This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit heynottheface.substack.com On Tuesday, we released the first segment of our in-depth interview with freshly retired UFC star Matt “The Immortal” Brown. The longtime fan favorite fielded all our questions, giving us nearly an hour of his time. Part 1 involved the following topics: * It’s been three weeks or so since you announced your retirement. What have those three weeks been like…...
May 30, 2024•6 min
A few weeks ago, Matt Brown announced his retirement from the UFC. Fans around the globe registered outright shock at the longtime crowd favorite’s decision to step away from the game, but we wished him well and shared our favorite memories, happy that he was able to escape the sport on his own terms and with his wits about him. He’d hoped to go out with UFC 300, and when Jim Miller asked for that fight, the community roared collectively at what a phenomenal contest it would be. Alas, the UFC de...
May 28, 2024•17 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit heynottheface.substack.com On Tuesday, we released the first half of this segment on how the UFC is basically a microcosm of the U.S. economy. Today, we’re releasing the other half. I’ve copied over that post, since the outline applies here, as well. We hope you’ll find part 2 of this in-depth explainer illuminating. The UFC has done nothing but grow exponentially since The Ultima…...
May 23, 2024•6 min
The UFC has done nothing but grow exponentially since The Ultimate Fighter basically saved the promotion’s bacon back in 2005. These days, TUF doesn’t even bring in new eyeballs, but its place is secured as one of the reasons the UFC is the money-making juggernaut it is today. And with the antitrust case being wrapped for the bargain price of $335M, with no real changes to their business model, it’s looking like they’re poised to continue cornering the market and making money hand over fist. Nas...
May 21, 2024•30 min
Canelo Alvarez and Naoya Inoue have had enormous success in the ring this month, with both men enjoying big wins last week. In the days since, PPV buyrate numbers have been released for Canelo’s fight that might have you scratching your head as you try to determine if the tally Dave Meltzer put out should be considered a success or not. We also took a look at Naoya Inoue’s promoter’s comments about what his purse looked like for the Nery fight and about a big offer they received from the Saudis....
May 16, 2024•22 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit heynottheface.substack.com Last week was a busy one for the UFC. The company had their quarterly earnings call and latest SEC filing both make the news cycle. Fresh off the UFC 301 PPV card that very likely didn’t break 200K buys, the promotion is still sitting pretty. Through previously released documentation, we know that they make $20M from ESPN for every PPV event, so when th…...
May 14, 2024•18 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit heynottheface.substack.com A few weeks ago, Forbes released an article comparing the finances of the more established and well-known combat sports promotions. While they were correct in their ranking of the UFC at number one and WWE at number two, they seem to have missed some details in their estimations of some of the promotions’ financial standing. We examine their claims to d…...
May 09, 2024•36 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit heynottheface.substack.com Last fall, rumors began swirling that Showtime Boxing was being shuttered after their last event of 2023 to the dismay of boxing fans around the world. It would only be a matter of weeks before the rumors were confirmed that not only Showtime Boxing was being shuttered, but all of Showtime Sports, which meant that Bellator was left in limbo. After 38 ye…...
May 07, 2024•29 min
The FTC recently announced a ban on all non-compete agreements, including those already in practice. To this point, it was up to the individual state whether they were legally enforceable. Some states, like California, have banned them altogether, while others embrace them. Now, the choice has been removed. But don’t let this wonderful news lull you into a false sense of security. It’s already being challenged with lawsuits, two of which were launched in the state of Texas within hours of the ru...
Apr 30, 2024•12 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit heynottheface.substack.com UFC 300 has come and gone, but since it was such an important card, there’s been a lot of news for us to parse. In this episode, we take a look at the UFC’s claims of how well the card did and estimate how well the card actually did financially. Spoiler alert: It’s a lot. From there we had a side-discussion about the possibility of a UFC-WWE bonded figh…...
Apr 25, 2024•13 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit heynottheface.substack.com Ryan Garcia shocked the world when he put Devin Haney on the canvas three different times and rocked him a few more en route to his majority decision victory Saturday night. Since then, Ryan has claimed that he successfully trolled the world and he was never having a mental health crisis, proclaimed that he drank and smoked every night of his camp and t…...
Apr 23, 2024•13 min
The lead-up to the boxing match between Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia has been anything but traditional or ordinary. Ryan Garcia, either through advice from his management team or strictly on his own, has opted for a salacious, oft-times concerning approach that has left many wondering if he’s even fit to compete. There have been numerous incidents including a purported kidnapping, Live spaces where he’s preached “the word of God” to sex workers, and most recently, showing up with his promoter, Os...
Apr 18, 2024•18 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit heynottheface.substack.com With UFC 300 in the books and the antitrust settlement all but ensuring that the promotion will continue doing business as usual, we thought a thorough analysis of what the current state of MMA is, what its future looks like and if any of the more prominent promotions will be around by the time UFC 400 gets here. We look at the UFC’s current and future …...
Apr 16, 2024•36 min
UFC 300 is just hours away and the PR machine is in hyperdrive. From revelations of newly designed gloves to announcements of massively increased bonuses (sorry, Fighters, it’s just for this event), there’s a lot of fluffy, sugary, feel-good stories dominating community media. We decided to tackle three topics to shine a light on some things you may not be aware of. The glove redesign announcement was the first topic we discussed. While the new hand-gear won’t be implemented at UFC 300, it was r...
Apr 13, 2024•28 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit heynottheface.substack.com UFC 300 will undoubtedly be the the most stacked card of the year, but it remains to be seen if it will do the highest PPV buy rate, especially with rumors of a Conor McGregor return this year, but for now, this mega-event is the big one. With 12 current or former champions, it could be the most talent-rich show we’ve ever been treated to, and among tha…...
Apr 11, 2024•31 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit heynottheface.substack.com Matchroom is an entity that is far more than just a British boxing promotion. As a matter of fact, there are multiple Matchroom branches, both in the UK and even in the USA. Their financial filings were released a few weeks ago, so we scrutinized them, crunched some numbers and have those findings here in an easy to understand dissection. Everything fro…...
Apr 09, 2024•18 min
The UFC contract has long been the blueprint by which all other promotions modeled their own contracts upon, so it stands to reason that most contracts look similar. That said, some promotions go the extra mile to be even more draconian and restrictive than their predecessors. PFL is certainly trying to outdo all the others with theirs. The Hey Not The Face! Podcast is a listener-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber....
Apr 02, 2024•42 min
Now that the UFC antitrust case has ended with a settlement, many are left wondering what the detail of it are aside from the settlement total the community was given. As it stands right now, we know the amount was for $335M and that both cases were settled. Outside the 50 day suspension of the trial (so they can wrap the case) and an order for both parties to file a status report on or before May 1, 2024. The Hey Not The Face! Podcast is a listener-supported publication. To receive new posts an...
Mar 25, 2024•1 hr 28 min
Earlier today, it was announced that the Plaintiffs (the fighters) in both UFC antitrust cases have reached a settlement with the Defendant (UFC/Zuffa) in the amount of $335M—a figure that will end up being tax deductible for the UFC. No further details were released other than a 50 day suspension of the case (to approve the settlement) and an order for both parties to file a status report on or before May 1, 2024. The Hey Not The Face! Podcast is a listener-supported publication. To receive new...
Mar 20, 2024•15 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit heynottheface.substack.com In part 1 of our UFC antitrust case primer, we went through the suit, starting with its inception, then going through the entire process. We broke down legal terminology, who the named Plaintiffs are and who the Defendant is, when they filed and why it took so long to get to trial. There is also a thorough explainer of how there came to be a second anti…...
Mar 20, 2024•29 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit heynottheface.substack.com After being in what seemed like limbo for the better part of a decade, the UFC antitrust case is finally headed to trial in about four weeks. The Plaintiffs (the fighters) will present their case via a crack team of attorneys including MMAFA founder Rob Maysey. The Defendant, better known as Zuffa and/or the UFC, has already gone through a string of set…...
Mar 18, 2024•37 min
In our latest episode, we discuss several topics, starting with the sale of Bloody Elbow and subsequent deletion of all its UFC antitrust content, as well as anything highlighting their business practices. There is an interesting conspiracy theory floating around, and it’s one that doesn’t seem too far-fetched, so we led the conversation with that. The Hey Not The Face! Podcast is a listener-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, please consider becoming a free or paid...
Mar 13, 2024•47 min
Francis Ngannou got away and we’re so very happy he did. Going from a $600K payday in the UFC—all because of the UFC’s hard-nosed tactics at the negotiation table—to a 10-figure purse in your second boxing match is unheard of unless your name is Conor McGregor. Ngannou may be giving the Irish superstar a run for the money in that regard very soon, and might even wind up on the coveted Forbes List this year. But how did he get there? The Hey Not The Face! Podcast is a listener-supported publicati...
Mar 12, 2024•36 min
TKO Group Holdings, the conglomerate that went public last fall after the merger of the UFC with the WWE, released its full 2023 financial results last week. Having reported on their SEC and investor reports for the first and second quarter of last year, I am once again only going to focus on what we learn about the UFC’s finances from their 8-K, 10-K and earnings call. The big takeaway is that everything was gold for the UFC, setting records in almost every category. They saw increases in their...
Mar 12, 2024•26 min
Ryan Garcia has once again called out UFC’s bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley. Boxing’s babyfaced superstar engaged in a back-and-forth on X (formerly Twitter) with the UFC bantamweight champion, prompting many to wonder if Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions would be able to co-promote a fight with the UFC between the two sluggers. O’Malley has issued his own boxing callout last year, only it was to Gervonta Davis. Garcia actually replied back then, suggesting a fight of his own with O’M...
Mar 12, 2024•49 min
The WWE is in hot water thanks to a lawsuit filed by former employee Janel Grant. The lawsuit alleges Vince McMahon, other officials and even included a former UFC superstar engaged in sex trafficking and/or sexual assault and the suit came with evidence. McMahon resigned from all his positions at WWE and TKO Holdings within hours and the evidence from court documents has been appalling, to say the least. The news came just 48 hours after the announcement that WWE had signed an incredibly lucrat...
Mar 12, 2024•47 min
A pair of unrelated videos surfaced yesterday that grabbed our attention, mainly for the inaccuracies contained in both. The first is a short clip of an interview former presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy conducted with Dana White. The second is from the Joe Rogan Experience and features a conversation between Joe and former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub. Eddie Bravo was also there but the meat and potatoes of the clip is mainly between Joe and Brendan. The Hey Not The Face! Podcast is a list...
Mar 12, 2024•30 min
Conor McGregor is—and has been for years—one of the most enigmatic figures in combat sports. Hell, he’s one of the most enigmatic figures in all of sports. Much like Ronda Rousey, he’s had a transcendent career journey, crossing the threshold between sports and pop culture. And with pop culture actually driving the demand for more events , stars like Conor are gold mines. Over the course of the better part of the last year, McGregor has been the source of much speculation as to when he’ll finall...
Mar 12, 2024•29 min
Over the course of the last few weeks, several boxing stories have dropped. We watched Showtime air its last boxing event after nearly 38 years of broadcasting the sport. From there, PBC, who had been calling Showtime their broadcasting home, ended up signing a huge deal with Amazon, so we’ve got one major promotion secured and accounted for. That brings us to Top Rank. Bob Arum, Top Rank’s founder and CEO, has been talking about selling the company for years. It would be a costly expenditure fo...
Mar 12, 2024•41 min
MMA has had an incredible year news-wise, thanks mostly to three big stories. We’ve seen all sorts of drama, from the New Year all the way to now. We opened the first week of the year with Dana White assaulting his wife on video for the world to see. We’ve seen Power Slap become a real thing and it has now been sanctioned in California—something we would have never believed could happen last year. The Hey Not The Face! Podcast is a listener-supported publication. To receive new posts and support...
Mar 12, 2024•34 min
