Broke
— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) August 26, 2013
Nate Diaz claims he’s broke
With that simple tweet, Nate Diaz may have set off the next wave of speculation in regards to the UFC’s pay for its athletes. In the past 12 months, the more reasonable of the Diaz brothers officially pocketed $50K for his loss to Benson Henderson at UFC on FOX 5, and his base salary of $15K for his loss to Josh Thomson at UFC on FOX 7. Obviously, this does not account for any sponsorship money or unofficial backstage bonuses handed out by the UFC or any of its management, nor does this include any seminar or appearance fees that Nathan might earn.
We can all agree that the average person can do quite well for themselves on sixty-five grand in a year. Even after we deduct 15% for management fees, training fees, and equipment expenses, that still leaves him with a net, pre-tax income of $48 750, which is still not an amount to sneeze at for the average person his age. The median housing sale price in Stockton, CA is currently around $155 000, which when combined with an average interest rate for a 30 year mortage in the area of 4.6% and a 20% down payment, would leave one with a monthly payment of approximately $646, or $7752 a year. So, with this taken into account, and utilizing the Tim Kennedy budget model, how does the The Ultimate Fighter 5 winner wind up penniless? We may never know, but it might behoove the UFC to bring in some financial planners for their next Fighter Summit.
Something tells me that Nate Diaz wasn’t expecting to live like an average joe, after fighting professionally for 9 years. 48 grand pre-tax…he should have been set for life! He should have bought one of those 150k houses in the hood when he had the money, right?