The growing trend of unrest among the top stars in the UFC
There is a growing trend of discontent amongst fighters in the UFC as Jorge Masvidal and Jon Jones find themselves at odds with Dana White and company.“Triple C” Henry Cejudo has already retired amid rumors that he would have liked to earn more money and was not happy with what he was earning as a champion.
“It’s not a matter of not wanting to fight, I committed my whole life to this trade. The issue is not being able to go anywhere else.”
The above statement by Jon Jones on his twitter page is in direct contradiction to what Dana White has been saying throughout the week regarding fighter pay.
“These guys are independent contractors. This isn’t like the NFL, where I can make you–you come to practice, and you do this, or you’re going to get fined. These guys can do whatever they want. They can say whatever they want. I had a big thing the other day with a reporter about fighter pay. They can come out and tell you what they make any day of the week. They can do any of that stuff. These guys can do whatever they want. They don’t have to fight.”- Dana White at UFC 250 post-fight press conference.
White classified his fighters as independent contractors, but conveniently left out the part about fighters getting to do almost anything except fight for another organization. That was a key reason behind Jones and BMF champ Jorge Masvidal asking the UFC to release them from their contract so they could go earn more in another promotion.
UFC had always faced criticism for their pay structure with rookie fighters earning just 10,000 US dollars for fights. Fighters also have to pay for training through their own pockets unlike “NFL players” while any injury they suffer during training is not liable on the UFC. Mixed Martial Arts has been the fastest growing sport of our times, but superstars who have brought the eyeballs to the product itself also seem unhappy.
Conor McGregor, who gets special treatment from the promotion, has also retired evidently because of not being happy with the pay structure of the company. Ronda Rousey also seems much happier with WWE’s pay structure and highlighted the massive differences between working for UFC and WWE.
How can things get better?
First off, promises have been broken by the UFC regarding Jon Jones, who was told that a new deal would be in place if he moved up to heavyweight. Jorge Masvidal feels frustrated because he will earn less for fighting champion Kamaru Usman than he did against Nate Diaz.
Dana White has dismissed the current wave of agitation regarding fighter pay so far and has promised to ‘keep the bus on the f***ing highway’. UFC itself has always had an ethos about the company being bigger than anyone and the fact that the show itself must go on.
Only Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey have been the larger-than-life figures who got special treatment by White, but even they seem to feel unappreciated by the look of it. As things stand this dispute could be a very important moment in the sport's history.
Things could either go in the way of the fighters with them earning more percentage of the revenue being generated or Dana White bullies them into submission regarding their pay in what will be an enormous loss to not just Jones and Masvidal, but the whole fighters fraternity.