Former UFC Title Challenger Michael McDonald “Can’t Afford To Train”
Former UFC bantamweight title challenger Michael McDonald’s mixed martial arts (MMA) career is currently on hold.
The 26-year-old, No. 8-ranked 135-pounder revealed to ESPN this week that he will be working a different job to help pay his bills and save enough money for a training camp:
“I’m trying to make enough money right now to pay my bills and still have a little savings for a camp,” McDonald said. “And it’s tough because I don’t know if camp will be perfect and I don’t know if I’ll pay for one, only to have my opponent back out. It’s always iffy.
“My goal is to fight, but I also have to keep my possessions,” McDonald said. “I’ve borrowed money before and racked up $15,000 in debt in order to train like a professional athlete. And I’ve went through injuries and lost everything, twice. I’ve lost my home and moved back in with my parents.”
In his last bout inside the Octagon, a first-round knockout loss to John Lineker at UFC Fight Night 91 this past July, McDonald took home a total of ,000 for his ,000 base pay, a ,000 show-headliner bonus, and ,000 in Reebok payouts. After bills and training expenses, however, that dried up rather quickly:
“The worst part is you never really know if you have enough. You just get this chunk of money and you’re saying, ‘I hope this [is] enough.’ Let’s say I have $20,000 in the bank. I think I’m good, start working my butt off, get injured and need surgery. By the time I get healthy, now I’ve got $5,000. What happens if I get injured again? I’ve had three hand surgeries and taken two years off before. You go into a lot of debt doing that.”
This isn’t the first time McDonald has experienced financial issues due to his career choice, but in the past, he feared to speak up on the issue due to what might come from it – until now:
“When people open their mouths and talk about how they’re not paid enough, it seems like they disappear. I’m to a point now where I have nothing to lose. The UFC isn’t paying my bills as it is.”
McDonald joins a class of fighters who are struggling to make ends meet financially, which includes former UFC women’s strawweight champ Carla Esparza who was forced to try to sell her Harley Davidson motorcycle (which she was given for winning The Ultimate Fighter) to help pay the bills.
