Jorge Masvidal is reflecting on the UFC‘s payment system and defending fighters’ pay.
Jorge Masvidal came to the UFC back in 2013 he had a good run with a mix of wins and losses for the first four years of his UFC career. In 2019 he scored a huge knockout over Ben Askren, the fastest knockout in UFC history. This win skyrocketed him to stardom. He followed that up by winning the BMF title over Nate Diaz and became an overnight sensation. Following that win over Díaz, Masvidal fought for the UFC title twice, losing both times. He recently retired from the UFC and now is in a unique position to look back on his career and the company that he worked for for many years.
Recently the subject of fighter pay has been coming up more prominently in conversations in the MMA community. Many fighters are asking for better pay and fight purses. On the flip side, there are few fighters who claimed the UFC is more than fair when it comes to salary. Now Jorge Masvidal is giving his thoughts on the subject.
Jorge Masvidal gives his thoughts on UFC fighter pay
One man who is leading the charge on the topic of fighter pay is celebrity boxer, Jake Paul. Paul has often called out Dana White about not paying his fighters enough and has in the past, been looking to start a fighter’s union in order to improve conditions. He caught up with Jorge Masvidal recently on his podcast called BS with Jake Paul and asked him about fighter pay.
“It’s an interesting situation with the UFC, the pay’s gone up in some areas, in some areas, not,” he said. “I mean, I got nothing but good stuff to say about Dana. The relationship wasn’t always the best in the beginning but I got nothing but good stuff to say because he’s allowed me to create so much money, so much publicity, marketing, all this stuff, and he’s helped me out tremendously. Me, personally, I’m biased. So, I’m not the right person to ask because I’m like a Dana candidate. I’m also, paying fighters more.”
Paul recently signed with PFL to head up their pay-per-view division. He’s also in charge of improving fighter pay and other issues. Masvidal believes that although that UFC is doing a great job and he is a big fan of how White runs his business there could be improvements.
“I know Dana’s running a business and he’s a great businessman so can he give out the checks we want as fighters? That’s like a business decision. Obviously, I have always advocated throughout my career and even more now that I’m retired for more money for the fighters because it’s a f–king tough job,” he said. “You shouldn’t be in the top 10 having to f–king work at Walmart or something. If you’re in the top 15, it should be set that you’re making enough money per fight whether you have sponsors or not that all your bills are covered. We hear that guys have to have part-time job positions now while they’re fighting and you know there’s like lopsidedness there.”
Masvidal is now in the promoter seat himself for his Gamebred Fighting series. He holds boxing and bare-knuckle boxing matches and has been known to pay his fighters very well. He seems to be doing his part to improve the lives of his fighters under his umbrella.
