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Two of the most prominent fighters to ever enter the Octagon are singing the praises of the UFC on social media.
Ever since the Fertittas and Dana White bought the UFC, there has been a steady stream of talk about fighter pay. Many believe that fighters aren’t fairly compensated for their blood, sweat, and tears, and there is even a lawsuit pending against the promotion for what are viewed as unfair business practices.
But not everyone is unhappy with their compensation.
Former champ champ Daniel Cormier took to Twitter today to share a story about receiving an unexpected bonus check from the UFC before the holiday season, that was actually equal to his fight purse back in the day:
Getting ready for Xmas holidays reminds me of 2012 and 15 days before Xmas the @ufc sends me a 10k holiday bonus check. No reason for it but I remember thinking wow this was my fight purse before. We really do work for a beautiful company. Thank you guys. DC
— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) December 9, 2019
I have no idea when Cormier was only making 10k, because even in his Strikeforce days his disclosed pay was a lot higher than that. But I digress.
This led Michael Bisping to share a similar story from his early days working for the company:
I remember Dana did the same thing to me. Sent me a check in 2006 when I hadn’t fought for a while due to visa issues and he thought I’d be struggling financially: he was correct and it was very, very much appreciated. https://t.co/a2TNNrh39f
— michael (@bisping) December 9, 2019
As expected, some of the responses to the stories wasn’t that positive. From one perspective, it could look like the two men are carrying water for an organization that doesn’t have the best reputation when it come to money. To me, it just looks like the two men are actually just grateful for the support that they’ve received.
To each his own, I guess.