
Mark Dion — the former manager for heavyweight Brandon Vera — is claiming victory in their legal dispute over at CityBoxing.com.
According to the report, “The Liar” as Dion brands his former client, will have to honor the contract he signed with Dion and pay him one third of the purse from the fight with Tim Sylvia in November 2007, as well as $100,000 from future purses.
Ouch.
The PostIt pictured above is a handwritten offer from UFC President Dana White to Vera during the negotiations, which was some pretty decent coin for him at the time. Apparently, Vera and his management team countered with a signing bonus of $1.5 million and some other incentives with which the UFC did not agree.
Vera eventually came to terms with the UFC without the help of Dion. He was paid $100,000 for his loss to Tim Sylvia at UFC 77: “Hostile Territory” back in November 2007.
Interesting behind the scenes contract stuff revealed in the link. Check it out when you have some time.
41 Comments »















that contract means shite. no signatures anywhere. its just a bunch of numbers, lol.
I wonder how Brandon got caught up that.
7 million, for a 4 year deal in mma is not bad at all! I am happy the UFC dished out the money to resign im because I see him as a very valuable asset to the UFC’s future. He is a game dude, proof of that is that he is the smallest heavyweight and signed on to fight the biggest heavyweight Tim Sylvia and went the distance. Verra’s real value is that he will be able to fight against the best in the UFC in both the heavyweighht and 205 lb division. Verra is also marketable.
I am thrilled that no other promotion snatched him up, because I expect to see some exciting things out of him in the future in the UFC.
Dion gets 1/3 of Vera’s purse from the Silvia fight. That sure seems like a lot. No wonder they had problems. I am just glad he is in the UFC. Can’t wait till he KO’s Werdum. And that napkin looks like a very professional way of doing things. Way to go Dana.
if people employ hollywood agents then its their own problem when things go wrong
paying 1/3 of your purse to a manager is ridiculous
fighters would be far better off going to dana without a manager and asking him for the deal
DW seems to seriously dislike it when people bring in managers and may well offer them the same contract or better without the manager present
im not impressed with the way vera was happy to sit out and not fight for a year
he must of known the $1mil he was offered elsewhere was fantasy money as the promotion would be bust before they paid him
the fighters know how much each other are paid especially guys in the same camp so i cant see what an agent brings to the table
sur have someone to handle media work etc negotiate clothing deals etc but a manager aint going to outsmart DW and its more likely youll end up sat on the sidelines like randy and Vera… there are very few fighters that the ufc need even close to the point that the fighter needs the ufc
Wow…These guys have enough trouble with pay that they don’t need GREEDY ass managers taking HUGE chunks!! I’d love to know what this Dion guy has done to warrant that much of his money!
Jeez, I should start representing fighters. Based on Dion’s written communications, he looks borderline incompetent.
Dana White has been around the fight game for a long time. First with Boxing and now MMA. He knows how managers and promoters work. He also knows how to hold his ground. He’ll risk losing a big name to keep the standard pay intact, because once you give in, you get into ridiculous amounts.
I do believe a lot of fighters are under paid, but I also believe that alot of them are asking for way more than they’re worth. An example being Tim Sylvia. He wants Brock Lesnar money. Here’s how the negotiations would go, Tim, are you a better fighter than Lesnar? Yes. Have you paid your dues and been a loyal UFC fighter for a number of years? Yes. Do people buy a pay per view just to see you fight? NO!! That’s why you’re not getting Lesnar money. It stinks but it’s business.
I don’t care how tough you are, if they can’t market you, how are they supposed to pay you? Like him or not, Lesnar brought pay per view buys to make that UFC the third most watched in history. He was worth the money as far as business goes. Disapppointing, but profitable.
And at the end of the day, it’s always about the money you can make for them and not the money they can make for you.
[quote comment=”373022″]Wow…These guys have enough trouble with pay that they don’t need GREEDY ass managers taking HUGE chunks!! I’d love to know what this Dion guy has done to warrant that much of his money![/quote][quote
While this was my original reaction, and only partial pieces of evidence are displayed, if anyone takes a trip over to cityboxing through the link and reads the transcripts I believe his manager was mearly doing his job and unlike Randy “the Truth” buckled and blamed it on his manager. Have to side with Dion on this one. He invested large amounts of money and training in Vera and in the process of protecting that investment almost got screwed. Not sure about incompetence. Multiple times legal contract clauses were properly referenced to contest or outright negate any UFC argument. The UFC tried some of their usual dirty tricks and this guy was calling them on it. They got in Vera’s head and turned him. Too bad kinda liked him. Oh well was planning on watching Werdum tear his arm off anyhow.
[quote comment=”373053″]Dana White has been around the fight game for a long time. First with Boxing and now MMA. He knows how managers and promoters work. He also knows how to hold his ground. He’ll risk losing a big name to keep the standard pay intact, because once you give in, you get into ridiculous amounts.
I do believe a lot of fighters are under paid, but I also believe that alot of them are asking for way more than they’re worth. An example being Tim Sylvia. He wants Brock Lesnar money. Here’s how the negotiations would go, Tim, are you a better fighter than Lesnar? Yes. Have you paid your dues and been a loyal UFC fighter for a number of years? Yes. Do people buy a pay per view just to see you fight? NO!! That’s why you’re not getting Lesnar money. It stinks but it’s business.
I don’t care how tough you are, if they can’t market you, how are they supposed to pay you? Like him or not, Lesnar brought pay per view buys to make that UFC the third most watched in history. He was worth the money as far as business goes. Disapppointing, but profitable.
And at the end of the day, it’s always about the money you can make for them and not the money they can make for you.[/quote]
Very Intelligent Post!
[quote comment=”373022″]Wow…These guys have enough trouble with pay that they don’t need GREEDY ass managers taking HUGE chunks!! I’d love to know what this Dion guy has done to warrant that much of his money![/quote]
He got vera a year long vacation!
Yep which is why Tito should stick around and DAna should give him his damn money the guy has been a part of the 2 most UFC PPV
2 most watched, money making PPV
He’s gonna kill Werdum!!
[quote comment=”373101″]He’s gonna kill Werdum!![/quote]
NNot so sure about that. Werdum has improved a lot already since he started training with Chute Box. No body in the world thought he would beat Gonzaga via strikes. By June, I expect him to be even more improved. It will be a very competitive fight IMO, and
it is so close that I am not ready to make any predictions on that fight yet!
Vera should be happy to get anything…he sucks…he is not a factor and not worth anything more then like $5000 a fight
Vera should train with Ibarra and Rampage some more. I know Kongo trained with them and lost to Herring, but unlike Kongo, Vera is actually a very intelligent fighter lol.
[quote comment=”373062″][quote comment=”373053″]Dana White has been around the fight game for a long time. First with Boxing and now MMA. He knows how managers and promoters work. He also knows how to hold his ground. He’ll risk losing a big name to keep the standard pay intact, because once you give in, you get into ridiculous amounts.
I do believe a lot of fighters are under paid, but I also believe that alot of them are asking for way more than they’re worth. An example being Tim Sylvia. He wants Brock Lesnar money. Here’s how the negotiations would go, Tim, are you a better fighter than Lesnar? Yes. Have you paid your dues and been a loyal UFC fighter for a number of years? Yes. Do people buy a pay per view just to see you fight? NO!! That’s why you’re not getting Lesnar money. It stinks but it’s business.
I don’t care how tough you are, if they can’t market you, how are they supposed to pay you? Like him or not, Lesnar brought pay per view buys to make that UFC the third most watched in history. He was worth the money as far as business goes. Disapppointing, but profitable.
And at the end of the day, it’s always about the money you can make for them and not the money they can make for you.[/quote]
Very Intelligent Post![/quote]
I co-sign that.
Haven’t had much free time today, but I had time to bet on a couple of games, and I was looking around for UFC odds. BetUs does not have much (2 UFN fights), but over at Bodog, you can bet on UFC 87 already! Since we talk about betting odds alot, I figured that I’d post some of these:
GSP -450
Serra 300
Wanderlei -160
Jardine 130
Machida -200
Tito 160
Liddell -265
Rashad 205
Werdum and Vera even at -115
Lesnar -250
Coleman 180
Chuck and Machida are good bets and the risk isn’t that bad. GSP at -anything is a good bet. I thought that Wandi and Jardine would have been a little closer to even, but by the time the event rolls around, I think it will.
dude, nice find.
very professional contract offer sheet. looks like a legal document. how much does this manager get? if that is a sample, my 3 year old cousin would take any fighter to financial top.
Great contract on the purse there. What a professional way to do things, writing numbers on a napkin or something. Very smart from Dana, no wonder Fedor didnt sign and Randy left. If i was presented with that from Dana or anyone else id throw it back on their face.
Thanks for the link. Though it does come straight from City Boxing, it is eye opening, and makes Vera look very much like a tool.
I don’t think anyone is saying that the post-it is a contract. It was presented as evidence of the offer made by DW. The absence of signatures, etc, only matter if you’re trying to enforce it against the other party (here, DW) and the other party is denying that he agreed to it. That’s not the case here.
[quote comment=”373105″][quote comment=”373101″]He’s gonna kill Werdum!![/quote]
NNot so sure about that. Werdum has improved a lot already since he started training with Chute Box. No body in the world thought he would beat Gonzaga via strikes. By June, I expect him to be even more improved. It will be a very competitive fight IMO, and
it is so close that I am not ready to make any predictions on that fight yet![/quote]
Well, I am ready to made a prediction for that fight. Fabricio Werdum!!!!!!!!!!!!
[quote comment=”373101″]He’s gonna kill Werdum!![/quote]
The only way this punk will kill Werdum is if he brings a gun to the octagon and shoots him! Vera isn’t impressive and doesn’t deserve the money…give AA his money and send Vera to the IFL Minor Leagues!
Who else has emailed Dana??
it looks like on the contract 6 fights the first one being 90 thousand plus 90 to win, if you add up all the numbers it is still not close to 4 million so he must get payed something on top of the fight money.
[quote post=”5385″]The only way this punk will kill Werdum is if he brings a gun to the octagon and shoots him! Vera isn’t impressive and doesn’t deserve the money…give AA his money and send Vera to the IFL Minor Leagues![/quote]
are u kidding me?? Vera is one of the most exciting fighters left in the Heavyweight div. It seems you have some kind of grudge against Vera. I suggest you you take a deep breath before writing a post because this post makes you sound like a idiot
i meant to say not close to 7 million but its not close to 4 either
Does anybody notice the error in this article? UFC 77: Hostile Territory took place on October 20, 2007….NOT IN NOVEMBER!!!!!
Am I the only one that thinks this guy is worth barely 40k a fight? Beating Mir in his overweight/gettingback/depression fight doesnt impress me.
Some of these fighters need lessons in simple mathematics. If a fighter hires an agent to negotiate a $100,000 contract but has to pay said agent a third, the fighter is left with $66,667. If a fighter negotiates on his own and gets an $80,000 contract, he keeps all $80,000. The contract looks smaller, but his actual take-home is greater, and I think that’s what they really want.
[quote comment=”373221″][quote comment=”373105″][quote comment=”373101″]He’s gonna kill Werdum!![/quote]
NNot so sure about that. Werdum has improved a lot already since he started training with Chute Box. No body in the world thought he would beat Gonzaga via strikes. By June, I expect him to be even more improved. It will be a very competitive fight IMO, and
it is so close that I am not ready to make any predictions on that fight yet![/quote]
Well, I am ready to made a prediction for that fight. Fabricio Werdum!!!!!!!!!!!![/quote]
Yeah I’m gonna have to go for Werdum on this one.
[quote comment=”373134″][quote comment=”373062″][quote comment=”373053″]Dana White has been around the fight game for a long time. First with Boxing and now MMA. He knows how managers and promoters work. He also knows how to hold his ground. He’ll risk losing a big name to keep the standard pay intact, because once you give in, you get into ridiculous amounts.
I do believe a lot of fighters are under paid, but I also believe that alot of them are asking for way more than they’re worth. An example being Tim Sylvia. He wants Brock Lesnar money. Here’s how the negotiations would go, Tim, are you a better fighter than Lesnar? Yes. Have you paid your dues and been a loyal UFC fighter for a number of years? Yes. Do people buy a pay per view just to see you fight? NO!! That’s why you’re not getting Lesnar money. It stinks but it’s business.
I don’t care how tough you are, if they can’t market you, how are they supposed to pay you? Like him or not, Lesnar brought pay per view buys to make that UFC the third most watched in history. He was worth the money as far as business goes. Disapppointing, but profitable.
And at the end of the day, it’s always about the money you can make for them and not the money they can make for you.[/quote]
Very Intelligent Post![/quote]
I co-sign that.[/quote]
What is funny is we had long debates in the previous ‘Gary Shaw’ thread about how Dana was doing things for the good of mma and not money.
A further post that confirms it is all about the money.
[quote comment=”373368″][quote comment=”373221″][quote comment=”373105″][quote comment=”373101″]He’s gonna kill Werdum!![/quote]
NNot so sure about that. Werdum has improved a lot already since he started training with Chute Box. No body in the world thought he would beat Gonzaga via strikes. By June, I expect him to be even more improved. It will be a very competitive fight IMO, and
it is so close that I am not ready to make any predictions on that fight yet![/quote]
Well, I am ready to made a prediction for that fight. Fabricio Werdum!!!!!!!!!!!![/quote]
Yeah I’m gonna have to go for Werdum on this one.[/quote]
I’m hopin vera wins this one, but also thought gonzaga would take him out… werdrum landed a huge knee from the clich at 80 which vera has to look out for, as well as anything on the ground….
[quote comment=”373266″]it looks like on the contract 6 fights the first one being 90 thousand plus 90 to win, if you add up all the numbers it is still not close to 4 million so he must get payed something on top of the fight money.[/quote]
If you read the info on the link, it is actually two seperate fight contracts. The left side if a fight contract, and the right one is a four year, multiple fights a year, contract for 7 million. If he does 4 fights a year, its 16 fights for 7 million, but there were other stipulations. I thought the exact same thing when I first saw the post.
GOD I just wanna see this dude back in action already!!! Most well rounded HW….Brandon Vera. If he could just improve what he is already good at (everything) we could have a real HW champ again.
[quote post=”5385″]werdrum landed a huge knee from the clich at 80 which vera has to look out for, as well as anything on the ground….[/quote]
Vera has to be on his toes the whole fight. Good thing that his best discipline is Muay Thai, and then BJJ.
Close fight though. Hard to pick a winner, but I’ll take the biased pick and go Vera cuz I’m a fan.
excited for this fight. rooting for vera. would lyke to see him move down to 205 tho.
Dana does not want to deal with managers, he’d rather offer the fighters small sums and have them keep 100% of it. Managers have very little to offer when negotiating with White.