Curtis Blaydes is tired of the excuses when it comes to pay for UFC fighters.
Blaydes is set to headline UFC on ESPN 11 this Saturday night (June 20). He’ll collide with former Bellator heavyweight champion Alexander Volkov. “Razor” holds the number three spot on the UFC heavyweight rankings, while Volkov sits at the number seven position.
Curtis Blaydes Weighs In On Fighter Pay In UFC
Blaydes is aware that more fighters are starting to express their gripes with the UFC over pay. He believes the UFC should ditch the excuses and either pay fighters more or admit there is no intention to bump up pay. Here’s what Blaydes told CBS Sports.
“I don’t want to hear all those excuses, the money is there,” Blaydes said. “I don’t want to hear the excuses. Even if you just bumped us up to like 29% of revenue, that would be a giant raise for guys. I don’t want to hear that. If you don’t want to pay us, just say you don’t want to give us the money. Just say that and don’t make excuses like, ‘I don’t know where it’s going to come from.’ It’s like, bro, don’t do that. Don’t disrespect our intelligence like that. We are worth more. If you don’t want to pay us, just say that and we can make our own informed decisions.”
We’ve already seen UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and Jorge Masvidal take issue with the UFC over pay. Former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez says he wishes more fighters would realize how valuable they are. Gray Maynard has also been vocal about low pay during his time with the UFC.
Anytime UFC president Dana White is asked about fighter pay, his answer always seems to be, “everybody wants more money.” The UFC boss has also said he feels Jones and Masvidal are disgruntled due to the COVID-19 crisis. He has slammed anyone who thinks the issue comes down to the UFC’s business model.
