wait on him.
There are now bigger stars than GSP. A few fighters that routinely set records and others moving up the ranks to join them.
That isn’t to say that GSP doesn’t have a place in the company but his place atop the company is long gone and if Lorenzo Fertitta was willing to pay him as ‘The Guy,’ the new owners are most definitely not.
“Georges St-Pierre remains under an existing agreement with Zuffa, LLC as his MMA promoter,” the statement read. “Zuffa intends to honor its agreement with St-Pierre and reserves its rights under the law to have St-Pierre do the same.”
The problem is that GSP feels that he’s still the main draw and wants to be paid as such but the UFC feels they need to transform him into what sells now.
“I remember at some time, the UFC told us that they would take a huge financial risk to have me back, and they would need to spend a lot of money to re-introduce me to the new audience,” St-Pierre said.
“I truly believe it would have been a win-win situation if I had fought in Toronto. They would have made a lot of money. I would make good money. But unfortunately because it’s not happening, I’m losing, I believe the UFC is losing, but the biggest loser in all that is the fans.”
If GSP had agreed to terms to fight at UFC 206, his numbers would still pale in comparison to UFC 205 staring Conor McGregor and UFC 207 with the return of Ronda Rousey.
Here are the reported figures for GSP’s last 3 fights (2013):
- 11/16/2013 – UFC 167 GSP vs Hendricks – 630,000
- 03/16/2013 – UFC 158 GSP vs Diaz – 950,000
- 11/17/2012 – UFC 154 GSP vs. Condit – 700,000
Those numbers were great for 2013 but lack in comparison to McGregor’s last 3 fights:
- 08/20/2016 – UFC 202 McGregor v Diaz 2 – 1,650,000
- 03/05/2016 – UFC 196 McGregor vs Diaz – 1,600,000
- 12/12/2015 – UFC 194 Aldo vs McGregor – 1,200,000
and Rousey’s last 3 contest:
- 11/15/2015 – UFC 193 Rousey vs Holm – 1,100,000
- 08/01/2015 – UFC 190 Rousey vs Correia – 900,000
- 02/28/2015 – UFC 184 Rousey vs Zingano – 600,000
GSP’s future is in limbo now and neither side is ready to blink. GSP has claimed that his lawyer has found a way to make him a free agent and the UFC has disputed those claims. St-Pierre also says that the ordeal is weighing heavily on him and that it is lessening his will to return, another clever negotiating tactic.
“I was very pumped up a few weeks ago when we talked,” St-Pierre said. “Now, I’m not as pumped up as I was. I’m entering unknown water, unknown territory. I just don’t know what’s gonna happen.”
There’s little doubt that GSP and the UFC will find common ground sooner or later. The two need each other and both will benefit from a partnership but if GSP’s ‘smile’ is dependant on being treated as the biggest star in the company then his return will be short-lived.