Another fighter speaks out over the lack of pay in the UFC.
Ultimate Fighter Season 5 contestant Gray Maynard speaks up during a time when Jon Jones and Jorge Masvidal are currently having financial issues with the promotion at the moment.
White has dismissed Jones and Masvidal wanting more money for their upcoming fights, continuously stating that both men recently signed brand new deals with the promotion; however, “Gamebred” has stated that the deals that he was offered are “take it or leave it” situations.
Maynard, now retired, spoke to BJPenn.com about the financial situation for fighters and the MMA veteran voices the same concerns that’s being brought up by Jones and Masvidal:
“We have to have a union. We have to have people standing up for us. Dana is a great talker and is awesome. He always says boxing is broken and we create the best fights,” he explained. “Like why do you have to create the best fights by forcing people to be broke and they need to fight? They force people into fights for your entertainment because they are starving. That doesn’t sound like a sport to me.”
“It’s funny that Dana gives a speech after the weigh-ins and it’s supposed to motivate you. For half my career, it did motivate me. He tells you to go out there and put on a show have the Fight of the Night, etc. What did I do? Pay-per-view headliner that I was only guaranteed $26,000 for and I gave him a Fight of the Year that they play all the time. Probably one of the more played fights ever,” he explained. “All I got was a regular $50,000 bonus and a pat on the back. Joe Silva then called me two days later to renegotiate and get me to do the lowest price possible.”
Being stiffed out of good money is also the reason Maynard decided to walk away from the sport in 2018 as he just wasn’t having fun anymore:
“I was done, dude. I was like what the f**k is this. This is stupid, this is a f**king stupid sport,” Maynard said. “I left my gym and stopped paying coaches because I was barely making any profit. It just got to the point like what the f**k am I doing? That is when my career took a dip because I stopped giving a s**t.”