"Some fighters are worth more to fight than others" - UFC welterweight makes "bounty hunter contracts" suggestion for the promotion

Joaquin Buckley has a unique proposal for the UFC brass to incentivize average fighters to try and get bigger paydays. At the absolute core of it, an MMA competition is all about finding out the person with the best fighting and survival skills. That person receives the championship title and attempts to fend off the claimants by working on his skills. Continued competitive success then translates into financial opportunities and a lasting legacy.

However, MMA has come a long way, and possessing the best fighting skillset is no longer the only requirement for making life-changing amounts of money. Fighters that draw the most eyeballs and sell the most tickets have a relatively bigger chance of making it big. As a result, welterweight fighter Joaquin Buckley thinks that some fighters should have a bounty on their head.

“I think UFC bout contracts should be set up like bounty hunter contracts because some fighters are worth more to fight than others,” Joaquin Buckley tweeted.

How exactlyc a ‘bounty hunter’ contract would work is up to Joaquin Buckley to explain. That being said, the point that 'New Mansa' is trying to make here is valid. The merits of going after certain fighters heavily outweigh the risks of competing against lesser-known but still dangerous opponents.

UFC Fighters that achieved commercial success long before laying hands on the championship title

Pro wrestling star and former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar is one of the earliest global superstars in MMA. While a lot of his commercial success in the MMA had to do with the crossover fan base from WWE, Lesnar’s fan appeal far exceeded the traditional MMA fan base.

The pro wrestling sensation never competed outside of the main or co-main event slot on PPV events in spite of being relatively inexperienced. He had a major role to play in the success of UFC 81 and UFC 87 pay-per-view events that sold 650,000 and 625,000 PPVs, respectively. His stardom skyrocketed further after winning the heavyweight title.

Conor McGregor took the same phenomenon to a whole new level. PPV events like UFC 178 were elevated by the Irishman’s promotional skills. Similar to Lesnar, winning titles gave an extra boost to Conor McGregor’s commercial success.

In recent years, Nate Diaz, Jorge Masvidal, Khamzat Chimaev, Sean O’Malley, and Colby Covington have all emerged as fighters that can generate revenue and help elevate events to another level, at least in financial terms.