Ryan Bader has been around the block a bit. The man known as ‘Darth Bader’ in the cage has been in the news lately for his portrayal of MMA legend Mark Coleman in the upcoming biopic movie The Smashing Machine, featuring the life of the legendary Mark Kerr played by Dwayne Johnson. Bader was a top UFC light heavyweight before he made his way over to Bellator, where he held the promotion’s heavyweight and light heavyweight titles. We all know the story of the Bellator-PFL merger and how many top fighters have left because of the lack of fights. Ryan Bader’s exit happened in March this year, and now he’s signed with another promotion.
So, who did the former UFC and Bellator/PFL fighter sign with? Well, he has landed a lucrative deal and signed with Japan’s RIZIN Fighting Federation after recently leaving the PFL. But it’s not just that. Bader recently opened up about the state of fighter pay in the MMA landscape—particularly since the number of top-tier MMA promotions is dwindling (at least in the west), with the UFC being the premier promotion.
The TUF 8 alum explained to Ariel Helwani why he thinks that the combat sports world is in a time of scarcity when it comes to good promotions with proper payments. He said, “I feel like the state of MMA, right now, for the opportunity for fighters, is not good. There’s not a ton of promotions. Bellator is gone, and Bellator was a place we could go and get paid. As fewer and fewer promotions are paying that kind of money and not picking up fighters, you get pigeonhole. You’re going to the UFC, or they (free-agent fighters) got to pick from there.”
However, he had good things to say about RIZIN and explained that even though the promotion might be picky about foreigners, they are still the 2nd best MMA promotion in the world. Bader battled only once under the PFL flag after Bellator was acquired by the promotion. He had competed as part of the champions vs. champions introductory PFL vs. Bellator event in February 2024, against Renan Ferreira. He noted that his signing with RIZIN happened rather fast after he departed from PFL.
Of course, the crux of what Ryan Bader was trying to convey is the issue of fighter pay. We are all aware how the UFC has also been a target of backlash due to the payment issues raised by some fighters and MMA fans. So let’s take a look at what the undefeated boxing legend Terence Crawford had to say about this.
UFC payment issues as highlighted by Terence Crawford
In a recent interview with NFL legend Shannon Sharpe on the Club Shay Shay podcast, ‘Bud’ explained his stance on the state of UFC payment. During the conversation, Sharpe asked about the recent wave of MMA stars like Francis Ngannou and Jorge Masvidal in boxing. “What’s the appeal of a UFC fighter wanting to box?” Crawford did not sugarcoat his words and bluntly said, “It’s money. It’s all about money.” He mentioned a past conversation with Henry Cejudo and recalled, “I was telling them, boxers make way more money than UFC fighters, and that’s mainly what it comes down to.”
The two-division undisputed champ revealed that the huge payment in crossover boxing fights was massive compared to the UFC’s yearly earnings. Sharpe chimed in, adding, “Francis Ngannou, he probably made 20 times what he’s ever made in a UFC fight.”
Crawford replied, “Boxers ain’t never asking to go over there and fight cuz boxers are compensated.” Let’s take the case of Ngannou and see his payment structure in UFC and PFL. When he was at the height of his success in the UFC, he received $600,000 against Ciryl Gane for his last fight. Compared to that in PFL, he was paid a signing bonus of $2 million and then $8 million for his battle against Renan Ferreira.
So even though PFL is not seeing its glory days now, it paid more than the UFC did. Let’s take BKFC for example now. At BKFC 28, Taylor Starling acquired a base salary of $20,000. It is also estimated that ‘Killa Bee’ might have made between $50,000 and $100,000 at BKFC Knuckle Mania 5. Getting paid $20,000 is definitely more and better than getting paid $12,000, which is the base pay for fighters in the UFC.
What do you think? Do you agree with Ryan Bader about the lack of promotions with good pay? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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