The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is home to some of the toughest and most talented fighters within the sport of mixed martial arts. That being said, some fighters are not always happy under the banner of the UFC.
UFC bantamweight Aljamain Sterling undertook an interview on Newstalk’s Off The Ball back in 2016, in which the mixed martial artist voiced his concerns with the promotion’s provided compensation.
“The contract was so low that it’s kind of laughable, in my opinion, so I don’t have a problem mentioning the numbers. For the last contract, before the fight – maybe a week and a half or two weeks beforehand before the fight – they offered me twenty and twenty, with three grand increases [per fight] until the title fight. I was scratching my head, like, are you serious?
“Twenty and twenty is not good enough for a guy ranked top five. There’s no way in hell anyone should think that’s ok. There’s been a couple of fighters out there who’ve been saying ‘Oh, Aljamain Sterling has been whining and complaining about money on twitter’ and I’m like dude, do you have any idea what whining and complaining actually is?
“I’m asking for a legitimate raise with legitimate reasons for a raise, so if you consider that whining and complaining I’d hate to see the offers UFC give you, and that you instantly sign because you guys are puppets.”
Severe MMA’s Seán Sheehan would later take to social media to report that Aljamain Sterling claimed that, at the time, he did not have enough money to go see a doctor unless the condition was serious.
