Stipe Miocic is Mad, Feels He Deserves More From UFC

Stipe Miocic does not do “small talk”. However, this does not exclude the mercurial heavyweight from piping up when the time demands.

UFC’s popular heavyweight champion blasted off on Monday on his frustrations regarding what he deemed to be a smaller paycheck when compared to his opponent at UFC 203, Alistair Overeem. Miocic, quite rightly, pointed out the fact that ‘203 was marketed against defending his title in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.

“[It’s] terrible,” Miocic said on The MMA Hour. “Things definitely need to be changed. Something’s gotta change. It’s not really fair.”

Miocic easily dispatched of Overeem in a first round knockout in what was a perfect performance in September. The reigning and defending UFC heavyweight champion earned a $600,000 payout for the fight, while Overeem snared $800,000 in defeat.  Miocic claims that he only became aware of  the 25 percent pay gap once finances were declared public, after the bout.

“I just felt like I was kinda crapped on a little bit. I try to do things right and work with them, and they just didn’t give me a great deal. That’s my own fault, but also they knew what they were doing. They took my kindness for weakness.

“They told me it was the best deal they could do, and I said, oh okay, great. And then come to find out, it wasn’t.”

Miocic was asked if he was frustrated at the revelation, responding that “of course” he was; when asked if he would renegotiate his deal had he known Overeem’s salary beforehand, the heavyweight champ answered in kind.

Miocic claims dialogue between himself and the UFC in the aftermath of  ‘203 was fuelled by anger regarding Overeem’s superior pay. The champ indicated that he was unsatisfied with his employer’s response:

“Blah, blah, blah, blah. They just made up some excuse, like that’s the contract you signed,” Miocic said.

“You’re making money off me in my hometown, and you’re giving the man that’s a challenger who’s never won the title in the UFC, you’re giving him more money?

“It definitely should change. But the fact that my challenger made more money than me in my last fight was just kind of a slap in the face.”

“We’re definitely not being unfair,” he added. “We’re not looking for a couple million or anything like that, but definitely getting compensated for winning the belt, defending the belt in my hometown, and also the guy making more money than me is just unheard of. That’s terrible.”

An unhappy Stipe is not good for anyone, least of all his opponents…

Stipe Miocic does not do “small talk”. However, this does not exclude the mercurial heavyweight from piping up when the time demands.

UFC’s popular heavyweight champion blasted off on Monday on his frustrations regarding what he deemed to be a smaller paycheck when compared to his opponent at UFC 203, Alistair Overeem. Miocic, quite rightly, pointed out the fact that ‘203 was marketed against defending his title in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.

“[It’s] terrible,” Miocic said on The MMA Hour. “Things definitely need to be changed. Something’s gotta change. It’s not really fair.”

Miocic easily dispatched of Overeem in a first round knockout in what was a perfect performance in September. The reigning and defending UFC heavyweight champion earned a $600,000 payout for the fight, while Overeem snared $800,000 in defeat.  Miocic claims that he only became aware of  the 25 percent pay gap once finances were declared public, after the bout.

“I just felt like I was kinda crapped on a little bit. I try to do things right and work with them, and they just didn’t give me a great deal. That’s my own fault, but also they knew what they were doing. They took my kindness for weakness.

“They told me it was the best deal they could do, and I said, oh okay, great. And then come to find out, it wasn’t.”

Miocic was asked if he was frustrated at the revelation, responding that “of course” he was; when asked if he would renegotiate his deal had he known Overeem’s salary beforehand, the heavyweight champ answered in kind.

Miocic claims dialogue between himself and the UFC in the aftermath of  ‘203 was fuelled by anger regarding Overeem’s superior pay. The champ indicated that he was unsatisfied with his employer’s response:

“Blah, blah, blah, blah. They just made up some excuse, like that’s the contract you signed,” Miocic said.

“You’re making money off me in my hometown, and you’re giving the man that’s a challenger who’s never won the title in the UFC, you’re giving him more money?

“It definitely should change. But the fact that my challenger made more money than me in my last fight was just kind of a slap in the face.”

“We’re definitely not being unfair,” he added. “We’re not looking for a couple million or anything like that, but definitely getting compensated for winning the belt, defending the belt in my hometown, and also the guy making more money than me is just unheard of. That’s terrible.”

An unhappy Stipe is not good for anyone, least of all his opponents…