UFC middleweight champ Sean Strickland wouldn’t advise anyone to
take up fighting as a career.
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Strickland, who is in known to speak his mind without hesitation on
a variety of uncomfortable topics, recently touched upon the
controversial topic of UFC fighter pay. Strickland joined UFC Hall
of Famer Don Frye and “Extra Rounds” host T.J. DeSantis on a live
broadcast for Professional Bull Riders (PBR), which is owned by the
UFC parent company Endeavor.
Strickland started by asking Frye about the UFC fighter pay during
his time, which was revealed to be $50,000 for tourney winners and
$500 for everyone else. The middleweight champ then went on a long
rant explaining why he advised a parent against letting his son
take up fighting professionally.
“I was like, ‘You see the Contender [Series fighters], what do you
think they make?’ And he goes, ‘I don’t know.’ I go, ‘They make
[$5,000] and [$5,000]. If they lose, they make [$5,000].’ And he
goes, ‘Damn.’ I go, ‘If you lose, guess what, you’re not going to
UFC.’ So this entire life you could have spent building a life,
doing any other aspect in life, you chose to train fighting.
“So let’s just say you make it now you make it to the UFC. Well,
hey, guess what, what do you think they sign the average guy on?
… [$10,000] and [$10,000] for this man. So you make it to UFC,
you get signed, 10 and 10, and now you fight for 10 and 10, and
you’ve spent your entire life working for this one goal. You get
the blue check mark, you get the UFC in your logo, you get all the
people, you get all of it now. So you go 2-2 and maybe they’re
boring fights, and the UFC cuts you, and now guess what? You have
made a total of … $60,000 your entire career, and you have no
other option, because you can’t be a part-time fighter. You’ve got
to be full time.
“So now you’re a 24-year-old man looking yourself in the mirror
saying, ‘I spent my entire life doing this one thing and I’ve made
$24,000, or $60,000. What do I do now? You go teach cardio
kickboxing.”
While the live broadcast didn’t capture the entirety of his
comments, Strickland made sure to upload an
Instagram reel with the rest of his interview.