A former UFC champion is taking the promotion to task over fighter pay when compared to what YouTubers make for boxing.
Much has been made over Internet celebrities making their way into the world of combat sports. We’ve seen Jake and Logan Paul cross over into the world of boxing. Jake defeated Ben Askren via TKO and is set to box former UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley. Logan is coming off an exhibition bout with Floyd Mayweather.
Logan’s base salary for the Mayweather fight was said to be $250,000 with 10 percent of the Showtime PPV cut. Paul told TMZ he expects his final payout to be $20 million.
Former UFC Lightweight Champion, Sean Sherk, took to his Facebook page to criticize the UFC over fighter pay.
“I think the UFC should be extremely embarrassed by the fact that their former champions and top-ranked fighters have to go fight YouTube stars with barely any fighting experience and make 10 times more money than they do in the UFC.
I’ve been retired for 10 years and nothing has changed in that organization. UFC fighters are still the worst paid athletes on the biggest stage.
Believe me, I have my stories too.”
When a fan mentioned UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou’s tweet questioning what MMA fighters are doing wrong, Sherk replied with the following.
“The fighters aren’t doing anything wrong. The fighters want to win world titles on the biggest stage, I’ve been there so I know. What’s wrong is that the fighters need to unionize, without The UFC there will still be fighters but without fighters, there is no UFC.
“For some reason, the fighters refuse to do that, it Has to be an all-or-nothing kind of a thing. The big-name fighters need to jump on board but they’re the ones making big money so they have more to lose than gain.”
Do you agree Sean Sherk’s comments here about fighter pay?
