Rory MacDonald feels that he is underpaid by the UFC, and was not happy with some of the salaries Nate Diaz had been receiving before UFC 196.
Rory MacDonald doesn’t speak much to the media, and isn’t overly controversial when he does open up a bit. But in a recent MMA Hour appearance he did throw down the gauntlet a bit in regards to the UFC, stating that his June fight against Stephen Thompson was the last on his deal and he would be exploring free agency.
Another statement he made was in regards to UFC 196 winner Nate Diaz, and how he’s pleased that Nate finally got paid by the promotion for his bout with Conor McGregor (via MMA Fighting):
“That’s awesome. I’m super happy for him, man. I hope everybody gets paid like that, especially guys who’ve been around for so long. I’ve seen a couple of his fight numbers after, and I was absolutely pissed. I was like, how is a guy like this making that money, you know?
“I feel the same way about my fights too. Sometimes I look at the numbers, I’m like, what the f**k, man? How am I getting paid that. So when you hear something like that, it makes you happy for martial artists.”
Diaz made 500k for his win over McGregor. Before 196, he made 15k/15k for beating Gray Maynard, 16k in a loss to Rafael dos Anjos, and 20k/20k for beating Michael Johnson. It had been rumored that he was given a large signing bonus to balance out the low fight purses, but it still didn’t look very good, and MacDonald clearly noticed.
Rory himself made 59k for his title shot loss to Robbie Lawler at UFC 189. Salaries were not released for his prior two bouts, but a UFC 170 win earned him 50k/50k in early 2014.
Basically, Rory’s concerned about money, and believes that fighters should be getting as much as they can:
“It’s definitely becoming a main issue in our sport,” MacDonald said. “Guys really want to see themselves get paid. They understand that this isn’t forever, and there’s no pension after this or anything like that. You’ve got to make your money while you’re in it, so it’s a hot topic now.”
MacDonald meets Thompson in the headliner of the UFC’s debut in Ottawa on June 18th.