The UFC has grown in popularity consistently over the years at a pretty exponential rate. But still, one issue that has been heavily critiqued about the fight promotion has been about fighter pay.
In comparison to other sports around the world, fighters are making pennies on the dollar compared to what they are bringing in for the promotion.
And with all we know about concussions and head trauma that fighters naturally go through, there is a very clear argument that fighters in the promotion should be getting compensated far more fairly than they have been up until this point.
Former UFC champion Sean Strickland commented on the matter in a recent interview with now-retired UFC fighter Daniel Cormier, going off on the UFC brasses for how much money they are bringing in while fighters are still struggling for their fair share.
“The UFC doesn’t do the right things,” said Strickland in a video shared by Championship Round on X, formerly known as Twitter. “It doesn’t f****** do the right things. It doesn’t do the right things with most of their roster. if you go look at what these f****, the guys that run the UFC, what they’re making to what guys get paid. It’s f****** s*** dude. They don’t do the right things. And unless you hold them at gunpoint, they ain’t gonna f****** do it.”
Strickland certainly had a fair point. Compare the pay that UFC fighters get to boxing stars, and the two compensations are not even in the same stratosphere.
There is a reason that Conor McGregor once went to boxing to take a fight against Floyd Mayweather… And until the brasses at the UFC pay fighters what they are worth, this will likely continue to be a talking point for years to come.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.