Will the UFC Allow an Undefeated Top-5 Fighter to Walk Rather Than Pay a Competitive Salary?

Aljamain Sterling is a name that most people won’t recognize. Truthfully, I wasn’t familiar with his name and being familiar with his name should be a part of my job. See, Sterling is an undefeated 26-year old mixed martial artist with four straight wins in the UFC. His last three fights were stoppage victories that saw Sterling rise to a #5 ranking  in the UFC’s official bantamweight rankings. Still, his time in the organization might be done before “casual fans” ever even hear his name.

Sterling has spent the last two years piling up UFC wins for little money and less fanfare. The final fight of Sterling’s UFC contract came on December 10, 2015. He was buried on the undercard of a Fight Pass event and had to take it upon himself to show up at open workouts to talk to the media without being asked by the UFC. The fight before that, he was the opening fight on the preliminary card on FOX last April. For those two fights – which were both against Top 10 fighters –  Sterling made just $63,500 according to Bleacher Report.

That’s… not a lot. Consider the fact that fighters have to pay coaches and trainers and managers out of their own pockets. So even if they’re all taking reasonable cuts, how quickly before that paycheck drops down near that idyllic $15 minimum wage?

According to B/R, Sterling passed on signing two low-ball deals with the UFC over the past couple months, choosing instead to bet on himself and possible free agency. Sterling held up his end of the bargain with two thrilling wins as he moved up the rankings. Now the pressure is on the UFC to pay him like an actual athlete or let him walk to a competitor and basically continue to ignore the guy who they currently view as the 5th best 135-pound fighter in the world.

Meanwhile, on the same UFC Fight Night 80 card, unranked 19-year old lightweight Sage Northcutt made $80,000 in his second UFC fight for beating a fighter who doesn’t even warrant his own Wikipedia page.  That’s the difference between the UFC treating you like the next big thing and whatever they’re doing with Sterling.

If they decide he has a high ceiling, they’ll give him a Northcutt-ish deal and all of a sudden he’ll be featured and pushed by the UFC promotional machine as one of the best most dangerous fighters on the planet of all-time ever. Or Sterling can sign elsewhere and continue to be ignored. That’s the risk for both parties.