Jorge Masvidal criticises UFC fighter pay - 'Our voices don't matter'
- Sean Fisher
- 10 June 2022
Former UFC star Jorge Masvidal has echoed the criticism coming Dana White's way regarding the payment of his fighters.
The controversy around the UFC's payment of fighters continues to rumble on, and former two-time welterweight challenger Jorge Masvidal has joined those criticisng Dana White's treatment of athletes.
The purses in boxing bouts continue to overshadow that of the UFC, despite the organisation's rapid growth in recent years.
It's led to many fighters demanding higher winnings, and even resulted in some MMA stars swapping the octagon for the ring.
Masvidal was the latest to speak out about the payment issue, and the 37-year-old even suggested that the opinions of fighters means nothing to the UFC.
Endeavor's CFO says UFC fighter pay shouldn't be compared to the NFL and NBA, but rather "other individual sports."
— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) May 13, 2022
📰 https://t.co/4iivlHjsiY pic.twitter.com/6eBmhYUmg7
During his recent appearance on Ariel Helwani's 'The MMA Hour', Masvidal said, "Our opinions don't matter for crap, you know."
"Like, for the uniforms, for a lot of the pay - a lot of things, our voices don't matter," said Masvidal.
"All that matters is that we get in there and kick someone's ass, that's all they care for. It comes down to fighters, the only breed like ourselves are other fighters. Many good things and many also bad things (come from that).
"Fighters are very individualized. If we were all able to get together and voice our opinions as one, these paychecks we would see just rise, from me all the way to the bottom guys,"
"But fighters are very individual creatures, you know, we're all pounding on our chest saying, 'We don't need nobody.'"
For the MMA fans out there, Kambosos reportedly earned in the ballpark of 10 million for that fight.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 5, 2022
There ain’t an MMA fighter not named Conor McGregor making anywhere near that right now upfront. There should be. Several. But alas …
Francis Ngannou is another UFC star that has disputed paychecks, and the current heavyweight champion is yet to agree on a contract extension with Dana White's company.
In the meantime, 'The Predator' has been linked with a $50million hybrid fight with boxing heavyweight Tyson Fury.
Some have called for a 'Fighter's Union' to help protect fighters from being underpaid, and Masvidal urged his colleagues to work together on the issue to help improve and evolve the sport.
