Aldo wants UFC fighters to receive monthly salaries, thinks union could 'protect athletes'
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/10/...alaries-union-could-protect-athletes-mma-newsJose Aldo believes a monthly salary fighters would be a good way to deal with all of the expenses a fighter must go through, and he still wants fighters to unionize.
Vitor Belfort already brought this subject up before the Reebok deal first started, but now UFC featherweight champion, Jose Aldo, fully supports the idea of fighters receiving a monthly salary to help pay the bills, which according to him, could amount to expensive numbers.
Even though Aldo himself lives in a comfortable situation, he says things can get rather difficult for those who are just beginning.
"I support this idea, of course." Aldo told Combate. "In the NFL, Nike makes the uniforms, but teams still pay their athletes, the same goes for NBA. Life gets hard for fighters who are just starting and earn no pay-per-view money. We spend a lot with trainers, sparring partners, etc. Nobody in this day and age goes to a gym to be punched in the face for free. Whether we like it or not, we are susceptible to injuries which could leave us sidelined for a long time. That harms the fighter who only gets paid when he fights. If you're hurt, there's no income. It's good to have sponsors, because that's what keeps a fighter going."
Because of all those matters, Aldo still would like to see a fighter's union as he's already said before.
"Nobody has spoken to me about a union, but it would be great. It's a way to protect athletes, it could really help. Nobody considered this. Fighters are too disunited because rivalries between gyms in the past. Of course this is not as strong as before, but it still happens. It's like this, if I don't fight for a price tomorrow, somebody else will accept that money."
While Aldo sees a problem and knows what needs to be done in order to start fixing things, he doesn't see himself as a leader to this revolution since the life of a champion is already too busy as it is.
"Today, I can't see myself responsible for this. I need to live the fight, I'm a champion and I can't put that aside. My life as an athlete is still strong so it's hard for me to do this today, but maybe one day, once I'm done fighting. I'll look into this and together with others, we could arrange something to help new fighters."
Meanwhile, Jose Aldo prepares for his title unification bout against interim champion, Conor McGregor, which goes down on December 12 at UFC 194 in Las Vegas.