The combat sports media continues to weep for struggling fighters like Cheyanne Buys, who broke down in tears after scoring a post-fight bonus at the UFC Vegas 33 event last weekend in “Sin City,” where she stopped Gloria de Paula in just 60 seconds.
“The Warrior Princess” revealed a negative cash flow heading into her second UFC fight, which came on the heels of a debut loss to the saliva spitting Montserrat Ruiz as part of the UFC Vegas 22 fight card back in March.
Promotion president Dana White doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about.
“There’s a lot of people on their way up who are broke, struggling, trying to make it,” White told MMA Junkie. “The flip side to that is she’s 1-1 in the UFC and made 80 grand in the last six months. This is one of those sports you’ve got to win. If you win, everything’s good. If you lose, everything’s bad. That’s the nature of this beast.”
And when it comes to beasts, the only way to survive is to eat what you kill.
Despite the general consensus that most fighters are underpaid, not everyone is ready to hold UFC accountable. Defenders include UFC color commentator Joe Rogan and former UFC light heavyweight Chuck Liddell, who are both quite wealthy.
Fighter pay will continue to be a hot-button issue, even among the sport’s top stars (like this outspoken former champion), but its unlikely to change anything in UFC without any sort of union or collective bargaining agreement.