Never in the history of the UFC have so many fighters openly voiced their displeasure with the promotion. Among the root causes of unrest seems to be Reebok sponsorship money, fight purses and who gets awarded championship title fights.
So many fighters are in public disputes that it calls for a pound for pound ranking of anger.
With all rankings, opinions may vary. Leave a comment if you disagree with the subjective nature of the placement of each fighter.
10 – Luke Rockhold
Rockhold says he has a good relationship with the UFC, but also went on Snapchat to say, “the money is bullshit” in reference to what the UFC pays its fighters. Rockhold also made it very clear that he could make better money in male modeling.
Perhaps not so coincidentally, after Rockhold complained about fighter pay, he was tasked with fighting Jacare Souza on the other side of the world, in Australia. Rockhold ended up pulling out of the fight with an injury, so it’s hard to imagine the UFC will reward him with any favorable fights when he returns. Badmouthing his pay and pulling out of a fight at the last minute probably didn’t endear Rockhold to the new owners of the promotion. Look for Luke and the UFC to get more contentious in 2017.
Jacare has been on the cusp of a middleweight title shot for a while but for a multitude of reasons the title shot never seems to come. Once Rockhold backed out of his fight with Jacare, it felt like this could finally be the time the Jiu Jitsu ace gets the call for a UFC title shot.
But middleweight champion, Michael Bisping said he would not be ready to fight Jacare just yet, this right after Bisping called out GSP for a fight. Bisping explained that he would fight GSP and not Souza because the GSP fight would at least pay four times as much as a fight against Jacare. This had to have left Jacare wondering just what he should do to become more of a “money” fight for people.
Jacare recently summed up the situation with trying to determine who deserves a title shot with the following, “There’s no way to be joyful with the way we are being screwed over…”
8 – Juliana Pena
It’s hard to absolutely determine how angry Pena is because her recent outburst might have just been venting frustration to help market herself. (It’s very popular for fighters to take frustration public to help get noticed these days.) Pena went on an impassioned rant about Ronda Rousey getting an immediate title shot after her one year layoff. Pena went so far as to mention wanting to fight for another organization because of this, “Maybe I’ll go fight for Combate [Americas] or something because it sounds like they want to pay me serious money and actually give me a belt right off the bat just like they did with Ronda in the UFC.”
Note to world: Don’t get on the Venezuelan Vixen’s bad side.
7 – Diaz Brothers
You can’t have an angry list without an honorary spot for the Diaz Bros. While Nate has had the most lucrative year of his professional career by facing Conor McGregor twice and Nick has remained relatively quiet while being suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, the Diaz brothers are always one question away from a classic “Diaz Bros.” rant. Just before Nate’s rematch with Conor in August, Nate tweeted out, “@Ufc played me again #trustnobody”
It the end the cryptic tweet was about having to do more media appearances than Conor in the lead up to their second fight but it goes to show, even when the Diaz brothers are making money, they’re always good for a grievance. Playing the role of unhappy employee has only made the Diaz Brothers more marketable in their careers, ‘The Patented Diaz brothers’ anger has become very endearing to fans.
6 – Cyborg
After it was announced that Ronda Rousey would be fighting for the bantamweight title and not in a super fight against Cyborg, the Brazilian 145 pound world beater, Cyborg, absolutely went off on the UFC. Cyborg does not understand why the UFC will not build a 145- pound women’s division for her, like they did for Ronda at 135 pounds. When Dana White asked the question “What did we do for Ronda that we haven’t done for Cyborg?” Cyborg told Mixedmartialarts.com the following:
“People ask me, ‘What did Dana White do for Ronda that he didn’t do for ‘Cyborg’?’ Well, he’s lied. He also never said Ronda looks like Wanderlei (Silva) with a dress. He never said that about her even though he said that about me. For almost six years, I’ve had to see him control the media… hear Ronda say I have a (penis) and that I have to cut my (penis) off to make 135. I’ve had to deal with this,”
One doesn’t get the sense that Cyborg will send Dana White a Christmas card this year and to her point, the UFC created a title and a division for Ronda and has not done the same for Cyborg.
5 – Raging Al Iaquinta
Leave it to someone whose nickname is “Raging”” to be on a top 10 angry list. Al Iaquinta has decided the money is not worth it for him to continue fighting and opted out of an appearance on UFC 205 in his home state of NY. Iaquinta says he is making good money personally training people and also recently got his real estate license. A lot of Iaquinta’s frustrations seem to stem from UFC’s doctors wrongly advising him on a knee injury combined with the fact that he cannot earn any performance of the night bonuses after his infractions for cursing at a crowd and destroying a hotel room.
And to Iaquinta’s point, Jon Jones brawled in a hotel lobby with Daniel Cormier and was involved in a hit and run accident but is still eligible for performance of the night bonuses which makes it feel like Jones is getting preferential treatment.
Iaquinta also documented being cursed at by matchmaker Joe Silva who is retiring at the end of the year. Perhaps Silva’s departure from the company would help mend fences with embittered Long Island native? It does seem like it would be a real shame for the UFC to lose such a great fighter in the prime of his career over feeling disrespected.
4- GSP
GSP recently declared himself a free agent and said he would take the UFC to court to get out of his contract, if need be. Dana White claims his relationship with GSP “Has never been better.”, making the conflicting narratives feel like a public negotiation over money. It was also revealed by GSP that the UFC told him it would cost too much money to market him to newer fans that are unfamiliar with the greatness of GSP. That sounds like a pretty silly excuse when you consider GSP is a top-five, all-time revenue generator for the company. You have to figure that all it would take is a few YouTube videos highlighting GSP’s career to be back in business, right?
One other point of contention is that GSP has a lucrative endorsement deal with Under Armor and under the current Reebok sponsorship, GSP feels he would need to be compensated for losing the ability to market Under Armor. That seems fair to bring up.
It’s hard not to be on the side of the welterweight GOAT on this one.
3 – Fabricio Werdum
After Fabricio Werdum went on social media and told Reebok they could “suck his balls” in Portuguese, the UFC responded by suspending him from his Spanish commentary duties for three years. (Werdum speaks multiple languages.) Werdum said he was protesting the fact that his sponsorship money was reduced when the Reebok deal became enforced by the UFC. Werdum also said he was currently negotiating an outside-the-octagon sponsorship agreement with Nike.
“I went ahead because I’m not happy with Reebok. I’m not happy because making $5,000 per fight sucks. For a person who made $100,000, $150,000 per fight, going to $5,000… It’s not easy.”
While it is understandable that the UFC would not tolerate one of its fighters telling a corporate partner to “Suck his balls,” the punishment was harsh and the reaction has been largely negative towards the UFC.
2 – Jose Aldo
Once it was announced that Conor McGregor would fight for the 155 pound title instead of defending his 145 pound title, Jose Aldo has gone absolutely ballistic on the UFC. He has asked for his release and even threatened to throw a fight. Aldo also remarked that he feels the UFC did not do a good job of marketing him his entire career.
For what it is worth, Also has since met with the UFC and his coach said he wants to fight Conor for the featherweight title in early 2017. (Good luck with that, Jose!) But Conor is a busy man and has already beat Aldo once. Furthermore, Conor might not even stay at featherweight, so if that is the one fight that will appease Aldo, don’t expect his relationship with the company to improve.
1 – Mark Hunt
Ever since it turned out that Brock Lesnar popped for steroids after their UFC 200 fight, Mark Hunt has been the most “unhappy camper” in all of “Camp UFC.” Hunt feels that the UFC played some hanky panky by allowing Brock to bypass the four months of testing most fighters must go through before taking a fight.
In essence, Hunt believes the UFC knew Brock was on steroids but still allowed him to fight at UFC 200 anyway. Hunt has a point, but it should also be noted that Hunt also fought in Pride FC which encouraged their fighters to take steroids, so fighting a steroid-fueled fighter is nothing new for Hunt.
Hunt has remained steadfast in wanting to sue the UFC to get out of his contract:
“If we’ve got to sue their asses, well then (expletive) you, you’re going to get sued. You scummy (expletive). The problem is everyone these days, ‘man, I want to get into the UFC.’ (Expletive) the UFC. You (expletive) don’t look after nobody.”
For those keeping track that is three of the top 10 angriest fighters who have said they are willing to pull a “Randy Couture” and take the UFC to court to get out of their contract. Never in the promotion’s history has employee relations been this volatile.
While some have called for a fighter’s association or union, it sounds like better communication would solve half of these issues. A lot of fighters just want to know how and why title shots are awarded. And if the Reebok deal could somehow be amended to include outside sponsors on the fight kits, that would go a long way too.
Hopefully the UFC improves fighter relations in 2017.
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