Litigation has probably been the best tool to shed light on contract terms of various MMA promotions. Recently a PFL contract made its way into the public sphere as a result of this (HT to Elthon Costa for first breaking this news).
By way of background a fighter and the promotion were involved in a contractual dispute. The fighter sued in Brazil. The contract contained an arbitration clause and PFL argued a Brazilian court could not deal with the dispute. The Brazilian judiciary sided with the fighter finding they had jurisdiction to deal with this labour dispute. In the process the entire promotional agreement and more became public record.
Here are a few highlights.
The PFL Can Extend Contracts for years.
While the initial term is for a single season the PFL can extend it. Then again. Then again if the fighter is the champion.
These Extensions are Automatic by Default.
While the above is worded as an option the contract goes on to say by default PFL exercise these options.
PFL Can Freeze and Extend the Contract
Like many MMA promotions the PFL give themselves a long list of ways they can freeze or extend the term of the contract.
Exclusive Negotiation and Matching Rights
When the contract is over its not over. Fighters are subject to an exclusive negotiating period and beyond that the promotions enjoys matching rights when offers are made by competing promotions.
Fighter Pay
The Million Dollar season winner pay is not a million dollars for the single final bout. Instead that is the total paid for all of the post season fights. Here is how this fighter’s post season pay was structured
Combat Sports Law 