Matt Brown: Fighters Themselves Are to Blame for Pay Issues, Not Just the UFC

If you want someone to blame for poor fighter pay, blame the fighters.

After logging 30 career fights under the UFC banner, Matt Brown laid down his gloves for good earlier this year. In the time since, Brown has kept busy building businesses and setting himself up for long-term success outside the Octagon.

Having learned much about how the UFC conducts business over his 16 years with the promotion, Brown believes that the never-ending debate over fighter pay is much deeper than simply pointing a finger at the promotion and telling them to pay their athletes more money. However, he does agree that that’s exactly what the UFC should probably do considering the record-breaking revenues the organization pulls in year-over-year.

Still, Brown recognizes the situation is far more complicated than that and questions whether or not the average Joe would do things differently if put in the same position.

“It’s hard to expect the UFC to just be completely fair about it,” Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “They’re running a business, and they run it very f*cking well. They’ve done an amazing job building their business. I think 99 percent of people in their shoes would be doing very similar to what they’re doing.

“Does that make it right? That’s up to each person to decide on their own. I think it’s just way more complex than people give it credit for” (h/t MMA Fighting).

As much as the blame over poor fighter pay falls on the shoulders of the UFC, Brown thinks athletes, himself included, need to start pointing the finger at themselves for not holding the promotion accountable.

“If anybody is to blame for fighter pay, it’s the fighters — and I’m one of them, at least formerly,” Brown said. “I never fought against the UFC about my pay. You’ve seen on Instagram, Twitter, different interviews where the fighters stick up for the UFC.

“I’ve never heard of a business in my life where the employees — if you want to call us employees or even subcontractors — where they’re going to say, ‘I shouldn’t be paid more, they’re paying me a perfect amount of money.’ That is so unbelievable to me.”

matt brown explains why UFC fighters aren’t more vocal about pay problems

For the most part, Brown has been happy with how the UFC has treated him over the years, noting only one instance when he felt it necessary to air a grievance with Dana White. Brown revealed that White completely agreed with him during their behind-closed-doors meeting and the two sides reached a new deal amicably.

That said, Brown largely avoided complaining about his UFC pay believing that picking a fight with his employer probably wouldn’t do him any favors at the negotiating table.

“Look, I’ve always been happy with how the UFC’s treated me, I like them,” Brown said. “There’s no hate against them at all, but if I thought sticking up for myself and fighting with them about pay would get me paid more, I would absolutely do it in a heartbeat. I only question if guys are saying that because we know the amount of power that [UFC] have.

“If you try fighting against [UFC], your chances of getting more pay just get diminished. You’re just lowering your chances of getting more pay. So of course you publicly stick up for them even though something in the back of your head is saying, ‘Damn, this isn’t really what I want.’”