UFC Fighter's Dream Home Courtesy of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, but What About the Rest?

The Rock's acts of charity shine bright, yet shadows loom over the UFC's unpaid fighters.

Themba Gorimbo, who some may remember as the UFC fighter who debuted with $7 in his bank account, has been gifted a house by philanthropist celebrity Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

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Gorimbo took center-stage in a video uploaded to Johnson's YouTube channel on August 3, where he was surprised with his own property. Johnson cited his own experience with extreme poverty as a motive for the gesture, after he was cut from the Canadian Football League in 1995 --- coincidentally with $7 in the bank.

The Zimbabwean fighter was stunned with the gesture and offered as many thanks as he could muster. Johnson even provided Gorimbo with a closet full of 'Project Rock' merchandise and training gear.

Project Rock is Johnson's own line of fitness clothing, and it's also the official footwear sponsor of the UFC. Fighters are required to wear Project Rock training shoes at most media events and all ring walks. Though none of the actual sponsorship money touches their pockets.

“Project Rock is proud to deliver training gear to help support and fuel all UFC athletes who seek to establish their own impactful legacy in UFC and beyond,” said Johnson in his UFC x Project Rock press release.

Despite preaching to "help support" fighters, the Project Rock sponsorship offers no additional compensation to the fighters who rep the gear, even though it's mandatory to do so. But this isn't strictly Johnson's fault.

UFC contracts are structured in a way that any sponsorship --- new or old --- that a fighter is forced to represent, falls under the 'Promotional Guidelines Compliance Pay' that is already preestablished.

What does this mean? UFC fighters receive their sponsorship money in a tiered payment system depending on how many bouts they've had inside the promotion. The 2018 pay structure had fighters with 1-3 bouts being paid $3,500 in sponsorships, all the way up to $40,000 for champions.

This means that whilst Johnson can afford to be charitable and buy Gorimbo a house, his UFC sponsorship ironically isn't paying the fighters an equitable share. Perhaps if the system was balanced in favor of the fighters, Gorimbo could have bought his own house.

This issue isn't strictly the fault of Johnson or any other sponsor for that matter. It's up to the UFC to create fair partnerships between themselves, the sponsors and the athletes. But as long as UFC fighters are treated as independent contractors with no union or representation, this likely won't happen.

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