UFC 232 Costing Fans and Fighters
The late relocation of UFC 232 has gotten the event trending for all the wrong reasons. Many fans have communicated their outrage on social media when the news broke because going to a UFC event the weekend before New Year’s Eve that features one of the best light heavyweight rematches is something that requires a lot of advance planning. With Jon Jones not being licensed in Nevada, rather than cancel the fight the UFC decided to relocate the whole event six days before it happens to The Forum in Inglewood, California.
While the cost may be a drop in the bucket to the main event fighters, the rest of the card has to follow if they want to get paid. However, when moving the event to California, which has the highest top tax rate in the nation according to Bloomberg. When Dana White was asked about the cost, he said for the promotion the number is $6-million dollars at the final press conference for the event.
With the news of the change, or anything that seems to put fighters out of place the call to organize always comes up and Lucas Middlebrook, a labor and employment attorney who serves as counsel on Project Spearhead said the UFC should not place the financial burden on anyone fighting on that card. Middlebrook told Bloomberg, “The UFC should ‘true up’ all purses to account for the unexpected increase in taxation caused by the last minute move to California which subjects the fighters to the non-resident taxation requirements.”
White was asked about this during the newly relocated press conference and seemed to reply with a defensive, “Who’s going to pay my income tax in California?”, then added, “We had to move it and listen it’s costing everybody more money. It is what it is.”
Will the cost of the move pay off at UFC 232?
