Colby
Covington has slammed Sean
Strickland for criticizing the
Ultimate Fighting Championship’s fighter pay.
Strickland recently engaged in a back-and-forth with Mike Perry
over fighter pay in the BKFC. When Perry responded by calling out
the UFC’s fighter pay, Strickland admitted that both promotions
needed to better their fighter salaries.
However, Covington disagrees with Strickland. Covington noted that
while the UFC typically pays $10,000 + $10,000 to show and win to
entry-level fighters, Strickland is probably drawing close to $1
million per fight. “Chaos” believes it is hypocritical of the
former middleweight champ to criticize UFC fighter pay when he has
built a comfortable life for himself with that.
“My thoughts are, Sean changed his life, so he’s kind of
hypocritical to be saying this,” Covington said on the SOSCAST with Adam
Sosnick. “Now he lives in like a really nice mansion-style type
house, you know, has great cars, and has money in the bank. So who
is he to say this? He’s literally being a hypocrite too, like, he’s
talking about the guys that just started in UFC. He’s talking about
the $10,000/$10,000 pay. Yeah, that’s when you get your first fight
in UFC. Let’s talk about what he’s making now. He’s making a
guaranteed at least $500,000 to $1.5 million in that range per
fight.”
Covington further went on to defend the UFC’s base salary for
newcomers. The former UFC interim welterweight champ argued that a
fighter shouldn’t be expecting massive paydays from the promotion
while starting out, especially without having made any business for
them first. Covington ended by hitting below the belt, saying
Strickland should be grateful for a “nice” home in the UFC after
his abusive childhood.
“As a first-time fighter in the UFC, you haven’t made the UFC any
business, you haven’t done anything for the company,” Covington
said. “So, why do you think you deserve to get handouts and get
paid? If you go 0-2 on your first contract, you don’t win any
fights, how should you ever deserve to get paid or get healthcare?
You did nothing for the company, you added no value, and you made
the company no money. So, Sean’s in the wrong here again. I don’t
know why he’s so mad about the UFC, they made him a million or two.
So, he got molested as a kid by his dad allegedly, so why is he
talking bad about the UFC? He’s from a broken home, now he is in a
f—ing home.”