UFC Star Sean O’Malley: I definitely would like to see the fighter pay get increased
UFC star and former champion Sean O’Malley has given his thoughts on the current state of fighter pay in the promotion.
As we know, fighter pay is a constant talking point in the world of mixed martial arts – and that’s especially true for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Everyone wants to discuss whether or not the athletes are getting paid what they deserve, and that means a lot of fighters are constantly asked about it by the media, including Sean O’Malley.
On Saturday night, Sean O’Malley locked horns with Song Yadong and came away with the win, which will get him one step closer to another world title opportunity. It’s safe to say that ‘Suga’ has been one of the biggest stars in the UFC in recent years, and as a result, he is probably one of the better-paid fighters.
In a recent interview, Sean O’Malley gave his thoughts on fighter pay.
Sean O’Malley on fighter pay issue
“You sign a contract and you fight; you have a certain amount of fights on your contract. Once you sign that contract, you can’t fight four or five times and then complain, ‘Hey, why am I getting paid this much?’ We sign contracts, you fight your contract out, at some point you renegotiate your contract.
“I still got a couple fights left. I think I have two more fights left on my contract. I feel like I’ll probably renegotiate before my next fight. It would have been more regardless of whether Paramount got the rights or whatever. UFC’s always taken care of me, they’ve been very good to me, I’m very grateful for the platform they give me.
“Moving over to Paramount, supposedly there’s going to be more eyeballs. What does that do for me? Makes the Suga brand bigger, better, and I’m going to take advantage of that. But yes, I definitely would like to see the fighter pay get increased.”
“I saw the bonuses got moved up, which is so crazy. Now these young guys coming in – I think I have eight or nine bonuses – I’m like, damn, if that would have been 100,000 a bonus, 800–900,000 would have been sweet.
“These young guys are going to be able to start making money earlier. If they go put on beautiful performances early, you can start making some real money. A hundred thousand for a bonus is huge. I think they did a great job with that. I think that’s fine. I don’t really have any complaints with that.”
