Chael Sonnen has always been at the forefront of speaking out and telling it like it is – or, as he sees it.
Ahead of the upcoming Submission Underground event put on by Sonnen this Sunday, the former UFC title contender discussed who he believes are the real winners in the recent UFC sale.
“Definitely (things will get better for the fighters),” he told MMAjunkie. “Is it because of the fighters? I don’t know. Fighters are a bunch of crybabies. That’s the bottom line. When I had my first fight in the UFC, it paid ($2,000 to show and $2,000 to win).
“That was a decade ago. The minimum now is ($8,000 to show and $8,000 to win). I can’t think of another industry that you can make the four times the minimum money on the minimum. So percentage-wise, the escalation has been very rapid and incredible. It all depends on how you look at those numbers.
“You guys are fighting three times a year. I want them to make a bunch of money. I really do. I’m just sick of them crying about it. It’s a fistfight three times a year. How much money do you think you should make?”
Sonnen also felt strongly that the new owners needed to keep UFC president Dana White in his position, which they have stated they plan to do.
“There’s only guy that can run that industry, and it’s Dana White,” Sonnen said. “There’s not a book you can check out in the library to be a promoter. There’s not a college you can go to to major in fight promotion. It’s trial and error, and he tried it, he made the errors, and now he’s succeeded. There’s nobody that could replace him and you could reasonably believe it could move forward.”
