The onslaught of fighters publicly criticizing the UFC for their drastic changes ahead of the Reebok deal continues to swell. Former UFC title challenger and Olympic silver medalist Sara McMann is the latest fighter to offer her thoughts on the Reebok deal and how it will impact her financially.
Apart from the general financial concerns that the majority of fighters share, McMann revealed that the deal presents a strong case for gender inequality. According to McMann, since the women’s bantamweight division was only added approximately two years ago, the vast majority of female fighters would be herded into the lowest tier on the compensation scale.
“I feel like this is a really touchy subject just because if you look at the numbers and you look at the facts, there could be a strong case for gender inequity in the way this deal is presented,” McMann said. “I think the UFC and Reebok would never want to be perceived as somebody who was treating an entire gender poorly.”
Apart from publicly stating her case on The MMA Hour, McMann revealed that she has sought out legal counsel from a lawyer with experience in the matter.
“The women are just recently added, but that doesn’t mean that these girls haven’t been fighting for years or been in other sports for years and they don’t deserve to be compensated for that,” McMann said. “They deserve $2500?
“This is really something they really need to think about, because it does look discriminatory against an entire gender. So I think they probably will do the right thing and contact people and make personal deals. They’ve already done that with other people and I don’t understand why they couldn’t do that with the women.”
McMann is not the only female fighter to publicly state her concern, as BloodyElbow.com recently interviewed Miesha Tate, who revealed that she is surrendering 80-90% of her sponsorship income due to the deal.
Transcription taken from MMAFighting.com.
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