Ed Herman struggled during injury layoff

UFC light heavyweight Ed Herman us 38, and fought over 20 times in the UFC, across more than 12 years. On Saturday at UFC Fight Night 138 he fights Gian Villante; it’s his first fight in 16 months, due to injury. To make ends meet ‘Short Fuse’ has been working as a heavy equipment operator.

I’ve had three ACL surgeries. A lot of guys have a hard time coming back from one,” he said to Mike Bohn for MMAjunkie. “These days you see it more with the other sports and stuff. But, yeah, I thought about hanging them up. I actually had to go get a job working construction this summer to pay my damn bills. After doing that for a couple months I really wanted to get back in here. At first, I thought ‘Getting a regular job ain’t so bad.’ But yeah, it sucked.

Although compensation has improved, UFC starting purses are not much, so Herman doesn’t have a cushion to fall back on, and if you are hurt and don’t fight, you don’t get paid. Herman estimated a theoretical income, but it assumed going 3-0 and having three fights in a year. However, Herman hasn’t had three fights in a year since 2013 and he hasn’t won three in a year since 2007. In fact, on Saturday he will have had three fights in three years. So the real numbers are lower.

“The money is getting better, but when I first got in 12 years ago the money wasn’t that good, said Herman. Coming off ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ I think I was getting 12 and 12. After taxes and all that, you pay your coaches, what is that? Like $15,000 or something? You fight three times in a year, you’re at $45,000. You’ve got a family and stuff, that ain’t nothing. You can’t save money. You’re living paycheck to paycheck. Then having some injuries, I was out for almost two years back in ’09 and 2010 with knee injuries. I have some investments and some things going, but not enough to where I can just like retire and not have to work.

It’s nice to see some of these guys are making real money that will last the rest of their lives. By the time I’m gone you’ll see more of that. Maybe with some more security like retirement, or some type of pension and stuff with the possibility of unions coming into place, but I think I’ll be gone by the time any of that happens most likely. I’m just going to keep doing what I can, make as much money as I can and stack it away, save it for my kids’ college funds and just keep doing what I can do.

I’ve still got some fight left in me. I’ve had some injuries in my career that’s slowed it down. I haven’t been able to compete as much as I’ve wanted too consistently. I just turned 38, so two more years maybe. We’ll see what happens. Kind of taking it one fight at a time now. Seeing where my body takes me. As long as I can stay healthy.

Herman is on a two-fight losing streak. If he loses Saturday night, you can expect to see him cut.