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Shane Burgos knows from personal experience that it’s not easy to make the decision to leave the UFC but that was ultimately what was best for his career and more importantly what was better for his bank account.
The 32-year-old veteran, who competed in the UFC for 11 fights across nearly six years, made the decision towards the end of his last contract with the promotion that he would test free agency. It was a gamble on himself but one that Burgos was willing to take because he just wanted to know how much he was worth on the open market, especially with numerous promoters looking to build out impressive rosters.
In the end, Burgos inked a deal to join the roster at the PFL — a move that even had UFC president Dana White admitting that the organization made a mistake by letting him go — and he has no regrets about that decision. Perhaps the only thing that confuses Burgos is that more fighters don’t even attempt to test free agency to better understand the potential opportunities that are out there for them.
“It doesn’t make sense for fighters to not test [free agency] out, in my opinion, especially as you go further,” Burgos explained when speaking to MMA Fighting. “I was in the rankings for a couple years at that point and it made sense for me to test it out. Why wouldn’t I test it out to see what I’m worth? In my mind, I know what I’m worth — a billion dollars — but I want to see what these other promotions think I’m worth. I don’t see why any fighter, especially ranked fighters, wouldn’t do this. But don’t be scared if you’re not ranked.
“You’ve got guys that have been in the UFC for so many years that’s never even tried testing it out and it’s really mind blowing to me. Are you married to the UFC? Because the UFC, they’ll replace you at the drop of a hat. Because they’re not married to you as much as you’re married to them. You can’t fall in love with three letters. You’ve got to do what’s right and this isn’t a long career.”
Now to be clear, Burgos wasn’t at odds with the UFC nor does he hold any ill will towards the promotion whatsoever but he also makes it clear that he’s ultimately an advocate for the fighters.
That’s why he hopes more athletes at least consider the options that are available to them, which in turn could force the UFC, as the biggest promoter across all of MMA, to get more aggressive while offering better pay and benefits.
“You don’t get a lot of guys that are able to [fight] in their 40s so I feel like you have to maximize your potential to earn the most money you possibly can and the only way to do that is fight out your contract,” Burgos said.
“You want the competition. Competition is healthy. It’s healthy for the UFC, it’s healthy for the PFL, it’s healthy for the fighters and I only really care about the fighters.”
Beyond his own deal, Burgos doesn’t have to look any further than former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou to know that free agency works to the benefit of athletes.
When Ngannou couldn’t come to an agreement with the UFC on a new deal, he tested the open market before signing a lucrative deal with the PFL that will also allow him the opportunity to pursue boxing matches as well as the chance to bring MMA to Africa, which was hugely important to him.
“I feel like he joined my team,” Burgos said. “I want to grow with the PFL. I want the PFL to grow obviously and Francis is only going to help that. They’ve got the Jake Paul signing, they’ve got the Cedric [Doumbe] signing, so they’re making big moves. They’re showing they’re not just here to take part. They’re trying to compete with the UFC and that’s what I think is going to happen down the line.
“Money talks and when you’ve got guys that are making a million dollars, maybe you don’t have as many Instagram followers as guys in the UFC on the undercard but what holds more weight — Instagram followers or a couple million dollars in the bank? When I sat back and I thought about the pros and cons, it just didn’t make sense for me not to sign the deal that I signed with the PFL. I’m so happy with the decision that I made and Francis signing only further solidifies my joy and my happiness with my decision.”
That said, Burgos acknowledges there’s still a lot of work to be done when it comes to fighter pay across the board, whether that’s PFL, UFC or anywhere else.
“This is the craziest sport,” Burgos said. “We’re doing the crazy s***, we’re going out there and fighting and you’ve got guys making like $10,000 and $10,000 and $12,000 and $12,000 and what we’re doing is insane. You’ve got guys warming the bench in the NBA and they’re guaranteed to make a couple million dollars a year. It’s mind boggling to me.
“Our flat pay is just still too low. I need that to go higher. I want Francis, the money he’s making, to be not normal but not be as crazy. Obviously that’s going to take some time but I do think that’s where we’re headed. I just want it to hurry the f*** up.”
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