Quote of the Day: Jose Aldo Attacks Fighter Pay Again — “We Virtually Pay to Fight”


(Photo via Getty.)

Long considered to be one of the more soft-spoken fighters in the UFC’s ranks, featherweight champion Jose Aldo has grown increasingly frustrated, not to mention vocal, about the state of fighter pay in recent months. Like Rick Grimes on The Walking Dead, Aldo has simply run out of fucks to give when it comes to airing his grievances about his longtime promotion.

Having already complained about being “devalued” as a lighter weight fighter back in May, Aldo once again blasted the UFC during a Q&A session in Brazil last Friday. (Don’t spend too much time thinking about why we only got around to this today):

We should be treated better. Not only by the UFC but also by media. We are well treated by the fans. We make a lot less money than we should. We deliver shows and should be well paid. We virtually pay to fight. To become a boxer is complicated but would be very good.

To run this quote through the Michael Bisping translator: Jose Aldo is just a disgruntled, lazy washout whose career didn’t pan out the way he hoped.


(Photo via Getty.)

Long considered to be one of the more soft-spoken fighters in the UFC’s ranks, featherweight champion Jose Aldo has grown increasingly frustrated, not to mention vocal, about the state of fighter pay in recent months. Like Rick Grimes on The Walking Dead, Aldo has simply run out of fucks to give when it comes to airing his grievances about his longtime promotion.

Having already complained about being “devalued” as a lighter weight fighter back in May, Aldo once again blasted the UFC during a Q&A session in Brazil last Friday. (Don’t spend too much time thinking about why we only got around to this today):

We should be treated better. Not only by the UFC but also by media. We are well treated by the fans. We make a lot less money than we should. We deliver shows and should be well paid. We virtually pay to fight. To become a boxer is complicated but would be very good.

To run this quote through the Michael Bisping translator: Jose Aldo is just a disgruntled, lazy washout whose career didn’t pan out the way he hoped.

While the sentiment of fighter mistreatment is growing louder by the day, it is interesting to see someone of Aldo’s caliber more or less leading the charge. Aldo makes around a 120k/120k split per fight, with PPV incentives on top (we’re assuming), which isn’t exactly terrible for a guy who never owned a suit before fighting in the UFC. Then again, a boxer of Aldo’s level would likely clear around ten times that per fight (in a “dying sport” no less), so it’s easy to see why the grass might be looking greener and greener to Aldo on the other side.

For more perspective on just how horrific the pay grade for lower-level fighters is, I would highly recommend that you listen to John Cholish’s appearance on The MMA Hour following his retirement last year. Suffice it to say, Aldo’s statement isn’t hyperbolic in the least, even if he is not referring to his own situation. That supposed fans of the sport are still taking the UFC’s side in this matter continues to boggle my mind (just read the comments section of any fighter pay article for proof of this), but that’s just the beauty of ignorance, isn’t it?

–J. Jones