Gustafsson: Fighters are underpaid
When speaking to MMAJunkie, Sweden’s Alexander Gustafsson was asked what he would change if he ran the UFC. His first response, pay the fighters more.
When speaking to MMAJunkie, Sweden’s Alexander Gustafsson was asked what he would change if he ran the UFC. His first response, pay the fighters more:
Gustafsson (16-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) and Cormier (16-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) stand to make a good deal of money when they battle over the title. But a privileged position in the payout hierarchy hasn’t softened Gustafsson’s position on UFC pay. When he sat down with MMAjunkie he named pay issues as the primary thing he would address were he in charge of the promotion.
Pay the fighters a lot more money, Gustafsson said. For all the hard work and the sacrifices fighters generally do to fight, I think they’re a little bit underpaid. The same thing with the Reebok deal, too. I don’t have anything negative to say about it. I just think, why take away from fighters who haven’t established themselves in the organization? They have a hard time already, so why take away the small sponsors so they can pay the rent and pay their bills? Why take that away too? Really squeezing that last money from the fighters that haven’t been established yet. I think it’s sad to see.
