Ultimate Fighter alumni Uriah Hall joined the laundry list of fighters past and present to call out the UFC on the subject of fighter pay.
In August, Uriah Hall retired from active competition after more than 10 years with the organization. Originally debuting in the 17th. season of The Ultimate Fighter, Hall was quickly regarded as one of the top middleweight prospects in the world. After falling short against Kelvin Gastelum in the TUF tournament final, Uriah Hall never quite lived up to the hype he had built on the long-running reality show.
Walking away from the Octagon, ‘Primetime’ will now give it a go in the squared circle. On October 29th, Uriah Hall will make his boxing debut, taking on NFL running back Le’Veon Bell on the undercard of the Showtime Boxing pay-per-view headlined by social media star Jake Paul and UFC legend Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva.
During a virtual media day appearance to promote the event, Uriah Hall was asked about his views on the heavily debated subject of fighter pay. Uriah Hall credited the UFC for giving him the chance to make a career in MMA but was more than willing to call out the promotion for its less savory treatment of certain fighters.
“Listen, the UFC opened my career and extended my career. I made a great deal and everybody’s contract is different. There’s a lot of things that aren’t fair. I don’t think certain things are fair to athletes and for [Jake Paul] to speak out on that, kudos to him but is anything done yet? Nope. How far can we take it?
“You don’t have to go too much into details but I know people that are making [$10,000 to show, $10,000 to win], which is ridiculous,” he continued. “Cause you’re going out there and fighting and you’re putting your brain cells on the line and f*cking ring card girls are making $70,000, which is utterly f*cking ridiculous. So yeah, there’s some sh*t that’s just not going down but compared to this it’s okay. You know your worth as you get older in your career, I think, especially when you put a lot on the line for it and some people feel like they deserve more. At one point, I felt like I deserved more and I had to fight for that.”
Uriah Hall calls the UFC a ‘monopoly’
Fighter pay has been an issue raging for seemingly years with many combat sports athletes, past and present giving their take on the UFC’s treatment of athletes. Perhaps the most public example was the UFC’s ongoing feud with reigning heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. Following his heavyweight title win at UFC 260, ‘The Predator’ was open about his displeasure with his existing contract. As a result, Ngannou sat for 10 months before finally stepping back into the Octagon to defend his title for the first time, and potentially the last.
“As much as the UFC will give you an opportunity, what I learned from that is it’s like a monopoly,” Hall said. “They pick and choose. It’s like who can we take? For certain people that they don’t want to take, they slowly dismiss them. It’s business at the end of the day. Same thing in this sport. It’s business.
“Yeah Jake might say all that sh*t but it’s just to stir up Dana [White],” he added. “Is he doing it because he really cares or is he doing it because of the media? I don’t f*king know. But it’s business and that’s why a lot of these guys talk about money first and everyone’s going to listen. But it’s business.”
Ngannou has been on the shelf recovering from knee surgery since his win over Ciryl Gane in January, but rumors are circulating that he may come back to the UFC with a new deal and a date with former light heavyweight great Jon Jones in the first quarter of 2023.