Sean O'Malley says he should be taking it easy on bashing the UFC pay system, but he still wants his fair share.
Sean O'Malley is one of the more popular fighters on the UFC roster. He is loved by many fans and gets a lot of recognition from the media. He demands attention inside the cage and out, and that makes him marketable to the UFC. O'Malley knows all this and would like to see his pay reflect what he brings to the table.
O'Malley spoke recently about fighter pay. The topic has been at the forefront of MMA discussion as of late and O'Malley gave his thought about it. He believes that fighters who don't put up numbers are not going to be paid well. However, he knows that he is a draw and wants to be paid as such.
But perhaps his speaking publicly about this is not the right way to go about getting his wishes.
"It's a good question, I get asked it a lot. I learned to not say anything negative about it. This will probably get click-baited, 'Sean doesn't think the UFC pays him' or some s', but like a lot of the times, yeah. I'm in a different position where I have two fights left in my contract," O'Malley said on his podcast, Timbo Sugar Show (via Sportskeeda). "The contract I'm on right now, I get paid decent, but in two fights, Dana went on record and said, 'Hey, we need to f--ing pay him' which is rare because Dana never says that. So I think I'm going to get a good contract after these two fights."
Fighter pay was not the only money topic O'Malley weighted in on recently, as he spoke about the rise in PPV prices as well. Too much criticism is not good for any employee, and it seems that is what O'Malley is getting at. However, he is not just going to lay down and allow the UFC to steamroll him. He wants to be paid like one of the more important fighters because he believes that's what he is.
"That's why I argue that I should be getting f---ing paid more. Because dude, I mean realistically, whoever I'm fighting next, I don't have to sell that fight because I'm not gonna get paid any more if five people watch it or a million people watch it," O'Malley explained. "There should be incentives there… You do if you're in the main event and you get pay-per-view points. Like Izzy [Israel Adesanya] will probably get pay-per-view points because he's the champ. Robert Whittaker probably won't because he's fighting for the belt. But like even in my position, I should get pay-per-view points because I can sell fights."
O'Malley recently saw his way into the top 15 of the bantamweight rankings. However, despite not being ranked until recently, he has been featured on six main cards and all on PPV events, once he was even in the co-main.
O'Malley definitely has drawing power, and he plans to use it to his advantage. All things considered, it would seem unlikely that the UFC will not be paying up.
Do you think Sean O'Malley has a point about fighters getting paid, and himself needing more?