Former UFC star Rampage Jackson believes he’s cracked the proverbial code on the promotion’s fighter pay scandal. And it may prove some tough reading for CEO Dana White.
Jackson, a former icon with Pride FC in Japan, has had a complicated relationship with the UFC. Having left the promotion on multiple occasions to return and defeat legends like Cuck Lidell, Jackson’s relationship with bossman Dana White has been hot and cold over the years.
In 2007, after he defeated Lidell, ‘Rampage’ went on to reveal his bonus to the media, something he has claimed stopped him from getting another one ever again.
And now, Jackson, who competed a staggering 52 times in mixed martial arts, has compared compensation between his sport and professional boxing, claiming White and co have a stranglehold on fighters.
Questioning how some boxers make $30 million at the highest level – a far cry from UFC champions- Jackson asserts it’s all a ruse by UFC executives to keep fighters as active as possible.
“If you was making $30 million dollars a fight, how many fights would you do a year?” Jackson said on the Fight Hype channel.
“How many? Would you keep fighting? And I think the UFC and Dana White- I think they kinda know that”, he reiterated.
“A lot of MMA guys, they’d fight once, and then they’d retire. Because that training camp is hard. There’s no sport like MMA. MMA is really hard. It’s a really hard sport to train for”, Jackson explained.
Unfortunately, as long as White is in town with the UFC, it would be futile to expect any stark increase in fighter compensation. And now it seems White’s disdain for paying fighters a fair wage has overflowing into boxing as well.
White blames money for faltering boxing world
White, who is set to enter the boxing world with TKO later this year, seems to believe that money and the revenue share with boxers has actually ruined the sport entirely.
“Fighters always want to make more money,” White told GQ in 2022.
“Boxing has absolutely been destroyed because of money. And all the things that go on. It’s never gonna happen while I’m here. Believe me, these guys get paid what they’re supposed to get paid. They eat what they kill,” added the UFC president.
Now that he himself is diving headfirst into the business of pugilism following PowerSlap’s fall into YouTube territory, White, along with his business partners at TKO, is planning on making huge changes to pugilism.
“Presently, the UFC/TKO is requesting an amendment change to the Muhammad Ali Act. The board of directors is working with them to make sure the ABC is still part of the federal law,” reads an email from the president of the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports, Michael Mazzulli.
Combat Sports Law’s Erik Magraken warns that, for now, this is meant to be an amendment about an election, but warns managers, fighters, and other stakeholders to pay close attention to the intentions of the organization.
The Ali Act, brought upon in 2000, ensures that boxers remain protected from exploitative contracts that affect their financial interests, among other things.
As TKO, along with Turki Alalshikh, breaks into the sport, the question about whether these interests align with theirs remains a lingering one, especially with its major stakeholders’ very public track record of shoddy fighter pay.
