Journalist claims Khabib Nurmagomedov's Eagle FC refused to disclose payouts
Khabib Nurmagomedov-owned MMA promotion Eagle FC has reportedly refused to disclose official payouts for their latest event. Eagle FC 44 took place last month at the FLXcast Arena in Miami, Florida, and featured some popular names in the world of combat sports on the card.
It was also the promotion's first event held on U.S. soil. MMA journalist Amy Kaplan took to Twitter to claim that although she requested the promotion to provide details of payouts, the company declined.
In case anyone was wondering. I DID request the payouts for #EagleFC, directly from the promotion. They declined to provide them.
According to Kaplan, the promotion refused to provide payout details for their latest events because it would lead to fighters getting to know each other's salaries. This could lead to some fighters asking why they aren't as well compensated as some of their colleagues:
"No promotion is going to hand out their purses because then fighters can say “so and so got paid X” I want that too. Nothing to do with their competitors. It keeps the negotiating power in the hands of the promoter," Kaplan wrote.
@NPlafcanx2 No promotion is going to hand out their purses because then fighters can say “so and so got paid X” I want that too. Nothing to do with their competitors. It keeps the negotiating power in the hands of the promoter
Fighters competing on Eagle FC 44 card reportedly got paid as much as they'd get in the UFC
It appears Eagle FC 44 turned out to be a successful event for the Russian MMA promotion. Kaplan revealed that some former UFC fighters who competed on the card confirmed that the payouts were similar to what they'd get paid for competing in the octagon:
"Fighters went on the record with me saying they got paid what they were paid in the UFC, I’ve already reported on this," Kaplan wrote.
@NPlafcanx2 Fighters went on the record with me saying they got paid what they were paid in the UFC, I’ve already reported on this.
Khabib's manager Ali Abdelaziz recently claimed the event generated mind-blowing viewership numbers. The founder of Dominance MMA said that upon being told about the viewership numbers generated by the event, he was completely blown away.
I was just being told the numbers of the viewership eagle FC 44 it will blow your mind @TeamKhabib @Rizvan_RM
The event was headlined by a heavyweight matchup between former Bellator fighter Sergei Kharitonov and former kickboxing champion Tyrone Spong. The event was co-headlined by a light heavyweight clash between former UFC champion Rashad Evans and Gabriel Checco.