UFC veteran Jake Shields opened up on his podcast about the ownership of the UFC, his relationship with the Fertita brothers, and why he believes he stopped receiving complimentary tickets after criticizing Ari Emanuel.
During a conversation with guest Jonathan Azaziah, the discussion shifted toward the Emanuel family, with Azaziah bringing up both Rahm Emanuel and Ari Emanuel. Shields immediately connected the topic back to the UFC.
“You know about the UFC?” Shields asked. “The UFC is literally owned… His dad, his father was a literal te**orist.”
According to Shields, speaking publicly about Emanuel had direct consequences for him personally.
“I don’t get free tickets to the UFC anymore after I called him out,” he said. “I called that out and all of a sudden next I see him in the UFC and whatever. It is what it is. I can watch it on TV. Truth is more important.”
Shields then contrasted the UFC’s current ownership with the organization’s earlier era under the Fertita brothers.
“It used to be ran by the Italian mob. Now it’s ran by the Jewish mob,” he said.
Despite the criticism of the current regime, Shields spoke positively about former UFC owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, who controlled the promotion through Zuffa before selling it to Endeavor, the company led by Ari Emanuel.
“I’m not going to say anything bad about the Fertita brothers who owned it,” Shields said. “They always treated me good. They gave me some large bonuses. And then like Dana would try to take credit for them. It’s like, ‘Rich, Lorenzo called me and gave me that money.'”
Shields explained that, in his experience, the Fertitas rewarded athletes they respected beyond what contracts guaranteed.
“They do have kind of like that code where they want to be like, ‘Oh, you’ve been good to me. Here, we’re going to give you this,'” he said. “That can help when you need some money and they give you a good chunk of money. Nothing to them, but it’s still like, ‘Okay, at least he paid me far beyond my contract.'”
He argued that the culture around compensation has changed significantly since the Fertitas sold the promotion.
“I don’t think the UFC is doing that anymore,” Shields said. “Everyone’s always like the athletes are underpaid. It’s true. But before, Lorenzo would take care of the people he liked, sometimes by a lot more than your contracts. So the guys you like, the good team players… at least they would give you some extra money.”
Those concerns line up with criticism surrounding the UFC’s current bonus structure. Athletes can earn $25,000 for a finish and $100,000 for either Performance of the Night or Fig ht of the Night, but the bonuses do not stack. An athlete who secures both a finish and a performance bonus still receives $100,000 total instead of $125,000.
