Coach: Dustin Poirier, Dan Hooker ‘Deserve More Money’ Following UFC Vegas 4 War
There is no question about it for City Kickboxing head coach Eugene Bareman — Dustin Poirier and Dan Hooker deserve more money.
Both fighters took part in a back-and-forth war in the UFC Vegas 4 headliner this past weekend that saw Poirier come out on top with the unanimous decision victory.
For his efforts, “The Diamond” took home $300,000 while Hooker came away with $110,000. Both fighters also earned an additional $50,000 after earning Fight of the Night honors.
Poirier’s coach Mike Brown recently claimed Poirier should be earning million dollar paydays for his fights, especially given the amount damage he has been taking in them. It’s something fans agree with as well amid the recent fighter pay disputes some are currently having with the UFC.
UFC Fighters Need To Be Paid More
And for Bareman — who coaches Hooker — there isn’t one person who can disagree that UFC fighters need to be paid more. Even the people in charge.
“Who’s gonna look at that fight and say that those guys don’t deserve more money? Like, there’s not a person on earth, and that includes the people in charge of the UFC,” Bareman told Submission Radio. “If they look at that fight and think that those guys get paid enough to leave that much of their life in the cage, then they’re insane. Of course they deserve more money. In Vegas, the amount of money you get paid gets published after the fight. So, it’s out there, it’s on record for everybody to see. And after a fight like that, like, you’ve damaged yourself for life. That’s a fact. Like, there’s more and more studies coming out now, and there will be more conclusive studies in the future, that when you inflict that sort of damage on each other, you’re causing permanent injury. And no amount of money can pay for that.
“But, you gotta remember that this is a sport that we choose to do, and we, definitely most fighters feel, and most of the public out there feel that the fighters should be rewarded more for that level of commitment to each other and to the fans and to the company. I think everybody, I think most fighters are… just, the general consciousness is right. And that is, that the fighters need a greater revenue share of what the company makes. And you can’t, you can’t argue with that.”
Of course, when the question of fighter pay is posed to UFC president Dana White, his rebuttal is he is still paying his fighters their full purses unlike other leagues despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
What he fails to address, however, is the fact that the UFC can afford to do so because they were never paying enough to begin with.
“I’ve see in the media, well, mainly Dana actually, talk about that the NFL and the MLB and the NHL, they’re all trying to cut the fighters salaries in half and stuff, but he’s saying that he’s not doing it. Well, they’re getting 50 percent revenue share with their company,” Bareman added. “You can cut their salary in half when they’re getting 50 percent. Our guys over here are getting $10,000 and $10,000. In the NFL and stuff, the guys collecting the helmet and the towels in the changing room, they’re getting paid more than our guys (laughs).
“Think about it. They’re probably on the average salary. Are they getting 10 and 10 for picking up the helmets and towels and dirty sweatshirts? They’re probably getting paid more than what some of the fighters getting paid, given that obviously the fighters fight more than once, but you understand the ridiculousness of it. I think more the question is, what are the fighters asking for? Is it like, out of this world? Is it too farfetched to grant them that? And the consensus amongst the fighters and stuff, is that it’s not. Just share a bigger slice of the pie is all they really want.”
Do you agree with Bareman?
