Conor McGregor might be getting paid, but not everyone in UFC is.
Many fighters have spoken out before against the low pay, but Aljamain Sterling’s words might be the most candid yet.
The 26-year-old bantamweight spoke out on Irish radio against UFC’s “twenty and twenty” system whereby fighters get paid $20,000 for a fight, with the winner picking up a further $20,000.
Speaking about his most recent fight, Sterling said: “The contract was so low that it’s kind of laughable, in my opinion, so I don’t have a problem mentioning the numbers.
“For the last contract, before the fight – maybe a week and a half or two weeks beforehand before the fight – they offered me twenty and twenty, with three grand increases [per fight] until the title fight. I was scratching my head, like, are you serious?”
“Twenty and twenty is not good enough for a guy ranked top five. There’s no way in hell anyone should think that’s okay. There’s been a couple of fighters out there who’ve been saying ‘Oh, Aljamain Sterling has been whining and complaining about money on Twitter’ and I’m like dude, do you have any idea what whining and complaining actually is?
“I’m asking for a legitimate raise with legitimate reasons for a raise, so if you consider that whining and complaining I’d hate to see the offers UFC give you, and that you instantly sign because you guys are puppets.”
