Co-campeão do UFC Oklahoma City reclama de baixos salários - 'Lutadores levam a pior'

Jared Cannonier returns to the Octagon this weekend (Sat., July 18, 2026) in UFC Oklahoma City’s co-main, taking on Christian Leroy Duncan, whose 7-2 UFC record is tiny compared to the 11-9 that “The Killa Gorilla” carries.

Cannonier has been in the UFC for more than a full decade and has settled into a gatekeeper position at Middleweight. And it’s not an easy job, as his recent 1-3 record reflects. In a new interview with Full Send MMA, Cannonier spoke on fighter pay and how tough things are for UFC fighters at his level.

“The fighter pay conversation, I would love to get paid more,” Cannonier said. “I would love all of us MMA fighters to get paid more. But, there is big differentiation in skill level, even in UFC. I think the UFC pays based a lot based off of merit. How you perform, A. How you market yourself, B. I would like to get paid the way that highest-performing athletes in any sport would get paid. We’re on TVs around the world. We go through a lot just to make it to fight week.

“We lose a lot of money that’s not coming to us,” he added. “We used to get a bunch of sponsors. We still get sponsors, but the landscape, the changing of the landscape changed that for us, and it didn’t leave us with much of anything at the end.

“Fighters are definitely at the s–t end of the stick of this whole business,” he concluded. “I think I should have million-dollar contracts, not $100,000 contracts and stuff. At the stage that I’m in, you know? I’ve been top five, top ten for about seven to eight years. Again, I’m not complaining, but this is definitely how I feel. I’m not gonna hold back in voicing my opinion on that.”

Cannonier comes into UFC Oklahoma City ranked No. 10, fighting the up-and-coming No. 12-seeded Duncan. He’s in the co-main on a card that’s expected to draw more than $2 million at the gate alone. Should he be making $1 million per fight? Not according to UFC, which would argue it could replace Cannonier with anyone else on the roster and it wouldn’t affect the lucrative bottom line by a single cent.

But, guys like Cannonier who have built a reputation for fighting hard and bleeding for the promotion over years certainly deserve more than they’re getting. At 42 years old, Cannonier is approaching the end of his career. To spend so many years in the Top 10 of his division and walk away without a huge wad in the bank would be criminal.

Right?

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Fonte: MMA Mania — leia o original