Eddie Alvarez thinks Sean Strickland should think long and hard about his pay from the UFC.
Strickland, a former UFC middleweight champion, was coming off another victory over Paulo Costa at UFC 302. In the days leading up to the fight, he used his time at a press conference to shoot down the idea of a career in bare-knuckle boxing after retiring from MMA. Strickland was particularly critical of BKFC, calling the organization a “bastard” and accusing them of not paying their fighters properly.
Alvarez, now a free agent, fought for BKFC in December and defended the promotion during his appearance on the show while criticizing Strickland's lack of self-awareness. MMA Hour.
“He was saying the promotion sucks, the pay sucks, etc. and I was like, 'That's ironic for a guy who's literally been fighting for free his whole life in the UFC,'” Alvarez said. “He's just getting paid a tiny bit and he's talking bad about a promotion that just started.”
“I thought it was cute that he said something about pay, because he was like, 'They don't get paid like us.' I'm sure he's doing well in the UFC, but I make more than Sean Strickland because I fight bare-knuckles.”
If the assessment that Alvarez is more highly paid than Strickland is accurate, it's likely due to the illustrious mixed martial arts career he has ahead of his boxing debut in 2023. The 40-year-old Alvarez is a former UFC and Bellator champion with wins over a host of greats, including Justin Gaethje, Rafael dos Anjos, Anthony Pettis, Gilbert Melendez, Michael Chandler and Shinya Aoki.
Alvarez has bet on himself multiple times throughout his career by competing in different promotions, and Strickland suggested he might be looking to see more value in himself.
“He's complaining about his pay, but he's saying the promotion isn't paying him,” Alvarez said. “Hey, motherfucker, they're paying him, they're paying you more, you're famous, you're well known. I don't know how many followers he has, how famous he is, but my son loves him. He's a guy, he's a UFC character, but he was saying bad things about bare knuckle. I'm like, don't say bad things about bare knuckle. We're getting paid.”
BKFC has come a long way in the past few years, with former UFC fighter Mike Perry emerging as a star and Conor McGregor recently becoming a co-owner of the organization, and BKFC has quickly become one of the most prominent fighting sports organizations in North America.
When asked if BKFC is one of the top three promotions out there right now, Alvarez answered wholeheartedly in the affirmative.
“Yeah,” Alvarez says, “if you want to get publicity and be famous, look at the Bare Knuckle videos, they've got a million views.” [views] And it's even more than that. Even UFC fights sometimes don't get more than a million views on YouTube. So if you want to be famous, if you want to get your name out there, right now you have UFC and Bare Knuckle. I don't know if there are any PFL fighters that are super famous, you know what I mean?
