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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - FEBRUARY 15: Jared Cannonier reacts after a victory against Gregory Rodrigues of Brazil in a middleweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on February 15, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
Jared Cannonier is set to return to the Octagon this Saturday July 18th as the co-main event of UFC Oklahoma City. He’ll take on Christian Leroy Duncan, whose 7-2 UFC record is tiny compared to the 11-9 that “The Killa Gorilla” carries.
Cannonier has been in the UFC for over a decade and has settled into a gatekeeper position at middleweight — not an easy job, as his recent 1-3 record reflects. In a new interview with Full Send MMA, Cannonier spoke on fighter pay and how tough things are for UFC fighters at his level.
“The fighter pay conversation, I would love to get paid more,” Cannonier said. “I would love all of us MMA fighters to get paid more. But there is big differentiation in skill level, even in the UFC. I think the UFC pays based a lot based off of merit. How you perform, A. How you market yourself, B. I would like to get paid the way that highest-performing athletes in any sport would get paid. We’re on TVs around the world. We go through a lot just to make it to fight week.”
“We lose a lot of money that’s not coming to us,” he added. “We used to get a bunch of sponsors. We still get sponsors, but the landscape, the changing of the landscape changed that for us, and it didn’t leave us with much of anything at the end.”
“Fighters are definitely at the s–t end of the stick of this whole business,” he concluded. “I think I should have million-dollar contracts, not $100,000 contracts and stuff. At the stage that I’m in, you know? I’ve been top five, top ten for about seven to eight years. Again, I’m not complaining, but this is definitely how I feel. I’m not gonna hold back in voicing my opinion on that.”
Cannonier comes into UFC Oklahoma City ranked No. 10, fighting the up-and-coming No. 12 Christian Leroy Duncan. He’s in the co-main on a card that’s expected to draw over $2 million at the gate alone. Should he be making a million per fight? Not according to the UFC, who would argue they could replace Cannonier with anyone else on the roster and it wouldn’t affect their bottom line by a single cent.
But guys like Cannonier who have built a reputation for fighting hard and bleeding for the promotion over years certainly deserve more than they’re getting. At 42 years old, Cannonier is approaching the end of his career. To spend so many years in the top ten of his division and walk away without a huge wad in the bank would be criminal.
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