The boxing legend Mike Tyson is seemingly disgruntled with the low paychecks offered to the UFC fighters. The offering of low paychecks has been a huge matter and many stars have been vocal about it. This time around ‘Iron Mike took note of how much amount UFC paid to Francis Ngannou in his last fight.
Mike Tyson opens up on low paycheck
The current entry-level contract in the UFC is $10k to show / $10k to win, which hasn’t increased since 2015. In a new episode of Tyson’s Hotboxin’ show, UFC middleweight champ Israel Adesanya was asked about pay issues in the UFC, and while ‘Stylebender’ said he was very happy with the new deal he just signed, there were some fighters like heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou getting underpaid.
Adesanya said:
“Shout out to my boy, my big brother Francis, he kicked the door down and said ‘Look, this is what’s happening. They’re paying me this much and I’m this guy.’ He put it all out there. Mike, imagine at the height of your career, you’re fighting and you’re getting paid the equivalent of $600k to fight. That would be atrocious.”
‘Iron Mike’ put things into perspective, replying:
“Listen, that’d be my training expenses. That’s my training expenses.”
Adesanya went on to say he wasn’t speaking out on fighter pay for himself, but for the athletes just getting started in the UFC. He said:
“The guys who are making their debut … they should be able to just get paid, and then not have to work at all during their training camp. Because a lot of fighters do. They work. Imagine having a second job. Get paid, pay management, pay training expenses, then have enough to live off of.”
On the contrary, ‘Iron Mike’ made over $375 million from his fight purses, and earned millions on top of that via sponsorships and endorsements. In 1997 he was paid a record-setting $30 million guarantee ($53 million in 2022 dollars) for his second fight with Evander Holyfield.
