I was watching the promo show for UFC 80, and it mentioned that Joe Stevenson had “brought out” gray maynard “for his excellent wrestling ability” and various other training partners.
Do UFC fighters pay one another to be their trianing partners? Or is it part of a “you help me get ready, I’ll help you get ready” kind of thing? I dont imagine that most of the fighters get paid enough for it to make financial sense for one to hire another, but on the other hand I didnt get the impression that gray, stevenson, et al, were all on the same team, ala couture, or whatever rampage and bisping call their team
Thanks
I’m not really sure, but I don’t think the guys get paid. Like you said, it’s more of a “scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” type of thing. They might get set up with free room & board and maybe free food, and perhaps a plane ticket is bought if the fighter is a top-level guy.
It would depend. Other than offering them living expenses, I doubt many guys get a salary for just coming in and training, and I suspect this would be that case due to the fact that neither of these guys is making big bank. The practice seems much more common in striking arts where live, full contact, balls to the wall sparring is common during peaking and you don’t want to hurt your own training partners, and no one is going to just show up for free to get their ass kicked for a week. As the sport gets bigger and there is more money to be tossed around I can see guys kicking cash to some KOTC fighters to come in and catch a whipping.
I know Mirko paid Remy Bonjasky to come spar with him, and off the top of my head that is the only case I know for sure of a paid sparring partner though it probably happens a good bit on a smaller scale.