Sean Strickland has unloaded his grievances with Dana White and the UFC’s pay structure in public, with numbers and frustration that have been simmering around the promotion for years. Sitting down with Complex’s Matt Welty, the former middleweight champ looked at the promotion’s new Paramount+ era and saw the same old pay structure dressed up with new branding. The timing matters. The UFC just rolled into a seven-year, $7.7 billion streaming deal, PPV points are fading out, and fans were told this would mean more money for fighters. However, Strickland’s read is blunt: the promises don’t match the reality.

“No f— bonuses. No one’s getting paid f–more. No one’s getting paid more.” Strickland shared in the interview when asked about the newly announced bonuses under the Paramount+ deal, “Yeah, it might give you like five, 10 G’s, dude. But like, what the f–?”

“The UFC is the most, as far as the pay scale, there is no, you compare it to any other sporting event, the UFC is the most f–  up. If you compare it to like pay versus athletes versus what they’re making, there is no argument there. It is like, it’s not fair, it’s predatory, there is no argument there. Now we’re a bunch of f–  idiots who take our clothes off and go fight for f—, you know, shorten our lives for this. So like, do we deserve better? I don’t f— know. I’m just telling you that like. There is no argument here.”

His benchmark isn’t complicated. Strickland wants the UFC to look like other major leagues when it comes to revenue share. He threw out the NFL’s player split as a rough example, not as a precise number, but as a principle: if leagues make billions, athletes should see a fair cut. Under the Paramount+ deal, the UFC’s revenue stream is more predictable than ever.

Yet fighters like Justin Gaethje say they’re “not getting one dollar more” than before. Gaethje’s own bonus math tells the story. Fourteen UFC bonuses across his career added up to roughly $950,000, less than $1 million, despite being one of the promotion’s most reliable action fighters. That’s a stark contrast to the more money is coming messaging.

News served to you like never before!

Prefer us on Google, To get latest news on feed

Prefer Us on Google

Adding another layer to the conversation is boxer Conor Benn’s recent signing with Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing venture. As per reports, Benn has signed on for a one-fight deal that will net him eight figures when it’s all said and done. The contrast with UFC athletes is stark.

Sean Strickland also touched on the part many fighters won’t say out loud: fear of retaliation. Asked whether guys are scared to speak up, he shrugged at the idea that speaking changes anything. Then he explained why leverage is thin. Say no to a fight, and the UFC will find someone else willing to do it for less.

‘Tarzan’  pointed at the economics of living in Vegas, rent north of $1,400 to $2,000, then taxes, managers, coaches, and asked how a fighter on entry-level pay is supposed to survive. His math is rough, but the pressure is real. Even winning three of four fights in a year at 10 and 10 doesn’t get you rich. The Paramount+ deal was supposed to signal a new chapter. For Strickland, it just confirmed the old one. Big money up top. Tight margins at the bottom. Still, that doesn’t change the fact that he’ll be stepping into the cage to take on Anthony Hernandez at UFC Houston, and Henry Cejudo is backing his chances against ‘Fluffy’!

Henry Cejudo favors Sean Strickland over Anthony Hernandez

Anthony Hernandez is riding an eight-fight winning streak and just tapped Roman Dolidze, a teammate of Strickland’s, which usually screams momentum. Strickland, meanwhile, hasn’t fought since his second title loss to Dricus du Plessis last February. Yet Henry Cejudo isn’t buying the streak at face value.

“I like ‘Fluffy.’ ‘Fluffy,’ to me, probably is one of my favorite fighters to watch,” ‘Triple C’ shared on an episode of the Pound 4 Pound podcast, “but I don’t think he gets it done with Strickland.”

Cejudo zoomed in on where Hernandez does his best work: pressure grappling and scrambles that drown opponents. That approach, he thinks, hits a wall against Strickland’s stand-up volume and stubborn defense. He pointed to a past loss, noting that Kevin Holland beat Hernandez “with hands,” and argued Strickland operates at a higher level in that lane.

In his view, Hernandez thrives on pressure and submissions, but Strickland is tough to take down and far better than he initially gave him credit for, especially after seeing how he handled Israel Adesanya. If Sean Strickland wins in Houston, the pay debate won’t go away; it will get louder. Wins amplify voices in this sport, but losses don’t. That’s the reality fighters live with when they challenge the structure that signs their checks.

The ending here isn’t about whether ‘Tarzan’  is right or wrong. It’s about whether the UFC’s new era actually feels new to the people taking the damage. If the Paramount+ money and boxing side checks keep flowing upward while the floor stays the same, these conversations won’t fade