Some big claims regarding the financial situation of the UFC have recently been put out there from a multi-time WWE Hall of Famer who fired off shots at multiple TKO-helmed properties. During a recent episode of Kliq This Podcast, former WWE and WCW champion Kevin Nash was discussing his friend and prominent WWE figurehead Paul Levesque, AKA Triple H, and how the WWE creative direction has been compromised due to TKO intervention in recent times.
Delving into his WWE-related frustrations while also putting out his own reports regarding UFC’s supposedly declining business, Nash said [via Fightful],
“Let Paul [Levesque] run the f**king company. If you guys want to cut the talent, don’t throw it in Paul’s lap and make him be the bad guy. Don’t tell him, ‘Give me six years of creative process and give it to me by Wednesday.”
“If I don’t see a certain guys name on there, I’m going to cut it by 50%.’ How about just go f**k yourself. How about you grow a set of balls, you walk in, and you tell them because UFC is bleeding through every tourniquet that they have, we’re going to cut people from WWE to stop the bleeding from the other company.”
“UFC is hemorrhaging money, and WWE isn’t. How about we tell the truth? If something happens and Triple H is no longer at the helm because there is some type of power play, I hope you follow my lead because the minute they f**k with him, I’ll have nothing to do with that product the rest of my life.”
UFC post-fight bonuses criticized by promotional vet who fought at UFC 328
UFC pay has been part of the broader discourse for years now, with one of the promotion’s most tenured fighters ever discussing the post-fight bonuses in recent times. The combatant in question is Jeremy Stephens, who ended up getting finished by King Green during their May 9th throwdown at UFC 328.
Heading into the contest during an interview with Full Send MMA, ‘Lil Heathen’ did not seem to think the $100,000 Paramount+ post-fight bonus upgrades were nearly enough, as Jeremy Stephens stated [via MMA Mania],
“Now it is just corporations. They are like, here you go, $50k here, $50k here, and now it is $100k, but they were already doing that in 2007 at UFC 71 when I started my UFC career. I was already making $75,000 bonuses. So, what the f**k happened to the money?”
“Where is the budget guy on this, because the UFC is making all this money? Why aren’t we getting $500,000 bonuses? Bro, you are basically giving out what you gave out 30 years ago. It’s kind of f**ked up. For me, that doesn’t make sense — it is just really corporate. Back in the day, it was the ‘Dana duffle bag,’ bring back the good old days.”