UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture believes Conor McGregor had the potential to lead the fight against low fighter pay in the UFC, but he chose not to.
Low fighter pay has always been a major point of criticism towards the UFC. However, there has never been a unanimous effort from the biggest names in the sport to solve the problem.
In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, former two-division UFC champion Randy Couture shed light on Conor McGregor’s potential to spearhead the mission to alleviate poor fighter pay and also criticized the Irishman for not taking action when it was due.
Drawing attention to McGregor’s high-profile crossover boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, Randy Couture stated that Conor McGregor could have shone a light on the pay disparity between the two sports by not involving the UFC and Dana White. However, McGregor chose to do otherwise and lost the opportunity to do so.
“The guy that really had the chance to shine a light on it was Conor McGregor. He got a boxing license. As soon as he got a boxing license, it rendered his UFC contract null and void. He had the protection of the Muhammad Ali act when he became an official boxer with that boxing number,” Randy Couture said.
“He chose to bring Dana White and company back into that when he could have done all that on his own, kept all that money to himself and shine the light on the problem in the sport of mixed martial arts. He chose not to do that. He made $100 million off of that fight with Floyd Mayweather. That’s more than he’ll probably ever make in MMA to be truthful. I think it started there,” Randy Couture said.
Randy Couture thinks Conor McGregor could have improved the sport
In 2016, the UFC was purchased by a group led by Endeavor Group Holdings in a $4.2 billion deal, which was the biggest acquisition in the sports industry at the time.
Conor McGregor had pointed out the stark difference between the company’s valuation and fighter pay on multiple occasions at the time.
However, McGregor has never addressed the issue with persistence. On the other hand, YouTuber-turned-professional boxer Jake Paul has been a vocal critic of the UFC’s fighter pay in recent times.
While continuing further on the topic in the same interview, Randy Couture stated-
“I think, really the first big red flag was selling the company for $4.2 billion. That’s when a lot of fighters stood up and said, ‘what the heck? How in the heck is that possible?’ Conor I think shined the light on it but chose not to pursue it, highlight it and try to improve our sport. Now I think we’ve got guys like Jake Paul. Why is Jake Paul the one to step up and poke Dana (White) and shine the light on what’s going on?”