After her spectacular win this weekend, Joanne Calderwood should be riding high; instead she is lamenting the fact that Steve Bosse and Sean O'Connell spent fifteen minutes testing the durability of each other's skulls.
Saturday, Calderwood notched arguably the biggest win of her career, stopping fifth ranked strawweight Valerie Letourneau - a woman neither Joanna Jedrzejczyk nor Claudia Gadelha finished - in the third round. It's a win that should vault Calderwood well into the top 10 of the strawweight division and puts her right on the cusp of a title shot. But in the aftermath of the fight, instead of reveling in her victory Calderwood posted to her Instagram how disappointed she was to not have earned a post-fight bonus and her need to save money so she is able to return to Tristar for her next camp.
Calderwood entered the UFC through The Ultimate Fighter 20 where she was the second ranked strawweight on the show behind only eventual champion Carla Esparza. During the show she was eliminated by Rose Namajunas but Calderwood still entered into the UFC proper with high expectations, though only receiving the then minimum salary of $8000 to show and $8000 to win with a built in escalator - the minimums have since been raised to $10,000 . Though official salaries for the card have yet to be released, assuming Calderwood's contract is in line with the average UFC contract she will have made roughly $24,000 for her performance this weekend plus an additional $2500 from Reebok. That $26,500 does not include taxes nor the costs of fight camp, training, etc.
Calderwood was not the only one unhappy about pay after the event. At the post-fight press conference Donald Cerrone noted that despite being the UFC's most reliable fighter, according to his pay he "doesn't mean shit to the UFC." On Saturday, Cerrone received one of the $50,000 Performance of the Night bonuses and his reported pay for his last fight was $79,000 with a $79,000 win bonus. If those numbers indicate that the UFC doesn't think much of Cerrone, then they must hate Calderwood.
While Calderwood may be #brokeashell, the UFC certainly is not. Last year the company turned a profit of just shy of $158,000,000 and recent reports say management is in talks to sell for over 4 billion dollars. If the UFC is sold, it is doubtful things will get any better for Calderwood. Any one purchasing a company for billions of dollars is unlikely to raise operating costs immediately.
Maybe next time Calderwood won't be fighting on the same card as Bosse and O'Connell.
5 MUST-READ STORIES
Results. UFC Fight Night 89 happened over the weekend. Here are the results.
That's a brave man. Stephen Thompson says he would rather fight Robbie Lawler than Tyron Woodley.
Testing. Nevada will begin requiring all fighters to take a neurological assessment before fighting.
Easy money. Chris Weidman believes Georges St. Pierre is looking for an easy fight by challenging Michael Bisping.
Say it ain't so. Fedor Emelianenko says he will fight on after his "win" over Fabio Maldonado.
EXTRA CREDIT READING
AMA. Karim Zidan of Bloody Elbow did a Reddit AMA with questions about his investigative work in Russian MMA. Well worth a browse.
Conflict of interest. You're getting a double dose of Karim today. Here he covers the controversy of Fedor appointing the judges for his fight against Fabio Maldonado.
MEDIA STEW
Post fight presser.
The UFC's tribute to Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson.
Wonderboy and the squad walking back from the arena to the lockers.
RFA highlights fromt his past weekend.
LISTEN UP
BATB
More post fight stuff.
Jimmy Smith and John Makdessi.
TWEETS
Stipe did it. He broke the curse for em.
CLEVELAND!!!!!!!!!!! #ALLin216 #ALLinCLE
— Stipe Miocic (@stipemiocicufc) June 20, 2016
We all would Shannon. We all would.
Would love to see the UFC add the women's 125lb division.
— Shannon Knapp (@shanknapp) June 19, 2016
Considering the consequences and frequency of people failing tests, everyone should be very thoroughly doing their homework.
I didn't do my homework and that was a big mistake. I own it and I'm going to pay for it.
— chad mendes (@chadmendes) June 18, 2016
If this catches on, I won't hate it.
Shoutout to Hawaiian boy @BlessedMMA for the idea to call for a scrap at the end . I stole that off him
— Sean O'Connell (@realOCsports) June 19, 2016
Also Jojo Calderwood, who lost her fight of the night bonus to those fellas.
There are no losers in this fight, save brain cells and long-term memory. #ufcottawa
— The Spartan (@EliasTheodorou) June 19, 2016
Considering so many fighters are pro wrestling marks, you'd think there would be more fighters who could spit a promo.
Wooooooo #rickflair pic.twitter.com/6Ua1hFOmDf
— Derrick Lewis (@Thebeast_ufc) June 19, 2016
Everyone is doing it.
BREAKING: @BellatorMMA adopting early weigh-in procedures for Bellator 157. Fighters weigh between 10am-noon @arielhelwani @marc_raimondi
— Michael Chandler (@MikeChandlerMMA) June 17, 2016
This, then the Cavs winning, plus his own title. Is there anyone riding a bigger high than Stipe right now?
Before they fought there was so much animosity...
And after they are all friends. Also, Wonderboy looking untouched. Hopefully that means he can step in should Woodley pull out.
Conor training with DD.
This card was just filled with respectful combat.
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Alexander Gustafsson (16-4-0) vs. Jan Blachowicz (19-5-0); UFC Fight Night Hamburg, September 3.
TODAY IN MMA HISTORY
2004: This happened.
The most glorious night of slams occurred at Pride Critical Countdown 2004. The Randleplex happened. The Arona-bomb happened. Watch them. Remember. Be happy.
2009: The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale occurred with James Wilks winning the welterweight tournament and Ross Pearson winning the lightweight tournament.
2010: Marlon Sandro killed a guy. That guy happened to be Sengoku featherweight champion Masanori Kanehara.
2015: Joanna Jedrzejczyk beat the bejesus out of Jessica Penne to defend her UFC strawweight championship in the main event of UFC Fight Night 69.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I have fervently said that the only fights Carlos Condit should be given are with Robbie Lawler or Matt Brown. I will now amend that to include Donald Cerrone. Cerrone looked like the best he's ever been this weekend and though he'd be giving up a lot of size that fight is incredibly fun. Cerrone, Condit, and Brown should just round robin fight each other in perpetuity. Maybe mix in a Diaz brother and now we're really cooking with gas.
Anyway, on to a new week M-Rmy. Until tomorrow, be easy.
If you find something you'd like to see in the Morning Report, just hit me up on Twitter @JedKMeshew and let me know about it.