On Friday, UFC CEO Dana White announced that Zuffa Boxing has signed Conor Benn into their fold. That’s definitely a major signing considering that the British pro-boxer has been propelled to stardom after getting his revenge over Chris Eubank Jr last year. Now, how much did Zuffa pay him to join them? It reportedly required them to spend $15 million to sign ‘The Destroyer’, while Sean Strickland earned a reported $8 million over his entire UFC career so far.  

According to a SparrWars post on Threads, Sean Strickland’s total UFC career payout landed at $8 million. Compared to Conor Benn’s one-fight purse of $15 million, ‘Tarzan’s career earnings look dwarfed. And that disparity highlights how much money boxers have been making, that even an ex-UFC champion’s career earnings don’t come close.

At first, Dana White and Co. paying Conor Benn such an eye-catching amount for one fight seems justified. The Englishman is a popular boxer and also made around $8 million for fighting Eubank Jr, so it’s quite natural he would command a higher payday. However, what’s surprising is that the Brit earned significantly more than a former UFC champion, who fought 24 times under White’s banner.

As for Strickland’s UFC Houston payouts, The Wrightway Sports Network reported that ‘Tarzan’ made somewhere around a million dollars as his base purse. Then he also received the Performance of the Night bonus for flatlining ‘Fluffy’, which gave him an additional push of $100,000. Lastly, there’s also a compliance pay of $21,000, which the UFC provides fighters for brand work, bringing the ex-185 lbs king’s estimated earnings to $1,121,000.

Alongside Strickland, Anthony Hernandez also headlined the event and made some solid money. Although ‘Fluffy’s exact UFC Houston payouts aren’t public yet, he earned around $616,000 for his fight against Roman Dolidze at UFC Vegas 109. So it’s expected that the Mexican-American will see a boost in his earnings after facing a former champ at a packed fight night event.

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Now, for a UFC fighter, that amount of payout is definitely solid. However, compared to other major leagues it’s clearly not close. Strickland definitely seems to understand that reality, and he has some words to spare for the UFC, too. 

‘Tarzan’ snaps at the UFC for ‘predatory’ behavior with payouts  

For most of his career, Sean Strickland paid reverence to UFC for giving him a chance to live his life as a fighter. But, looking at the promotion’s fighter pay, the former middleweight champion couldn’t wait to call out the system. He believes MMA fighters are definitely not being treated well, even going to the extent of saying that Dana White and Co’s methods are predatory.

“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,” Strickland told Complex News. “If you compare it to like pay versus athletes versus what they’re making, there is no argument there.”

“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— shorten our lives for this. So like, do we deserve better? I don’t f— know. I’m just telling you that there is no argument here that the UFC is not predatory,” he concluded.

When it comes to underpaying fighters, the UFC is already dealing with a bunch of lawsuits filed by former fighters. Recently, we saw some developments there with Dana White, Hunter Campbell, and others testifying in court.

That said, will the fighters’ base pay increase in the future? We don’t know. Will Strickland ever get $15 million for one fight? Not likely. But, do you think the UFC will bring at least some changes in this regard? Let us know in the comments section below.