(Now that Cole is financially better off, maybe he can afford to stop stealing his fight trunks from Cody McKenzie’s dresser. Photo via Getty.)
About midway through the Fight Night 35 main card, I headed to a local bar with some friends for trivia night, my intention being to halfheartedly watch the card to completion whilst shoveling down pull pork nachos and trying to figure out who the 14th President of the United States was without using the smartphone I don’t even have.
Amidst a crowd of heavily inebriated Bostonians, I attempted to get the bartender to change one of the 15 plasma screen televisions surrounding me to FOX Sports 1. She changed it to FOX, at the exact moment American Idol was starting, which drew some strange reactions from the bar patrons that in turn forced me to hang my head in shame until she made it back around. When she finally did, and after a brief back and forth about what FS1 exactly was, she informed me that “we don’t play fights here” before switching to CNN.
This intolerance left me cold inside, colder than any amount of nachos could ever hope to warm. But I tried, dammit. I really tried…
What does any of this have to do with the Fight Night 35 salaries? Nothing, I guess. I just thought it would interest you to know that MMA bias is still alive and rampant, even in some of the sport’s most gung-ho cities. Join us after the jump to see the saddening result of this intolerance.
Luke Rockhold: $80,000 (includes $40,000 win bonus)
def. Constantinos Philippou: $23,000
Brad Tavares: $32,000 (includes $16,000 win bonus)
def. Lorenz Larkin: $26,000
T.J. Dillashaw: $28,000 (includes $14,000 win bonus)
def. Mike Easton: $14,000
Yoel Romero: $28,000 (includes $14,000 win bonus)
def. Derek Brunson: $19,000
John Moraga: $34,000 (includes $17,000 win bonus)
def. Dustin Ortiz: $10,000
Cole Miller: $56,000 (includes $28,000 win bonus)
def. Sam Sicilia: $10,000
Ramsey Nijem: $28,000 (includes $14,000 win bonus)
def. Justin Edwards: $10,000
Elias Silverio: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Isaac Vallie-Flagg: $12,000
Trevor Smith: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Brian Houston: $8,000
Louis Smolka: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Alptekin Ozkilic: $10,000
Vinc Pichel: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Garett Whiteley: $8,000
Beneil Dariush: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Charlie Brenneman: $10,000
Nothing too surprising here, although given their respective octagon records, it shocks me to learn that Costa Philippou makes less to show than Cole Miller. He may have lost his last two fights, but for a guy who was in talks of title convention prior to his recent skid, he sure ain’t making that much to show for it. Same goes for the Derek Brunson/John Moraga discrepancy. Guess it pays to eat your Wheaties, kids.
But seriously, the bartender might as well have told me that MMA fans are a bunch of psychopathic miscreants who hold no place in decent, basketball-watching, beer-chugging society. She said it with her eyes, anyways.