http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/8069874/floyd-mayweather-jr-tops-forbes-list-money-makers The world's highest-paid athlete is in jail. The guy in second place just lost a title fight, and the man who held the distinction for a decade is now third. Forbes has released its list of the 100 highest paid athletes, and boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., nicknamed "Money," is No. 1. Mayweather, who made $85 million for two fights last year, is currently serving a three-month jail sentence in Las Vegas for domestic battery. Boxer Manny Pacquiao is second on the magazine's list at $62 million from earnings and endorsements. Pacquiao lost his WBO welterweight title to Timothy Bradley earlier this month. Tiger Woods, No. 1 on the list since 2001, made $59.4 million to place third. LeBron James of the Miami Heat is fourth ($53 million). He is one of 13 basketball players on the list. Tennis star Roger Federer is fifth at $52.7 million. Thirty football players made the top 100, with Peyton Manning tops among them at No. 10. The Denver Broncos' new quarterback made $42.4 million during his last season with the Indianapolis Colts, even though he sat out the entire season while recovering from a neck injury. David Beckham of the Los Angeles Galaxy was No. 8 overall and the highest ranked soccer player at $46 million. New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez was tops among baseball players and No. 18 overall with $33 million. Two women, both tennis players, made the list. Maria Sharapova ($27.9 million) comes in at No. 26, and Li Na ($18.4 million). Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press
I always wondered this but why don't MMA fighters get paid more? Considering how popular it is? For example, according to Brent Brookhouse of bloodyelbow.com, 10 boxers from the "4 Warned" card on Shotime, made a combined $1,867,000. Which is $642,000 more than 24 fighters at UFC 146. What gives? Are MMA fighters getting shafted and shouldn't they get more? I guess that's the trade off when you give the fights the fans want to see and more competitive cards.
The money goes into Dana White's Ferrari's and Hoes and Fertitta's many Casinos that aren't doing well. But overall just completely different structure than boxing. But I do think those numbers are a bit skewed because apparently there's a lot of undisclosed bonuses that Dana White gives out to his top fighters. Even then I still think UFC fighters are underpaid.
It is NOT that popular. Older generations not introduced to this sport aren't aware, and neither are women. Boxing has been popular amongst the older generations, and women have started liking the "pretty boy" faces since the Delahoyas and the "Canelo" Alvarez's of the boxing world. MMA is not up there, yet. It's not even as popular as basketball or soccer.
MMA will never be anywhere popular as long as they continue to instill rules that punish strikers and reward grapplers. Nobody wants to watch two sweaty guys going at it on the floor. A lot of casual MMA fans tolerate the floor humping if they think there's going to be some standup action. It's the reason why guys like Iceman and Tito had crossover appeal.
Actually he does, because without even knowing who his manager is you can assume he's some rat b*stard who takes 50-55% of the purse as manager, promoter and agent.
actually i think mayweather is actually pretty shrewd when it comes to this. I read somewhere that he handles a lot of the stuff that promoters and managers take big cuts for.,
