He's doing well in the UFC and I understand he might not be happy with what he is getting. But he did not have the KO of the night yesterday. And he might not sell enough PPV's with his name, if you were DW, would you pay him more? I don't think I would...
Everything Al says is correct. The way the fighters are treated is disgraceful, the pay is a joke. But like any other wrong in the world its gonna take time to fix. Al is the Tito/Randy of his time and what he's doing is going to improve things another little bit for fighters. At some point in time things will be good. I say fair play to him for having the stones to speak his mind and stick it to the man, especially when he's under contract.
I have always thought Al was kind of a bitch though. Hes not wrong but he is a bitch. He also hadnt fought in two years due to injuries. I mean if he wins another fight and fights soon then yes he should have more of an argument. Perry's KO of Ellenberger was more impressive to be honest. Diego looked sloppy and threw a piss poor flailing hammerfist and Al completely telegraphed that punch. I say that coming a mile away and was like WTF DIEGO?! and I hate Diego Sanchez.
If you watch the video I posted you'll see that part of the reason he was out injured for so long was because of the UFC - essentially they were trying to cut corners on the cost of his knee injury which dragged the recovery process out.
Personally I think he did deserve a POTN, not discounting Perry wicked KO of Jake but Al should have had one as well, KO Sanchez after a 2 years out is very impressive. The reason he didn't get the bonus is because the UFC have banned him from receiving one... not because he didn't deserve it.
It depends on what kind of fighter you want to see compete. Of course you could just take some random bums from the street give them a grand and let them fight. But if you want to see the very best fighters in the world, which UFC claims to provide, then $40,000 a fight actually isn't that much really. $40,000 sounds nice at first glance, 3 fights a year would be $120,000 - a nice sum above the average wage. Leaving out taxes which everyone has to pay, you have to consider "investments" fighters have to make and pay for regular people don't. Elite fighters can't just sparr with regular local training partners that come to evening class twice a week and have a regular job. You need to bring in the best sparring partners and pay them enough so that they can live from it, because they can't do a regular job while being hundred miles away from home to sparr with you. Trainers also have to be paid, because they spend exclusive time for that one fighter. And then you have to consider that fighting professionally is way more intense then training as a hobbyist and thereby the risk of injury is much higher, so you have to consider money for health issues in the calculation. So for a Top10 guy - one of the 10 best people in the world in that weight class - $40,000 really isn't much, in particular with regards to a multibillion company making shitloads of money off those fighters.
I have a muay thai background and have 3 world champions in my gym which all have fulltime jobs next to 6x training a week. It's hard to get by with just fighting. I understand Al, I really do, but there are hundreds of people trying to get where he is and fight for that money. I think he is just disappointed that the money is not what he expected to be as a professional fighter (only for a few). But that's the reality right now. I understand the UFC also, although he is a decent fighter, he's not top5 in his weightclass, for him the UFC can have a lot of different fighters.
As for the injury in his video, I'm not sure whether the UFC was obliged to pay anything. They offered to pay some, and yes, as a fighter you will make costs for hospitals and treatments, as I did a million times in my days. Again here, I think he expected to have everything paid for him and live the good life. That's not how it works in the fighting game...
Al isn't earning great on his contracts, but he signed his contract. If he wants to continue fighting, he should honour his contract and fight it out. At which point, if he's on the streak he currently is, he'll have the opportunity to leverage his position for a much higher amount of money. He will have the option to test free agency, and decide which option makes the most sense for him.
On the other side, him being excluded from bonuses is ridiculous (however I don't believe the UFC would continue it if he indisputably earned one. Mike Perry was the deserving winner of that award). The UFC not covering injuries of major fighters is pretty ridiculous because surely it only makes financial sense for them. Al could be fighting and selling on a main event of a Fox or Fight Night. I'm sure that alone would earn the UFC more than helping him with his injuries, and it's not like he's an injury prone fighter.
Then again, Al has also been treated well positional wise by the UFC. Diego Sanchez was essentially handfed to him as a notable win with relative ease. The UFC wanted to use him in New York, something he'd have always wanted to do. He's been given considerable opportunity by them to put together this streak, and he's not really looking at it like they legitimately did want to invest in him as a fighter. Not often are fighters given 4 straight fights against non top ranked fighters, and while some people think it works the other way and a big win gets you there, plenty lose a big opportunity and don't get another. A quiet build like Thompson or Chiesa is the way to earn because you're racking up those win bonuses and massively increasing your value due to the streak when it comes to renegotiation. Ross Pearson, Joe Lauzon and Diego Sanchez are fighters essentially selected for a guy like Iaquinta to beat and build his notable wins as well, and those were chosen after his initial lower ranked streak to propel him to the next stage. They wanted him to go somewhere, and he won't recognize that as promotion.
So they are both in the wrong with why Iaquinta's career is stalling. I side more with him because he's a legitimate contender and the UFC is pissing him off. They should be doing absolutely everything to appease legitimate contenders.
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