There has been much talk recently of fighter pay, and now UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo is adding his opinion to the list.

He spoke about fighter pay, and why the UFC, as well as the media, need to treat fighters better.

“The athlete is not treated like he deserves. We deserve better,. I’m not speaking only about the UFC, but about the media as well. The fans treat us really well. We suffer a lot and live to do a show. We get paid way less than we deserve. We deliver shows and deserve to get paid more. We practically pay to do this. You deserve to get better paid if you sell the fight.”

“To get closer to boxing is complicated, but it would be great. Boxing is in the culture around the world for a long time, while the UFC is new and is still growing. I think it’s hard to get closer to what boxing pays their athletes, but we work for that. If they do get closer one day, I think I’ll be retired already.”

Quotes courtesy of AGFight, and translated by MMAFighting.