For those who think the UFC brass is being pressed on fighter pay issues, Matt Brown feels otherwise.
Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions made a splash within the MMA world by announcing Ronda Rousey’s comeback fight against Gina Carano. Rousey has been critical of UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell and has vouched for top MMA stars to be paid what they deserve.
In addition to the MVP show, top UFC stars Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall have been critical of their treatment under the top MMA promotion. While some think that recent developments could lead to significant movement in UFC fighter pay, Brown appeared on MMAFighting‘s “The Fighter vs. The Writer” to oppose that belief.
“I would start with saying no, we are not at a breaking point,” Brown said. “The UFC is still the powerhouse. Look, people like me and you might sit and talk about how yeah maybe it’s not the best fighting the best, it’s Jon Jones versus [Tom] Aspinall or whatever best versus best would, because the UFC has all the best I can think of. It’s not [Francis] Ngannou versus Jones. 99.9-percent of people have no idea who the best even is. Most people don’t even care [and] are never going to talk about Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones is old news now. They got new stars to replace him.
“Could it get to a breaking point is the question and when people like Jon Jones stand up and say ‘I’m not going to fight for $15 million’ — that’s when I think the ball can roll a little bit, but it’s more like nudging the ball that even rolling.”
Aspinall recently signed a talent agency contract with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom. Hearn said the deal will allow Aspinall to make significantly more money in commercial deals that he has for any of his UFC fights.
As far as lesser known fighters are concerned, that may be a tougher hill to climb.
Where do you stand on the UFC fighter pay debate at this point? Share your opinion in the comments below.