The (Real) Life of an MMA Fighter

How exactly does a fighter get to the UFC? 

I was doing some critiques this week on a WIP and the story featured a young fighter whose goal is to be a professional fighter in the UFC. Running an MMA gym, I run into guys who have these dreams all the time.

Unfortunately, they have no clue how it works in reality. People call the gym all time and say things like:

"I wanna be in the UFC. Do you guys do that?"  🤦

"I just wanna get in there and start making money."  🙄 

"I wanna train in UFC fighting." 🤷

It never ceases to amaze me that people have no idea how the process works. I mean, would you call up a football coach and say "Hey, I wanna be in the NFL. Do you guys do that?"

So, for writers to create characters and situations that are authentic to fighters in real life, let's review how fighting professionally actually goes down.

1. Fighters have to train. A lot. Like everyday 

There are no short-cuts in professional sports, whether it's fighting or golfing or ping pong. Even if someone is exceptionally talented, talent STILL does not replace hard work. A huge chunk of fighting isn't even about talent or skill -- it's about cardio. Fighting is exhausting and if you can't last the rounds, you more than likely won't win the fight.

Any coach will tell you that the true fight is won in training. During fight training, a fighter learns how to push their limits when they're exhausted and cutting weight. This work makes the actual fight seem easy. Training should always be
harder than the fight itself.

2. Fighters start with amateur promotions.

Fights are put on by a promoter. (P.S. That person has to have a license to put on a fighting event. It costs a bunch of money to get a license. And they have to be in good standing with the state Boxing Commission. In Louisiana, it's the Boxing Commission that oversees all professional fighting events. It might be under a different body in another state.)

Amateur promotions do not pay the fighters anything to fight. They do it for free. This also means that the referees call fights much quicker because no one is getting paid to be there. So, the ground and pound action you see on TV probably won't last as long in an amateur fight.

3. The manager or the coach arranges the fights. 

Now, sometimes fighters try and arrange their own fights but this can only get them so far. Big professional fighters usually have managers that arrange and negotiate their fights. But when a fighter's just starting out, their coach at the gym arranges the fights. The coach contacts promoters and match-makers in their network with the details of the fighter (weight, height, and record).

Then those match-makers and promoters look for fighters in their network in the same weight class with a comparable record. A good match-maker or promoter will always try and match fighters with similar records. A fighter with 10 fights shouldn't be fighting someone with 3 fights. The level of experience gives them an unfair advantage. Does this happen? All the time. Does it suck? Most definitely.

Some fighters will use those with less experience in order to boost up their own records. But this can definitely backfire when that fighter meets someone with experience that they actually earned by defeating strong opponents. I'm sure most amateur or pro fighters have stories about that time they fought someone way more experienced than they were. Because there's little oversight for these promotions, they get away with all sorts of terrible things. (Which is bad for fighters but gives us writers some obstacles to work with.)

4. After a certain number of fights, the amateur fighter begins to look for a pro debut fight.

There is no magic or required number of fights before turning pro. Some fighters turn pro after a few ammy fights. Some people don't want to go pro until they've racked up a huge amateur record. (P.S. I'm only discussing the MMA fighting process. The process is different for boxing, kickboxing, and Muay Thai!)

Sometimes the fighter might get matched with another pro-debut or they might get someone with a few pro fights under their belt. It all depends on the match-maker and the coach.

5. More pro-fights = more exposure to better and bigger promotions.

So, the fighter works their way through local, small-time promotions and meanwhile, the coach or manager starts to push match-makers for fights at bigger, more renowned promotions. If the coach or match-makers have good connections, then this isn't too hard to do. If they don't, then they have to develop these relationships to help the fighter go to the next level.

In MMA, there are a few promotions that are big in a specific geographic area (for example, Legacy Fighting Alliance is big in Texas & Louisiana.) There are the national promotions like Invicta (for women), Bellator, and a few others that are right below UFC level. Then, if your fighter works hard and has a bit of luck, they might get the opportunity to fight in the UFC.

Now, for each pro fight, fighters sign a contract. Usually it's just for the one fight and stipulates what the payment will be and requires the fighter not fight for any other promotion for at least 30 days before and after the fight. Some promotions, like the UFC, sign contracts that hook the fighter into a certain number of fights. This means until they have their 3 fights or whatever, they can't fight for anyone else. This does not mean they get a monthly paycheck. Fighters get paid when they fight and that's it.

This is why many fighters get sponsors because fighting, as a career, isn't really lucrative unless you make it up to that top level. Could you make a living? Eventually.

A pro debut fight might win the fighter between $500 - $1000 dollars for that first fight. Each pro fight a fighter has, the paycheck goes up. Sometimes, especially the UFC, the promoter will offer bonuses like "Fight of the Night" or "Knock Out of the Knight." These can be huge prizes if the promotion is big enough.

Fight purses vary for each promotion. A promoter might pay a fighter up to $3000 for a fight IF they win. That's right, they get paid less if they don't win the fight. The purse is split, sometimes 50-50 sometimes a different ratio. If a pro-debut is $1000 purse, that's $500 to show up and fight and $500 to win. Doesn't sound like that much money anymore, does it?

Let's say you get a minimum of $1000 a fight. You can only fight once every 30 days according to most contracts. Which means your yearly salary is around $12,000 and that's before taxes!
Fighting as a career is not exactly stable. This is why a lot of fighters never make it far. Because they'll have to work full-time to support themselves WHILE training nearly everyday. Just like writing, making it a full-time career takes a LOT of work and dedication.

So, that's the path to the UFC! 

Seems easy on paper right? Five steps and you're there! It only takes sweat, blood, and years of hard work. Then, you get better and better and a lot of things still depend on luck and timing. Not unlike writing, right?!