With only a few days before Jose Aldo's next fight, the reigning featherweight champion has asked for another increase in his fighter pay. "Scarface" was specific with his demands as he seeks to have a "part of the millions" of the UFC's earnings.
Jose Aldo's next fight is slated against Chad "Money" Mendes for UFC 179's main event bout, which will be held on Saturday, October 25th at Ginásio do Maracanãzinho in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
In a recent interview with Bloody Elbow, retired fighter and MMA veteran Wanderlei Silva revealed that being a champion in the UFC does not necessarily equate to a high salary. The PRIDE FC legend used former 135-pound champ Renan Barao as his example.
"I've seen a picture that he was in a very poor house with his UFC belt beside him," Silva said of Barao. "If I was the promotion's owner, I would feel ashamed to pay him little money and charge him so hard."
Jose Aldo, who had already voiced out his concerns about his salary in the past, once again raised his biggest underlying issue with the company.
"I ask for financial valorization not only for me, some other fighters should have too," Aldo said in an interview with Combate. "We give a lot for the company. I've seen this happening in the past, athletes were highly valued, and the company was not that big. Today, the company is very large and athletes devalued."
Jose Aldo's next fight gives "Scarface" a chance for a bigger payday if he manages to fit the standards of bagging a "Performance of the Night" award. Such an honor will earn him an extra $50,000.
But for the five-year featherweight champion, these means of compensation would not suffice.
"I'm employed by them, I can see their side," Aldo explained. "But we'll always seek for valorization. We aren't monthly paid, that's why we have to keep fighting. We always try give the best of us in training to go in the cage and have a good performance, thus giving millions for the company."
"We also want to have part of these millions," he added.
