‘Just Fighting UFC About Pay, LOL’

If UFC wants its outspoken former Middleweight champion to jump into camp to fight “Borrachinha” in less than two months, Dana White and Co. are going to have to increase his ridiculously-low base pay.

Sean Strickland isn’t refusing to fight Paulo Costa at UFC 302. The former Middleweight champion is just refusing to fight “Borrachinha” at UFC 302, which takes place inside Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on June 1, 2024, for less than $200,000 in show money.

That’s according to “Tarzan” after Costa accused him of turning down an offer to fight in “The Garden State.”

And it’s not a joke.

“Two days ago, UFC come back and say, ‘Paulo, you fight Strickland on June 1,’” Costa said during an appearance on The Coach And The Casual. “It’s a great fight. It’s a fun fight, ]more] than Cannonier, I think.

“Unfortunately, I don’t know what happened,” Costa continued. “Strickland say, ‘No, he don’t want to fight me.’ Strickland, he refused to fight me, unfortunately. That’s what UFC told me. I just have this information from UFC. I think this fight would be great, I would love to fight him.”

“I never say no … I say ‘How much’ lol,” Strickland wrote on an Instagram story.

He then took the conversation to X (formerly Twitter) where he said he wanted extra scratch to jump into a training camp right away, but UFC wasn’t interested.

“Just fighting the UFC about pay lol it will get sorted soon or it’s gonna get weird man!” he wrote when asked for a fight announcement.

“Out of curiosity … what do you guys think I was offered to fight Costa on 7 weeks notice?” he asked his fans. “Base contract…..”

One person guessed $200,000 to show and $200,000 to win. Strickland replied, “Close, but less lol.”

“My man it’s cut throat in here,” he said to another fan who guessed $1 million. “99 percent of UFC fighters will never see a million their entire career.”

It’s a select group.

But, Strickland may have seen $1 million when he fought Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 earlier this year. Because he held UFC’s Middleweight title at the time, he got a cut of pay-per-view (PPV) that probably (but not definitely) put him at seven figures for his main event fight purse.

But, now that he’s no longer champion, he goes back to no points and what he considers an unacceptably-low base rate to show.

In Strickland’s view, why rush back to a short camp if UFC won’t make it worth his while?

Strickland was very vocal after Chris Curtis lost a very close decision to Brendan Allen in UFC Vegas 90’s main event last weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. “Tarzan” blames the “loss” on Curtis coming off the couch last-minute to fill-in. No win means no win pay, just the base show amount. Hopefully, he got a little bump too for stepping up on three week’s notice, but you really never know.

And now he’s out of action for who knows how long with a serious hamstring tear (details here).

So, you really have to look out for your own interests in UFC, because no one else will. It’s undeniable that Strickland has leveled up in star power. If he’s making less than $200,000 in show money as he suggested, that’s ridiculous. He deserves top money, especially to fight top contenders.

Will he get it?

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