Sean Strickland debunked the notion that fighters will get paid more after the company signed a new $7.7 billion deal with Paramount+.
The UFC has doubled the post-fight bonuses to $100,000 and added an extra $25,000 check for every fighter that gets a finish since the deal kicked off in 2026, and TKO Group Holdings president and COO Mark Shapiro promised to “continue to do right by our fighters and our superstars” and pay “premium dollars” to “the cream of the crop.”
The former UFC middleweight champion has been in a main event in eight of his last 10 UFC appearances, including title bouts with Israel Adesanya and twice versus Dricus Du Plessis. Strickland, who is headlining Saturday’s UFC Houston fight card against Anthony Hernandez, said “no one’s getting paid f*cking more.”
“The UFC is the most, as far as the pay scale, there is no — you compare it to any other sporting event, the UFC is the most f*cked up,” Strickland told Complex News. “If you compare it to like pay versus athletes versus what they’re making, there is no argument there. It’s not fair, it’s predatory. There is no argument there. Now we’re a bunch of f*cking idiots who take our clothes off and go fight for f*cking shorten our lives for this. So like, do we deserve better? I don’t f*cking know. I’m just telling you that there is no argument here that the UFC is not predatory.”
For Strickland, the UFC should “match any other sporting event” for an ideal pay structure. The former champion cites the NFL, which pays athletes a much larger portion of the revenue if compared to the piece of the UFC pie that goes to fighters.
“The UFC should do the same, but it won’t be as predatory,” Strickland said. “But again, we take our f*cking clothes off and get hit in the head like assholes, so maybe we deserve this.”
This is not the first time a UFC main event star has publicly discussed no pay rise on the Paramount+ era. Justin Gaethje, who won the interim lightweight belt on the first card of the year against Paddy Pimblett, said on the UFC 324 media day that “I’m not getting $1 more.” Dana White later said “Gaethje was offered more money, and Gaethje never responded.” Gaethje declined to comment on that during a press conference also attended by White on the following day.
Asked if more fighters are afraid to discuss that topic out of fear of repercussions, Strickland said “it’s public knowledge.”
“But again, does it change? No, it f*cking doesn’t change,” Strickland said. “You say no to a fight. Well, guess what? They’re go find some f*cking guy in some fucking sandpit and they’ll do it for fucking five and five. This is why you’re slowly gonna see the American roster die because it’s outsourced by people that f*cking, you could live on — I mean, what are they signing guys? 10 and 10? How much is f*cking rent in Vegas? It’s like $2,000, $1,600, $1,400? So it’s like, once you pay your managers, your taxes, how the f*ck you supposed to live on that? ‘Well, you could fight four times a year.’ Okay, so you go 3-1. Like, no, you’ll make more money at f*cking Walmart, dude. But it’s what the UFC wants, man. It’s all just f*cking corporate, f*cking predatory. That’s how it goes you. Why do I want to go compete with a Brazilian where he could go make money and live pretty nicely, to where you can’t do that in America? Why would anybody want that? It doesn’t make sense.”
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