Sam Alvey goes to bat for the UFC in fighter pay debate: “Most of the card gets paid way more than they’re worth”

By Susan Cox - April 19, 2024

Sam Alvey is going to bat for the UFC in the fighter pay debate.

Sam Alvey

‘Smile’n Sam’ parted ways with the UFC in 2022 after 8 years with the promotion. The now 37-year-old had a string of 8 losses prior to his departure.

It was during a recent interview for ‘Ultimate Punching!’ that Sam Alvey put his support behind the UFC regarding fighter pay, actually saying many fighters don’t deserve the amount of money they get from the UFC:

“Most of the card gets paid way more than they’re worth. I’d like to bring up an example, my first win in the UFC was over in Australia. They called me and my corner out there, and they flew my opponent and his corner out there, and we got off the plane, they gave us a thousand dollars, they get off the plane, they get a thousand dollars. And we did the math, and behind the end of our fight, the UFC probably spent 50 to 70 thousand dollars on our fight, and didn’t make a penny off us. I mean, nobody tuned in to watch ‘Smile’N’ Sam Alvey.”

Continuing Sam Alvey said (h/t MMANews):

“They paid us, to have us fight, 70 thousand dollars. It’s a crazy amount, and we did nothing to deserve that.”

While Alvey feels that way, many fighters disagree. Francis Ngannou, Jon Jones, Sean Strickland, Paula Costa and others have been publicly critical of fighter pay within the UFC.

As for what Alvey is doing now, he most recently faced Cameron Graham (5-13 MMA) in May of last year at the B2 Fighting Series 183, in his heavyweight debut, and won by TKO.

What do you think of Sam Alvey’s commentary on UFC fighter pay?

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This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM


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Sam Alvey UFC