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Eddie Alvarez thinks Sean Strickland should take a long, hard look at what UFC pays him.
A former UFC middleweight champion, Strickland climbed back into the win column with a victory over Paulo Costa at UFC 302. In the days before the bout, he used some of his press conference time to dismiss the idea of pursuing a career in bare-knuckle boxing after he’s done with MMA. Strickland was particularly critical of BKFC, calling the promotion “f*cking crooks” and accusing them of not paying their fighters properly.
Alvarez — currently a free agent — most recently fought for BKFC this past December, and he defended the promotion while taking a shot at Strickland’s lack of self-awareness during an appearance on The MMA Hour.
“He said something like, called it a sh*t promotion and that they pay like sh*t and blah, blah, blah, and I’m like, ‘That’s ironic for a guy who just literally fought in UFC your entire life for nothing,’” Alvarez said. “You literally just got your little paycheck and you’re going to talk sh*t on a promotion that is just starting.
“I thought it was cute of him to say something about payment, because he’s like, ‘They don’t get paid like us.’ He probably does well in the UFC, but I make more than Sean Strickland. I fight bare-knuckle.”
If Alvarez is correct in his assessment that he’s paid more than Strickland, it’s likely due to the storied combat sports career that Alvarez had prior to making his bare-knuckle boxing debut in 2023. The 40-year-old is a former UFC and Bellator champion, and he holds wins over a lengthy list of greats, including Justin Gaethje, Rafael dos Anjos, Anthony Pettis, Gilbert Melendez, Michael Chandler, and Shinya Aoki.
Throughout his career, Alvarez has bet on himself several times by competing for different promotions, and he suggested that Strickland may want to get a better value of his worth.
“He’s a complainer of pay, but he’s talking about all the promotions not paying,” Alvarez said. “Hey, motherf*cker, they pay, and they pay more than you’re getting paid, and you’re this famous, well-known — I don’t know how many followers he has and how famous he is, my son loves him so he’s a guy, he’s a UFC character, but he was talking sh*t on Bare Knuckle. I’m like, don’t you say sh*t about Bare Knuckle. We’re getting paid.”
BKFC has made huge strides over the past few years, with former UFC fighter Mike Perry emerging as a star and Conor McGregor recently becoming a part owner of the promotion. It has quickly risen to become one of the most prominent combat sports organizations in North America.
Alvarez was asked if BKFC is among the top three promotions at the moment, and he heartily answered in the affirmative.
“They are,” Alvarez said. “If you want to be promoted and become a known person, because when you look at Bare Knuckle’s videos, they’re getting a million [views] and up. Sometimes even UFC fights aren’t getting a million and up when it comes to YouTube, so if you want to be known and you want to get your name out there, there’s the UFC and Bare Knuckle right now. I don’t know if there’s very well-known PFL fighters, you know what I mean?”
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