Ahead of his big UFC 302 co-main event fight against Paulo Costa this Saturday, Sean Strickland has slammed the UFC over fighter pay.
Sean Strickland last competed in January at UFC 297, losing his middleweight title in a close decision against Dricus Du Plessis. Since then, the outspoken fighter has campaigned for an immediate rematch, but to no avail.
The promotion instead decided to match the 33-year-old up with sensational striker, Paulo Costa, who is coming off a loss to Robert Whittaker at UFC 298 this past February.
Sean Strickland slams the UFC in fighter pay rant
Still frustrated with not getting a title fight rematch against Du Plessis, Strickland went off on the UFC for not doing the right things by the fighters, including fighter pay.
“The UFC doesn’t do the right things, it doesn’t f****** do the right things, it doesn’t do the right things for most its roster.” Strickland claimed in an interview with Daniel Cormier.
“If you go and look at what these f****, the guys that run the UFC what they’re making (compared) to what (fighters) get paid, it’s f****** s*** dude. The UFC does not do the f****** right things and unless you hold them at gunpoint, they’re not going to do it.” Strickland stated.
Although the 33-year-old’s frustration lies with the company that employs him, he did admit that that’s ‘just business these days’, and claimed that all big corporations take advantage of their employees.
“But that’s all businesses these days, all these f****** corporations are leeches dude, that’s just how it works man, look at the working man gap. Again, my gap is a lot smaller than your guys’ gap, but that’s just how it works, these corporations just f****** suck.” Strickland added.
Even though Strickland has voiced his frustration over fighter pay, the former champion admitted that he has learned not to put the value of his life in his job, and he has finally separated the two.
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“This is something I’ve learned as I’ve gone through my career, do not put the value of your life in your job. It’s a job, you make money, and it allows you to live but the more you can devalue working for a corporation and the more you can value your own life, the better off you’ll be.” Strickland advised.
Strickland not threatened by ‘very basic’ Paulo Costa
Strickland does, however, have a chance to reinsert his name into the middleweight title picture, with a win over ‘Borrachinha’.
Despite the Brazilian striker having been dealt with relatively comfortably by Whittaker, Strickland gave Costa his props for fighting hard, but took confidence from Costa looking ‘very basic’.
“He fights hard, he had a good fight with Whittaker, Whittaker obviously won but he had a good fight. I think I’m better than him, I’ve watched him fight a couple of times, he’s very basic just hands down step back, and just jab.
“He’s the kind of guy that just walks away from you to try and set traps and just explodes, very f****** basic, not somebody I would call a skillful fighter.” Strickland jabbed.
Although Dricus Du Plessis’ next title defense is yet to be confirmed, it is rumored to be against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 on August 18, in Perth, Australia.
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