New text messages from a Brazilian lawsuit are shedding some light on how UFC matchmakers and fighter management work out fighter pay and book match-ups, and how displeasing matchmakers can earn a fighter a tougher opponent than before.
The lawsuit was between former UFC women’s flyweight Taila Santos and her former manager Marcelo Brigadeiro, with Santos claiming Brigadeiro made her sign ‘abusive deals’ without properly explaining them. Included in the discovery for the case was 40 pages of WhatsApp messages between Brigadeiro and UFC matchmaker Mick Maynard, which captures some of the ‘carrot and stick’ methods Maynard used to manage his roster.
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The following text exchange from 2020 has Maynard offering Brigadeiro a new deal for his fighter Su Mudaerji, who was 2-1 in the UFC at the time.
“New four fight deal: 23/23 up by 3s?” Maynard wrote, meaning $23,000 to show and $23,000 to win with an extra $3000 on each with every win.
“Is there room for any improvement on those numbers?” Brigadeiro asked after speaking to Mudaerji. “Su is friends with Song Yadong and he found out he renewed his contract after his 3rd fight for 45k +45k and is pushing me for something better than 23/23.”
“He can fight it out, it’s fine,” Maynard said, meaning Mudaerji could fight his existing contract out and renegotiate then. “Song is also ranked 14, look at who Song has fought. He is also 1-2 and didn’t fight near the same caliber. They are not nearly the same level.”
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“I am not crazy [enough] to ask for the same in terms of Song Yadong,” Brigadeiro replied. “Just checking if it would be possible [for] any increase. I would not ask 45/45 for Su at this stage.”
“[Su’s] two wins are over one person that is no longer in the UFC and one that has yet to win a fight in the UFC,” Maynard responded. “His loss was against someone I cut. One win against a flyweight who is 0-2. It should be 20/20 but I was trying to be nice.”
“You are nice,” Brigadeiro replied.
At the time Mudaerji was set to face Zarrukh Adashev at a UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi.
“Let’s forget this match-up and make a different match-up,” Maynard suggested. “He can fight [his contract] out and let’s see how it plays out.”
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“Now you are not being so nice, “Brigadeiro wrote. “No … we want this fight.”
“He is about to fight a guy that is 3-2,” Maynard replied. “Let’s see how he does against someone tougher and then revisit.”
Brigadeiro saved the original match-up by saying he’d convince Mudaerji to accept the $23k / $23k deal with the expectation that they’d face a ranked opponent in their next fight.
This interaction and many others in the 40 pages of WhatsApp messages have many fans online discussing the hardball tactics the UFC uses to handle even small requests from fighters. In this case, Maynard was ready to revoke a contract offer and switch Mudaerji’s current opponent to a more difficult one because he asked for more money.
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On Maynard’s side, it makes sense to make Mudaerji fight tougher opponents if he wants higher pay. But all this certainly explains why the managers of UFC fighters work so hard to keep the promotion’s brass happy, lest they end up getting more of these not-so-nice types of offers.
