Sean Strickland Is Fed up With UFC Pay: Is Boxing About To Steal Its Biggest Stars? | Deadspin.com

The UFC has spent years constructing among the greatest names in fight sports activities, however a rising variety of its fighters are beginning to ask an uncomfortable query: If the promotion is making a lot cash, why aren’t they getting a much bigger piece of it?

Sean Strickland could be the clearest instance but. The middleweight champion has publicly questioned his compensation, threatened to stroll away from the UFC and even floated the thought of combating Jake Paul as soon as he will get out of his contract. For a promotion constructed round having the most effective fighters on this planet, dropping a champion over cash can be a fairly dangerous look.

Strickland’s frustration comes all the way down to a well-recognized concern in MMA: the hole between what fighters consider they’re price and what the UFC is keen to pay them. But there is a new wrinkle to the dialog, and it has nothing to do with one other promotion providing a much bigger MMA contract. It’s boxing.

In October, Strickland took purpose on the reported $30 million Conor McGregor earned for his transient combat with Max Holloway, arguing that the UFC wasn’t keen to pay its personal champions a fraction of that cash. He additionally pointed to reviews that boxer Conor Benn acquired a $15 million deal from Zuffa Boxing, the boxing enterprise backed by the UFC’s mum or dad firm, TKO.

Strickland’s response was blunt. He mentioned he was contemplating transferring as much as mild heavyweight to complete out his UFC contract earlier than pursuing a combat with Paul. A day later, he doubled down, saying he would not combat or signal one other contract till his pay scenario was resolved. M

That’s greater than the same old fighter complaining after a irritating negotiation. Strickland is the reigning champion at 185 kilos, and he is publicly questioning whether or not remaining with the most important MMA promotion on this planet is price it.

And he is removed from the one one watching the cash.

The Zuffa Boxing drawback

When reviews surfaced that Benn had landed a deal price a reported $15 million for one combat, UFC fighters seen. Sean O’Malley, Max Holloway and Israel Adesanya have been among the many names who reacted to the reported payday, with O’Malley brazenly acknowledging that he hadn’t made that type of cash himself.

It’s an ungainly scenario for TKO. The identical company umbrella now homes the UFC and Zuffa Boxing, however the monetary alternatives accessible to athletes in these two companies can look very completely different. A boxer can negotiate an enormous particular person combat deal whereas an MMA champion with years of service, title wins and a recognizable identify stays tied to a contract negotiated underneath a unique mannequin.

Of course, boxing and MMA aren’t equivalent companies. A reported deal is not the identical as assured take-home earnings, and one high-profile boxing contract doesn’t suggest each boxer is making greater than each UFC fighter. But fighters do not want an accounting diploma to know the headline quantity. If a boxer can reportedly earn $15 million for one combat, they will marvel why their very own championship bouts aren’t price extra.

The irony is that Zuffa Boxing might find yourself making the UFC’s compensation debate more durable to include. TKO’s funding in boxing provides fighters a extremely seen comparability level with out requiring them to look outdoors the corporate’s personal enterprise. The message is not essentially that each UFC fighter ought to get a boxer’s payday. It’s that the cash exists someplace within the fight sports activities world, and athletes need to know why they can not entry extra of it.

The UFC has additionally traditionally held a unique place on crossover fights. Dana White has argued that he needs the most effective fighters competing towards the most effective fighters, fairly than reserving matchups just because they generate a payday. But Strickland is brazenly contemplating exactly that type of alternative, and Jake Paul has welcomed the potential of working with him as soon as he is free to take action.

If a fighter believes the UFC will not meet his monetary expectations, a profitable crossover bout can begin to look much less like a sideshow and extra like a legit different.

Is the UFC truly going to lose its stars?

The UFC is not about to break down as a result of a number of champions are sad with their contracts. It nonetheless has the deepest roster in MMA, the most important platform within the sport and the flexibility to supply championship alternatives that different promotions cannot simply replicate. Most fighters can also’t merely stroll away from an lively contract as a result of a greater supply comes alongside.

But the extra essential query is whether or not the UFC dangers dropping leverage over its greatest names.

Strickland’s scenario is especially fascinating as a result of he is not an ageing former champion in search of one final payday. He regained the middleweight title by defeating Khamzat Chimaev in May, and he is now publicly difficult the promotion over what he believes he is price. When a reigning champion is keen to debate leaving, it turns into more durable to dismiss the problem as a grievance from the underside of the roster.

Michael “Venom” Page’s current transfer to Misfits Boxing presents one other instance of fighters exploring choices outdoors the UFC. Page went 5-1 within the promotion and was ranked in two divisions, however the UFC selected to not re-sign him. He has since spoken in regards to the artistic freedom he expects to have in boxing, displaying that the attraction of leaving is not at all times restricted to the dimensions of a paycheck.

Page is not in the identical place as Strickland, and his departure wasn’t a direct contract riot. Still, it highlights a broader actuality: fighters now have extra methods to construct their manufacturers and pursue alternatives outdoors the UFC than they did a decade in the past. Boxing, influencer promotions and different fight sports activities ventures can supply completely different types of publicity, artistic management and incomes potential.

The greatest names have one other benefit. They can carry an viewers with them. A recognizable champion who leaves the UFC does not mechanically take the game’s complete fan base, however they’ll carry sufficient consideration to make an alternate promotion’s occasion worthwhile. That’s why the potential of a fighter like Strickland crossing over to face Paul issues greater than a random prospect altering employers.

There’s additionally a restrict to how a lot the UFC wants to fret. The promotion has survived public pay disputes earlier than, and fighters often return to negotiations after making their frustrations identified. Strickland’s threats are usually not proof that he is leaving, and there’s no proof {that a} mass exodus of UFC stars is imminent. The UFC nonetheless controls a useful platform, and competing alternatives do not at all times include the identical degree of publicity or sporting credibility.

But the promotion cannot ignore the optics. When champions see a reported $15 million boxing deal and begin questioning their very own compensation, the talk turns into larger than one fighter’s contract. And when the UFC’s personal mum or dad firm is paying large cash to boxers, it turns into more durable to maintain the dialog neatly separated.

The UFC might not lose its greatest stars tomorrow. Strickland might attain an settlement, O’Malley and Holloway might stay the place they’re, and the following era of contenders will proceed chasing the identical belts. But the truth that fighters are brazenly discussing alternate options is a warning price being attentive to.