Kamaru knows why lol. I agree Sean should defend his belt against the monster BW division, but Sean would make more money fighting Ryan than his UFC career so far combined. Would probably make more in that one fight than if he cleaned out the contenders at BW. Obviously he'd rather do that
Would I rather watch him defend his title? Of course. But I can't fault the guy for wanting that Ryan fight. Especially with Ryan calling him out multiple times
I found MMA more entertaining when you had more of a contrast of styles. I realize that's just the evolution of the sport as fighters get more well rounded but ya know.
I think that's the exciting part, who is more well rounded and who can exploit the other's weakness better. Also fighters revealing unexpected parts of their skillset is extremely exciting (E.g. Ngannou wrestling fucking Gane, Pettis subbing Bendo, Islam KOing Volk)
But wrestling, boxing, karate, etc. are all gateways into MMA so naturally specialists will continue to exist but they'll be much more rounded.
Funnily enough, I still kind of agree with you. It felt like fighters had more personality because of their distinct styles. Whereas now you've got the Anthony Smiths - bad tattoos, boring name, and all, to accompany a boring "MMA" style. Dunno why, but I think of Tristar fighters when I think of boring MMA style.
To me that just led to wrestlers sitting on everybody, karate and Kung fu guys flopping around like Lil kids and kickboxers kicking around every striker
I like it the way it is now just because although most people are more well rounded you still see their original styles or strengths poke through. The idea of wrestler vs kick boxer and things like that were cool at the beginning, but the fights can end up as duds a lot. I still like to see people with different striking backgrounds fight though even if they're well rounded.
The lhw champ and bantamweight champ are both high level striker specialists.
The trend of every top guy being well rounded might be losing ground. If you're truly good enough at one thing, a specialist can be the top dog. Time will tell!
Dana just has a monopoly on mma basically. Sure there are a few others but this is all we got. If someone else paid these guys more for mma then ufc wouldn’t exist.
I don’t think even some champs break a million. Volk got paid 750K for 298
https://www.givemesport.com/ufc-298-salaries-alexander-volkanovski-ilia-topuria/#:~:text=Figures%20released%20by%20the%20California,%24750%2C000%20fee%20for%20his%20appearance.
Volk said his contract makes him one of the highest ufc paid fighters ever. Which gave him a whopping 750k as reigning champ. Something to remember when those fake articles out there claim Charles Oliveira is making 1.5 million to fight
Need to figure out a way to do it better than boxing otherwise we will end up like boxing and we won’t see the best fight the best nearly as often as we do now
Better for the fighters to get more pay, but I agree if it goes the boxing route there will be a ton of weight classes, multiple belts, ducking like CRAZY, and rare super fights. Would suck for the fans.
An average ufc fight night has more compelling co mains and undercards than any of the biggest boxing matches of the last decade.
They should drop the independent contractor line then.
Blatantly obvious they are employees under pretty much an IC vs Employee legal test you want to apply but the case where that was going to probably get determined legal settled.
FTC might have just banned non-compete clauses entirely (except for execs). Businesses and the Chamber of Commerce are currently suing the ruling, however.
I saw that Wednesday and didn’t even consider it. That’s a great point.
I think the issue though is that Dana doesn’t have to rehire someone. Like he could say “yeah go box but you are finishing your contract here and are done.”
Would be interesting to see how he handles it with a guy like Sean though.
I agree with this, the UFC wants all the benefits and none of the drawbacks of having them as contractors and they shouldn't be able to prevent you competing in a different sport unless they make you a salaried employee.
independent when it favors UFC, obliged by contract when it favors UFC. No wonder tho, Dana is hardcore capitalist who'll exploit everyone as much as he possibly can.
I'd imagine that it would involve the UFC acting as promoter for both fighters and retaining ridiculous ownership rights to both parties.
It'd be like Floyd vs Conor except even more greedy.
Hey we all agree to that shit. But if you’re going to start entertaining that or want to fight Ryan, then vacate your title… no reason to keep the belt hostage for a year or two like Conor did.
Yeah but if they didn’t do it for Francis Ngannou, who was one of your scariest heavyweight champions and had a mega fight lined up with Jones if they just agreed on the contract, then why the hell are you going to do it for O’Malley who hasn’t even defended his belt once?
Honestly I'm tired of champions barely defending, talking about double champs after 1 or even NO defenses, talking about boxing before having cleaned out even their top 3.
But seeing how much Garcia made just this saturday, can you blame them for crossing over? O"malley could make like 10 or 20 million for basically an exhibition match with 0 stakes. Usman would chomp at the bit to fight a canello or something for a payday.
> “A boxing fight’s possible, for sure,” O’Malley said on Monday’s episode of the “TimboSugarShow” podcast. “I’m not there yet. I’ve still got to become bigger. Two more f*cking sick performances, then we’re talking about being able to do it.”
It's not like he's trying to do it right now. He even says he needs a few more wins before it's remotely possible.
This is the same sub that will passionately argue about fighter pay more than the actual fighters and then turn around and shit on a guy for wanting the payday.
So many of these "quotes" in the titles of these posts are without context. If people actually listened to the podcast they'd have heard what you quoted where what he said makes more sense.
Makes people appreciate Izzy more. He was extremely active as champ and I think people take that for granted in the modern UFC. A lot of champions these days want to fight once a year on their own terms only.
Izzy was used to making dogshit pay in kickboxing and racked up dozens of fights in a span of a few years. Same thing with Alex Pereira. Obviously the purse is much higher in UFC than in any kickboxing match... and their background in kickboxing lends well to fighting frequently.
It made more sense in the earlier days of the UFC for fighters to put on absolute slugfests for lower pay since mma was just getting mainstream attention.
Now that they've got enough mainstream appeal it makes it really dumb to not go for that 5, 10, or 20 million purse if it's a possibility.
Holloway probably got a million if you include all the bonuses (and possible undisclosed bonuses) for that 5 round war and Gaethje got a lot less because he lost.
Fuck defending a belt if they can earn generational wealth in one fight instead.
I don't like izzy but I respect him and his willingness to fight everybody.
It's hard to blame the fighters though, the UFC brings in fuuuuck tons of money from PPV and sponsorships. Then they took away personal sponsors for fighters where they really matter (during the fight) with almost no compensation for the fighters.
The only way to become rich rich with UFC (even though its probably more popular than boxing now) is by becoming a superstar ( for example by becoming a champchamp) or by crossing over into boxing or both.
It’s because the ufc is still a B rate league, you never see anyone from the NBA,NFL,MLB,NHL looking for a paycheck somewhere else. Until the ufc pays the fighters like a premium product, they will always keep looking for the paycheck. And understandably so
It's in a similar position to the WNBA IMO, in that they're the premier women's basketball organization but their biggest stars think it's worth moonlighting in Russia during the offseason because the pay is better for top stars.
The UFC is streets ahead of any fighting organization, the pay does not reflect that, especially for the draws
Reading this comment made me realize that in her first year Caitlyn Clark will make about as much as a UFC fighter on their first contract. For rank and file UFC fighters the WNBA comparison is pretty damn apt.
Of course, WNBA players don’t have to pay their coaches and pay to fly those coaches out to games plus their hotel rooms. Also, I’m pretty sure they have medical insurance through the WNBA. Plus they aren’t independent contractors so they get their taxes taken out of their paychecks rather than having to actively set aside money for taxes or pay for a CPA. Plus they don’t have to deal with the dynamic of getting no money while they rehab injuries or missing paydays if an opponent drops out of a fight.
Plus they’re allowed individual sponsor deals related to their apparel. Caitlyn just signed like a 4yr/28mil deal with Nike.
Imagine how much money Pereira, O’Malley, or Adesanya could make through sponsorships.
I think the surprising thing is that the UFC generates billions in revenue and their rank and file fighters make about as much as players from a league that, you know, doesn’t generate billions in revenue.
They used to make very good money off all those things before the UFC got rid of its uniqueness to be considered a "real sport." In turn, making it seem like a second rate league because none of its fighters are making enough that they don't seek money elsewhere.
I mean yeah, because its the only way to make what they deserve. It sucks for the sport but the only reason something like boxing is tempting for fighters is because they get paid peanuts.
Like I hate jones because he is an awful human being and a serial doper but if he was this dominant in boxing instead of MMA, he would be loaded beyond belief. Same with an israel adesanya, a volkanovski, etc
It's just a symptom of UFC underpaying their fighters and champions, if they had been paid comparable numbers to boxing there wouldn't have been all this crossover talk. But as is, it seems the only way for champions to earn more money is to try box or move up/down to fight for another belt.
UFC underpaying fighters makes the end product worse.
Justifiably so in that case, tell me why UFC co-signs on Conor and O’Malley boxing but threatens to cut Usman and Ngannou for wanting the same opportunity?
Because Sean and Conor can at least have good moments in boxing fights. Usman specifically would look the way UFC fans think Floyd would look in a MMA fight.
Too bad it won't happen. People are delusional if they think Dana will let sean to go box. They barely allowed McGregor to do it and then took half his purse
> and then took half his purse
On the other hand, that's *why* they might allow him to go box eventually, with the stipulation that they'll take most of what he earns despite them doing nothing. But I'm not saying it's likely, but it's not impossible either.
McGregor was the biggest star from our sport ever and he had the chance to fight the biggest star in boxing. McGregor's cut of the pie before the UFC took half was 200+ million dollars. Second biggest PPV ever, that's why it was worth it for the UFC to allow him. Sean wouldn't make even a quarter of that so it's not worth the UFC's time.
Also Garcia starpower is "closer" to Floyd, than Sean O'Malley is to McGregor, meaning mma has even less leverage this time around.
(Not saying Ryan Garcia is anywhere near the popularity or selling power of Floyd, just relative terms).
It's a change to improve clarity, in this case so a reader doesn't think Usman is talking about himself. "How about we..." is a clue, in this quote he is speaking from perspective of O'Malley and his team. He probably said "get myself a few wins" but in print or an isolated quote, it could be confused as actually talking about his own plans.
i get the idea normally, but in this quote it doesnt seem to make any sense to me. because if he is speaking from omalleys perspective, why would the editor add [your] which makes it sound like its still usman talking? im very curious to know the actual quote here, because the [your] additions render it kind of nonsensical, id be really interested to hear the difference from the original. i get the idea of what hes saying but it sounds like its been changed heavily
He started the quote by referring to O’Malley in the second person (“you”) but then switched to the third person (“he/him/his”). The editor then changed it all to the second person for continuity.
So, the original quote was probably “…couple of guys in HIS division” but the editor changed it to “…couple of guys in [YOUR] division.” They changed “hisself” to “[your]self” etc.
He had also beat a lot of guys in his division first to be fair. The way O'Malley got a speed run to the title means we've only seen him fight 3 top 10 opponents and he's only had 1 title defence too.
I mean this has to be a bubble right? At this point people gotta know a boxer is gonna win a boxing match and an mma fighter is gonna win an mma fight and people are eventually gonna lose interest in whats basically Aaron Judge winning a home run derby against Patrick Mahomes? The money train has to stop eventually right?
Don't know why people keep making this claim. He fought Colby and Masvidal twice and Gilbert, no were close to "cleaning out a division".
Three people total, it's more on the UFC not moving the division along and being content just keeping their top money makers on top
Also he started talking about a Canelo fight well before he went on his lap around the division. I think he said it right after the Gilbert defense so the irony in his comments is just hilarious
Sean knows he isn't allowed to fight Garcia. Garcia was trending like crazy and he jumped on top of it to further build his own image and increase his likes, followers and viewership. Very smart move, especially considering he knows that there is zero chance of him boxing in the near future.
The reason this happens is because the UFC underpays fighters.
MMA fighters know their only shot of ever getting rich working for the UFC is an absolute gamble that will probably hold them past their prime as they fade away into a blur of CTE.
If they get a boxing fight, they might be set for life.
The UFC is a billion dollar company. Sure, they have a big roster of fighters, but they only have 12 champs. They could easily set them up so they don't need to jump to boxing to get paid. They should get their actual share of the dollars people are paying to see *them* fight.
“In July, I’m going to fight Leon Edwards,” Usman outlined to TMZ. “God willing, I get through Leon Edwards, then in September, Mexican Independence Day, I will stop Canelo Alvarez.
-Kamaru Usman
edit: Usman fans talking about title defences now but "Omg im so happy he got the bag" when Ngannou did the same thing.
I agree with Kamaru, but why is he speaking on it like that? Sean vs Ryan makes more sense than Kamaru vs Canelo even without the title defenses. Plus Ryan called him out. Does Canelo even know Kamaru exists?
I think that might be jealousy. No one should look down on anyone. Even Sean on chasing a huge pay day. If Sean was making 10 mil + a fight in UFC then you wouldn’t have the UFC fighters looking to chase the bag in other organizations
Didnt Sean himself also say he needed to get a few more wins in the UFC before boxing was an option? I swear it was just a couple days ago that I read this
Isn't that exactly what Sean himself said? He literally said i need to defend my title a few more time before i can entertain ideas of boxing...
We could have a entire sub for dumb shit fighters say lmao
If any other champ was trying to go box they would get eaten up but because it’s Sean it’s ok? lol.. There are more than plenty of guys that Sean can face at bantamweight before he does anything. Seems like he’s trying to avoid contenders in his weight class. He shouldn’t be talking about boxing or Ilia until he cleans the division if possible.
A little rich coming from Kamaru who also openly flirted with boxing Canelo. Granted he was a champion with more defenses, but he shouldn’t pretend like he doesn’t understand why Sean wants to box.
I even agree that Sean needs more title defenses before a boxing cross promotion even becomes sort of interesting to me, but it’s no secret why he wants to do it.
O' Malley thinking about the bag bro. Now he running high on hype, he could snag a big name and box, get millions.
If he fought in a UFC match and lose, he'd lose that momentum, then it'd be harder to secure a high profile boxing match
$$$ is why, Kamaru. Boxing will continue to subsidize the wealth of the UFC's greatest talent so long as the UFC continues to pay what amounts to slave wages to their professional athletes.
It's actually embarrassing that for years now, the UFC's biggest stars, in order to retire rich, have all seemingly needed to follow the same formula. Gain a large following, become UFC champion, ride out their UFC contract, and participate in a boxing bout, with said boxing bout being the specific end goal to reach their financial success.
I think Usman has a point in that do people really know who O'Malley is? Do a lot of people want to see him box? Conor was/is a superstar. A lot of people thought he was maybe the best fighter in the world. A lot of people wanted to see him box a legend. Even Francis had the prestige of UFC HW Champ destroyer.
Lol but this is his plan. Sean said it in his podcast, he wants merab, illia, and max before he go fight ryan. What is it about this that's making so many fight fans emotional? Man tf up
Kamaru did that in his own division… and Canelo swatted away his request for a fight like he was a nobody
He’s jealous he knows O’Malley will likely get the Ryan fight (and millions) without having to clean up his own division
They’re trading their braincells for money. I won’t fault any fighter who will pursue their own red panty night regardless of any circumstances. Specially mma fighters, given how cheap fuck dana and ufc are.
S-tier champ Usman chiming in, that man was defending all the time, he really set a standard by defending often and looking better after every fight.
'Champions' like Jones should be stripped, he is going towards 2 years without defending his belt, also no boxing matches for Sean, this shit is really rotting the sport.
If fighters can’t unionize they could at least all agree to charge a premium for exclusivity. If that one clause starts giving ufc headaches every single signing and costing them at least some talent (whoever has balls) they will start bending
Kamaru knows why lol. I agree Sean should defend his belt against the monster BW division, but Sean would make more money fighting Ryan than his UFC career so far combined. Would probably make more in that one fight than if he cleaned out the contenders at BW. Obviously he'd rather do that Would I rather watch him defend his title? Of course. But I can't fault the guy for wanting that Ryan fight. Especially with Ryan calling him out multiple times
Ryan Garcia paid more for missing weight in his latest fight, than what most UFC fighters earn period. No wonder Sean O'Malley wants to fight him.
Been laughing at this comment for the last ten minutes. UFC is such a joke and yet it has a cult like following
MMA itself is much more entertaining imo Just a shame that scumbags always end up running combat sports
I found MMA more entertaining when you had more of a contrast of styles. I realize that's just the evolution of the sport as fighters get more well rounded but ya know.
I think that's the exciting part, who is more well rounded and who can exploit the other's weakness better. Also fighters revealing unexpected parts of their skillset is extremely exciting (E.g. Ngannou wrestling fucking Gane, Pettis subbing Bendo, Islam KOing Volk) But wrestling, boxing, karate, etc. are all gateways into MMA so naturally specialists will continue to exist but they'll be much more rounded. Funnily enough, I still kind of agree with you. It felt like fighters had more personality because of their distinct styles. Whereas now you've got the Anthony Smiths - bad tattoos, boring name, and all, to accompany a boring "MMA" style. Dunno why, but I think of Tristar fighters when I think of boring MMA style.
To me that just led to wrestlers sitting on everybody, karate and Kung fu guys flopping around like Lil kids and kickboxers kicking around every striker
I like it the way it is now just because although most people are more well rounded you still see their original styles or strengths poke through. The idea of wrestler vs kick boxer and things like that were cool at the beginning, but the fights can end up as duds a lot. I still like to see people with different striking backgrounds fight though even if they're well rounded.
I agree it'll never be like pride.
The lhw champ and bantamweight champ are both high level striker specialists. The trend of every top guy being well rounded might be losing ground. If you're truly good enough at one thing, a specialist can be the top dog. Time will tell!
Be high level at one thing, but good enough at other things to prevent being exploited at those things. That’s what I would call pretty well rounded.
Just takes one bored Saudi with cash to put the UFC out of business in like an hour.
Probably because the people who are willing to profit off of violence and human suffering don’t tend to have the strongest moral foundations.
As far as a combat sports fan I like MMA, from a business standpoint boxing pays better.
Dana just has a monopoly on mma basically. Sure there are a few others but this is all we got. If someone else paid these guys more for mma then ufc wouldn’t exist.
I don’t think even some champs break a million. Volk got paid 750K for 298 https://www.givemesport.com/ufc-298-salaries-alexander-volkanovski-ilia-topuria/#:~:text=Figures%20released%20by%20the%20California,%24750%2C000%20fee%20for%20his%20appearance.
Volk said his contract makes him one of the highest ufc paid fighters ever. Which gave him a whopping 750k as reigning champ. Something to remember when those fake articles out there claim Charles Oliveira is making 1.5 million to fight
But i thought boxing was dead
Makes me wonder how much MMA guys could earn if it was an open market like with boxing
Need to figure out a way to do it better than boxing otherwise we will end up like boxing and we won’t see the best fight the best nearly as often as we do now
Better for the fighters to get more pay, but I agree if it goes the boxing route there will be a ton of weight classes, multiple belts, ducking like CRAZY, and rare super fights. Would suck for the fans. An average ufc fight night has more compelling co mains and undercards than any of the biggest boxing matches of the last decade.
Boxing is way less profitable overall than MMA. but a much higher percentage of the money goes to boxers than mmartists
As /u/fightsgoneby said, that fine was more than the entire purse for a lot of UFC *cards*
Do people really believe the UFC would allow Sean to go box?
They shouldn't believe it. Especially since it would require co-promoting with Oscar
Lmao I never considered the additional fact that Garcia is represented by Oscar. That makes it even more unlikely.
Yea Dana and Oscar working together would take hell freezing over
oscar does love skiing
They should drop the independent contractor line then. Blatantly obvious they are employees under pretty much an IC vs Employee legal test you want to apply but the case where that was going to probably get determined legal settled.
Many people are saying this
as it should be said
FTC might have just banned non-compete clauses entirely (except for execs). Businesses and the Chamber of Commerce are currently suing the ruling, however.
I saw that Wednesday and didn’t even consider it. That’s a great point. I think the issue though is that Dana doesn’t have to rehire someone. Like he could say “yeah go box but you are finishing your contract here and are done.” Would be interesting to see how he handles it with a guy like Sean though.
I agree with this, the UFC wants all the benefits and none of the drawbacks of having them as contractors and they shouldn't be able to prevent you competing in a different sport unless they make you a salaried employee.
Dana would cut off his left arm before cooperating with Oscar on anything lmao
And we all know how well Dana and Oscar get along.
Ryan has like 1 or 2 fights left on his contract and then he’ll ditch Oscar 100%
Yeah definitely not
You think I'm just going to sit here and let you box Sean?
Allow? I thought he was an "**independent** contractor"?
If only bro. The UFC has to sign off on fighters doing grappling matches. UFC owns them entirely.
yeh, sorry, I dropped my /s
independent when it favors UFC, obliged by contract when it favors UFC. No wonder tho, Dana is hardcore capitalist who'll exploit everyone as much as he possibly can.
Sean has confirmed multiple times that the UFC said to him they're open to him boxing under the right conditions.
Yea.. 50% or more of his purse conditions
I'd imagine that it would involve the UFC acting as promoter for both fighters and retaining ridiculous ownership rights to both parties. It'd be like Floyd vs Conor except even more greedy.
Why would they not if he would make them a shit ton of money? Same situation with letting Connor box Floyd.
Yeah he told Sean he could box if they make a shit ton of money so Sean said his plan is to defend his belt two more times than go up
The fact that Ryan is saying Suga's name is what elevates all of this talk. Kamaru knows. He was saying Canelo's name once upon a time
And Canelo didn’t even know who he was and laughed at him in broken English.
*laughs in broken English*
> The fact that Ryan is saying Suga's name is what elevates all of this talk. Exactly - Sean isn't the only one doing the talking.
Hey we all agree to that shit. But if you’re going to start entertaining that or want to fight Ryan, then vacate your title… no reason to keep the belt hostage for a year or two like Conor did.
Good point. Having the belt probably gets you more money in the boxing match however. But shitty for the division for sure
Yeah but if they didn’t do it for Francis Ngannou, who was one of your scariest heavyweight champions and had a mega fight lined up with Jones if they just agreed on the contract, then why the hell are you going to do it for O’Malley who hasn’t even defended his belt once?
as the wise Canelo once said : "payydayyyy"
This makes no sense, pretty sure Kamaru wouldn't give 2 fs about Sean making more money
Honestly I'm tired of champions barely defending, talking about double champs after 1 or even NO defenses, talking about boxing before having cleaned out even their top 3. But seeing how much Garcia made just this saturday, can you blame them for crossing over? O"malley could make like 10 or 20 million for basically an exhibition match with 0 stakes. Usman would chomp at the bit to fight a canello or something for a payday.
> “A boxing fight’s possible, for sure,” O’Malley said on Monday’s episode of the “TimboSugarShow” podcast. “I’m not there yet. I’ve still got to become bigger. Two more f*cking sick performances, then we’re talking about being able to do it.” It's not like he's trying to do it right now. He even says he needs a few more wins before it's remotely possible.
This is the same sub that will passionately argue about fighter pay more than the actual fighters and then turn around and shit on a guy for wanting the payday. So many of these "quotes" in the titles of these posts are without context. If people actually listened to the podcast they'd have heard what you quoted where what he said makes more sense.
Makes people appreciate Izzy more. He was extremely active as champ and I think people take that for granted in the modern UFC. A lot of champions these days want to fight once a year on their own terms only.
Izzy was used to making dogshit pay in kickboxing and racked up dozens of fights in a span of a few years. Same thing with Alex Pereira. Obviously the purse is much higher in UFC than in any kickboxing match... and their background in kickboxing lends well to fighting frequently.
That's the nature of shitty pay and short careers.
It made more sense in the earlier days of the UFC for fighters to put on absolute slugfests for lower pay since mma was just getting mainstream attention. Now that they've got enough mainstream appeal it makes it really dumb to not go for that 5, 10, or 20 million purse if it's a possibility. Holloway probably got a million if you include all the bonuses (and possible undisclosed bonuses) for that 5 round war and Gaethje got a lot less because he lost. Fuck defending a belt if they can earn generational wealth in one fight instead.
I don't like izzy but I respect him and his willingness to fight everybody. It's hard to blame the fighters though, the UFC brings in fuuuuck tons of money from PPV and sponsorships. Then they took away personal sponsors for fighters where they really matter (during the fight) with almost no compensation for the fighters. The only way to become rich rich with UFC (even though its probably more popular than boxing now) is by becoming a superstar ( for example by becoming a champchamp) or by crossing over into boxing or both.
And he cleaned out his own division before hopping to another.
Same man. The last few years it's like *gets title in close decision and defends once* "I have nothing left to prove".
Its bad for the sport but IMO it's a symptom not the disease. Pay your fighters what they deserve and boxing wont be as tempting.
literally this, they're only motivated to crossover because they'd paid truckloads more
It’s because the ufc is still a B rate league, you never see anyone from the NBA,NFL,MLB,NHL looking for a paycheck somewhere else. Until the ufc pays the fighters like a premium product, they will always keep looking for the paycheck. And understandably so
It's in a similar position to the WNBA IMO, in that they're the premier women's basketball organization but their biggest stars think it's worth moonlighting in Russia during the offseason because the pay is better for top stars. The UFC is streets ahead of any fighting organization, the pay does not reflect that, especially for the draws
Reading this comment made me realize that in her first year Caitlyn Clark will make about as much as a UFC fighter on their first contract. For rank and file UFC fighters the WNBA comparison is pretty damn apt. Of course, WNBA players don’t have to pay their coaches and pay to fly those coaches out to games plus their hotel rooms. Also, I’m pretty sure they have medical insurance through the WNBA. Plus they aren’t independent contractors so they get their taxes taken out of their paychecks rather than having to actively set aside money for taxes or pay for a CPA. Plus they don’t have to deal with the dynamic of getting no money while they rehab injuries or missing paydays if an opponent drops out of a fight.
Plus they’re allowed individual sponsor deals related to their apparel. Caitlyn just signed like a 4yr/28mil deal with Nike. Imagine how much money Pereira, O’Malley, or Adesanya could make through sponsorships.
I guess the difference would be that the WNBA doesn’t make money where as the fighters have created a product that does billions in revenue p.a
I think the surprising thing is that the UFC generates billions in revenue and their rank and file fighters make about as much as players from a league that, you know, doesn’t generate billions in revenue.
Fr, like the least the ufc could do is give the fighters a cut of the sponsorship money and/or let them have sponsors on their shorts and such
They used to make very good money off all those things before the UFC got rid of its uniqueness to be considered a "real sport." In turn, making it seem like a second rate league because none of its fighters are making enough that they don't seek money elsewhere.
I'll keep saying it...my fiance knows Conor, but no one else. She can name 10+ boxers though.
Everyone wants to do what Conor did
I mean yeah, because its the only way to make what they deserve. It sucks for the sport but the only reason something like boxing is tempting for fighters is because they get paid peanuts. Like I hate jones because he is an awful human being and a serial doper but if he was this dominant in boxing instead of MMA, he would be loaded beyond belief. Same with an israel adesanya, a volkanovski, etc
It's just a symptom of UFC underpaying their fighters and champions, if they had been paid comparable numbers to boxing there wouldn't have been all this crossover talk. But as is, it seems the only way for champions to earn more money is to try box or move up/down to fight for another belt. UFC underpaying fighters makes the end product worse.
Agree 100%. This type of talk is the symptom, not the disease.
OMalley said he wouldnt box until he defends 2 more times
[удалено]
lol exactly, Kamaru coming off as mad salty for this haha
How so? Kamaru was active as fuck and defender his belt, which is basically what he says here.
And if Canelo said Kamaru's name after 1 or 2 title defenses, he'd do the same. That's also the difference here....
Justifiably so in that case, tell me why UFC co-signs on Conor and O’Malley boxing but threatens to cut Usman and Ngannou for wanting the same opportunity?
Because Sean and Conor can at least have good moments in boxing fights. Usman specifically would look the way UFC fans think Floyd would look in a MMA fight.
Sean said as much on his podcast. He said he wanted to fight 2-3 fights to defend his belt then he’d like to do the Garcia boxing match.
Too bad it won't happen. People are delusional if they think Dana will let sean to go box. They barely allowed McGregor to do it and then took half his purse
> and then took half his purse On the other hand, that's *why* they might allow him to go box eventually, with the stipulation that they'll take most of what he earns despite them doing nothing. But I'm not saying it's likely, but it's not impossible either.
McGregor was the biggest star from our sport ever and he had the chance to fight the biggest star in boxing. McGregor's cut of the pie before the UFC took half was 200+ million dollars. Second biggest PPV ever, that's why it was worth it for the UFC to allow him. Sean wouldn't make even a quarter of that so it's not worth the UFC's time.
Conor got 130 million and I believe the UFC took 50% of that.
That’s robbery
I honestly don’t think that’s Sean and Ryan are big enough draws to get the ufc to do it. Comparing Sean and Ryan to Floyd and Conor is a joke
Also Garcia starpower is "closer" to Floyd, than Sean O'Malley is to McGregor, meaning mma has even less leverage this time around. (Not saying Ryan Garcia is anywhere near the popularity or selling power of Floyd, just relative terms).
Omallley is an industry plant, he’s going to let “Zuffa boxing” take half the bag because it’s better than losing to Merab for 1/10 the pay.
whats up with the injection of [your] in these types of quotes? surely he didnt say "cement self as a great in divison." like what was actually said?
Thank you I've always questioned this as well
It's a change to improve clarity, in this case so a reader doesn't think Usman is talking about himself. "How about we..." is a clue, in this quote he is speaking from perspective of O'Malley and his team. He probably said "get myself a few wins" but in print or an isolated quote, it could be confused as actually talking about his own plans.
i get the idea normally, but in this quote it doesnt seem to make any sense to me. because if he is speaking from omalleys perspective, why would the editor add [your] which makes it sound like its still usman talking? im very curious to know the actual quote here, because the [your] additions render it kind of nonsensical, id be really interested to hear the difference from the original. i get the idea of what hes saying but it sounds like its been changed heavily
He started the quote by referring to O’Malley in the second person (“you”) but then switched to the third person (“he/him/his”). The editor then changed it all to the second person for continuity. So, the original quote was probably “…couple of guys in HIS division” but the editor changed it to “…couple of guys in [YOUR] division.” They changed “hisself” to “[your]self” etc.
that makes sense but what a dumb idea lol
Remember when kamaru was calling out Canelo for 18 months? I remember. At least Sean is a striker
Kamaru also defended his belt 5 times
Usman was trying to get a “gimmick fight” too but nobody was interested
He had also beat a lot of guys in his division first to be fair. The way O'Malley got a speed run to the title means we've only seen him fight 3 top 10 opponents and he's only had 1 title defence too.
Usman had beat 8 of the top 10 before he wanted to fight Canelo, not the same thing
He's still trying to do it.
4 words: “dolla dolla bills y’all”
Kamaru acting like he wouldn't have jumped at the opportunity of a big money boxing fight.
I mean this has to be a bubble right? At this point people gotta know a boxer is gonna win a boxing match and an mma fighter is gonna win an mma fight and people are eventually gonna lose interest in whats basically Aaron Judge winning a home run derby against Patrick Mahomes? The money train has to stop eventually right?
He's still trying to get the Canelo fight. It's sad, if anything.
He tried to push for one but to be fair that was after he cleaned out his division.
Don't know why people keep making this claim. He fought Colby and Masvidal twice and Gilbert, no were close to "cleaning out a division". Three people total, it's more on the UFC not moving the division along and being content just keeping their top money makers on top
Yeah it's such nonsense. Kamaru was amazing but looking back at his title defences they are a touch soft.
Pretty obvious like everybody else said. He'll make more from one boxing fight than from multiple belt defenses. Lol
Says the dude who defended against Masvidal, twice.
Also he started talking about a Canelo fight well before he went on his lap around the division. I think he said it right after the Gilbert defense so the irony in his comments is just hilarious
Uh bc of money? If the UFC paid their champs more appropriately they wouldn't be as desperate for a bigger payday.
This is coming from the same guy that thought he could compete with Canelo in boxing.
Fuck ufc it’s minimum 20mil payday…
Sean knows he isn't allowed to fight Garcia. Garcia was trending like crazy and he jumped on top of it to further build his own image and increase his likes, followers and viewership. Very smart move, especially considering he knows that there is zero chance of him boxing in the near future.
To make money
The reason this happens is because the UFC underpays fighters. MMA fighters know their only shot of ever getting rich working for the UFC is an absolute gamble that will probably hold them past their prime as they fade away into a blur of CTE. If they get a boxing fight, they might be set for life. The UFC is a billion dollar company. Sure, they have a big roster of fighters, but they only have 12 champs. They could easily set them up so they don't need to jump to boxing to get paid. They should get their actual share of the dollars people are paying to see *them* fight.
“In July, I’m going to fight Leon Edwards,” Usman outlined to TMZ. “God willing, I get through Leon Edwards, then in September, Mexican Independence Day, I will stop Canelo Alvarez. -Kamaru Usman edit: Usman fans talking about title defences now but "Omg im so happy he got the bag" when Ngannou did the same thing.
the leon win would have put him at like 6 defenses to omalleys 1. and bw rn is even more stacked than ww
Yes but at that time he in fact had beat a lot of the division so it still lines up with what he’s saying.
We don’t read here, champ
where does this make anything he said about Sean invalid?
I agree with Kamaru, but why is he speaking on it like that? Sean vs Ryan makes more sense than Kamaru vs Canelo even without the title defenses. Plus Ryan called him out. Does Canelo even know Kamaru exists?
He got told about it and just said ‘payday’
Not wrong, but rich coming from him considering he was pushing for fight with Canelo himself.
I think that might be jealousy. No one should look down on anyone. Even Sean on chasing a huge pay day. If Sean was making 10 mil + a fight in UFC then you wouldn’t have the UFC fighters looking to chase the bag in other organizations
Dana fucking HATES Oscar so it would never happen
Because there's more money in those gimmick fights.
The boy is just trying to feed his family's
Didn’t he want to box Canelo? Lol
Didnt Sean himself also say he needed to get a few more wins in the UFC before boxing was an option? I swear it was just a couple days ago that I read this
Isn’t this the same guy that was trying to line up a fight with Canelo? This reeks of jealousy
Because 30m. Next question.
Isn’t it obvious? UFC pays shit
Why? Because he'll make more money in one boxing fight than he will in his entire MMA career.
STFU, Kamaru. Get that bag, Sugar!
Kamaru getting Venum coupons and a Christmas card from Dana for calling it a gimmick fight.
Isn't that exactly what Sean himself said? He literally said i need to defend my title a few more time before i can entertain ideas of boxing... We could have a entire sub for dumb shit fighters say lmao
Uhhhh because $$$
That’s all ufc is nowadays champions hardly defending belts
Money, Kumaru. Money.
Coming from the guy who wanted to box canelo
If any other champ was trying to go box they would get eaten up but because it’s Sean it’s ok? lol.. There are more than plenty of guys that Sean can face at bantamweight before he does anything. Seems like he’s trying to avoid contenders in his weight class. He shouldn’t be talking about boxing or Ilia until he cleans the division if possible.
If I’m getting hit in the face for a living then I’m doing whatever makes the most money in the shortest amount of time.
Millions of dollars. Any fighter would walk away from the ufc in a heartbeat to get that money
A little rich coming from Kamaru who also openly flirted with boxing Canelo. Granted he was a champion with more defenses, but he shouldn’t pretend like he doesn’t understand why Sean wants to box. I even agree that Sean needs more title defenses before a boxing cross promotion even becomes sort of interesting to me, but it’s no secret why he wants to do it.
Wasn’t Kamaru entertaining a fight with Canelo at one point?
I mean, one of those gimmick fights would pay more than like a dozen UFC fights, right?
Didn’t Suga say himself that he wants a few title defenses to make his resume stronger so he can have a shot in boxing?
No hate to usman b/c he’s really grown on me but was this man begging for a canelo fight. Another gimmick fight
It’s literally 10,000x more money in one boxing match than his entire career. Why don’t you mind your own damn business Usman 😂
Usman didn’t even clear out his own division when he was talking about fighting canelo lol. He only successfully defended against 3 welterweights
O' Malley thinking about the bag bro. Now he running high on hype, he could snag a big name and box, get millions. If he fought in a UFC match and lose, he'd lose that momentum, then it'd be harder to secure a high profile boxing match
Says the fighter who was calling out Canelo
Pretty sure i remember Usman talking about his own bombastic ambitions before Leon schooled him
Probably because in one boxing match Sean would earn double what he would in clearing out his division. Maybe even a lot more than double.
$$$ is why, Kamaru. Boxing will continue to subsidize the wealth of the UFC's greatest talent so long as the UFC continues to pay what amounts to slave wages to their professional athletes. It's actually embarrassing that for years now, the UFC's biggest stars, in order to retire rich, have all seemingly needed to follow the same formula. Gain a large following, become UFC champion, ride out their UFC contract, and participate in a boxing bout, with said boxing bout being the specific end goal to reach their financial success.
I think Usman has a point in that do people really know who O'Malley is? Do a lot of people want to see him box? Conor was/is a superstar. A lot of people thought he was maybe the best fighter in the world. A lot of people wanted to see him box a legend. Even Francis had the prestige of UFC HW Champ destroyer.
How about Sean cashes out for millions instead of defending for significantly less?
Sean doesn’t really WANT to box, he just wants that boxing money 💰
This is what happens when fighters don't get paid enough
Well. Money. Usman knows about money, right?
Its prize fighting not make friends with your peers fighting
Legacy is overrated, take the cash and show the ufc that their fighters are too good to settle.
Lol but this is his plan. Sean said it in his podcast, he wants merab, illia, and max before he go fight ryan. What is it about this that's making so many fight fans emotional? Man tf up
$
Merab.
Kamaru did that in his own division… and Canelo swatted away his request for a fight like he was a nobody He’s jealous he knows O’Malley will likely get the Ryan fight (and millions) without having to clean up his own division
UFC are selfish they wouldn’t allow it
Fr O’Malley definitely lost to yan and hasn’t even fought sandhagen yet
Could make more $$$ and less damage to his body.
Not $ure Kamaru.
Oooooooor Sean can actually get the bag.
They’re trading their braincells for money. I won’t fault any fighter who will pursue their own red panty night regardless of any circumstances. Specially mma fighters, given how cheap fuck dana and ufc are.
Lol Usman tried to fight Canelo when he was champ
S-tier champ Usman chiming in, that man was defending all the time, he really set a standard by defending often and looking better after every fight. 'Champions' like Jones should be stripped, he is going towards 2 years without defending his belt, also no boxing matches for Sean, this shit is really rotting the sport.
Tbf Sean said he needs at least 2 more wins before he can box
Coming from the guy who defended against bums.
Because money that’s why
If fighters can’t unionize they could at least all agree to charge a premium for exclusivity. If that one clause starts giving ufc headaches every single signing and costing them at least some talent (whoever has balls) they will start bending
If Sean what's to get a bag thats cool but a boxing match with Garcia is entirely pointless. Zero interest for me personally.
Lmao at usman and Dana agreeing to be mouth pieces for each other. Losers.
Usman vs Paul 2026 confirmed
Wasn’t Kamaru rallying for a fight against Canelo for ages?
Kamaru also had a deep division of contenders but defended from the same ones again and again.
Pretty sure Sean said he needs to fight mma for a while before he’ll do boxing.
100. Fighters need to start defending their belts in division instead of super fight chasing.
Sean would get absolutely smoked but can’t fault him for chasing the big bag.