Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland has recently hit out at the UFC over fighter pay, but Colby Covington is confused as to why, jumping to the defense of the promotion.
Sean Strickland fought as recently as UFC 302 earlier this month when he took on fellow middleweight contender, Paulo Costa. Before accepting that fight, though, Strickland aired his frustration with the UFC over fighter pay.
Since then, ‘Tarzan’ has also got into a war of words with former UFC fighter turned BKFC star, Mike Perry, in regards to UFC fighter pay, with Strickland labeling it as ‘criminal’.
Colby Covington confused by ‘hypocrite’ Strickland following comments
Former UFC welterweight title challenger, Colby Covington, has jumped to the defense of the UFC calling the outspoken middleweight a ‘hypocrite’ for his comments.
“Sean changed his life so he’s kind of hypocritical to be saying this,” Covington said on the Soscast with Adam Sosnick.
“Now he lives in a really nice mansion-style house, he has great cars, and has money in the bank so who is he to say this? He’s being a hypocrite too, talking about the guys that just started in the UFC, he’s talking about the $10k/$10k pay, like yeah, that’s when you get your first fight in the UFC.
“Let’s talk about what he’s making now, he’s making a guaranteed at least $500,000 to $1.5m in that range, per fight,” Covington claimed.
Despite that, before his fight against Costa, Strickland conversed with fans on X after asking them to guess how much he was offered to fight the Brazilian on seven weeks’ notice.
One fan guessed $200k to show and $200k to win, to which Strickland replied, “Close but less.”
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‘Chaos’ Covington has stated that if a fighter is unable to drive engagement for the UFC, then they shouldn’t be paid any more than they already are.
“Become valuable with social media, show that you can draw numbers and get clicks to the UFC page, show that you’re going to do business, and generate engagement because engagement is everything in the social media space. If they can’t add that value then they don’t deserve to get paid,” Covington stated.
Colby Covington once threatened to retire from the UFC and sign for WWE
Although Covington has become a highly influential and favored figure in the UFC, he once had his own issues with the company regarding fighter pay, threatening to retire in 2019 and move to the WWE.
Prior to his title unification fight against Kamaru Usman at UFC 245, the 36-year-old labeled the UFC fighter pay as ‘stupid and corrupt’.
Covington’s change of stance regarding fighter pay comes after the outspoken welterweight made a name for himself, becoming one of the company’s big stars. He went on to compete for the 170lb title on three separate occasions, losing in all three attempts.
The 36-year-old was called out by top welterweight prospect, Ian Machado Garry, after the two got into a brief feud online, however, he turned down the opportunity to fight the Irishman at UFC 303.
Instead, ‘Chaos’ is eyeing a potential fight against former lightweight champion, Charles Oliveira, after the Brazilian made it clear that he’d be willing to move up to welterweight for a big fight.