UFC veteran Matt Brown isn’t happy with the current pay structure, and wants to see a more equitable distribution of revenue. His position is a far cry from Jake Paul’s calls for a union, but Matt Brown told The MMA Hour that he wants to see flat fighter pay as a feature of the promotion moving forward.
To start with, Brown went down $100,000.00 when he lost a close split decision at UFC Columbus. He received about $105,000.00 to show up, and while both he and his opponent Bryan Barbarena received performance bonuses, Brown could have doubled his money with a victory.
Matt Brown Wants Flat UFC Fighter Pay, Not “Show and Win”
“The performance bonus, even though I’ve gotten a few and it’s made my life a lot better, I’m not so much a fan of that. Again, that’s a subjective thing. I like to take as much subjectiveness out of this as possible. I think that in a perfect world we’d all get a flat pay. There shouldn’t be a show and win.
I got half of the pay last weekend and was there a loser in that fight? Even if they gave it to me — which they should have — and Barberena walks away with half, he didn’t deserve half of his pay. He deserves his whole pay.”
Not helping matters is the ongoing issue of inconsistency in MMA judging. Matt Brown joins a chorus of fighters who want to see improvement in the standards of the UFC’s judges, particularly when it so drastically affects the fighters’ take-home pay. “At a minimum, at least when you’ve had a certain amount of fights with the UFC or some sort of standard.
You’ve got this ranking or something where, ‘OK, you’ve earned your keep. We know you’re gonna put on good fights. We know that you’re here. We know that you’re professional.’ Because some of these guys, they’re not professionals, and even in the UFC there’s guys that probably aren’t deserving. But you show up, you make weight, you put on a good fight, things happen.
This sport, you do all this work and all this training, preparation, the sacrifice, the grind, and then you get out there and some bulls*** happens.
How often have we seen some fluke s*** happen in this sport? It’s almost a weekly occurrence in this sport and now you just lost half your pay for that? Or bad judges, you know? You lose half your pay because of bad judging, which has happened to me more than once now.”
Is Matt Brown right, or does the current system incentivize late rallies and more exciting performances? Let us know what you think in the comments.
