UFC lightweight Al Iaquinta, who has long been regarded as one of the division’s best fighters, has always been vocal when it comes to the issues that bother him. One of the issues that happens to bother him is the way the UFC pays its fighters – himself in particular.

“The way I see it, I’ve been taking the risks the whole time,” Iaquinta said of his career on a recent episode of BJ Penn Radio. “I went on to the Ultimate Fighter, those contracts are bullshit, there’s no money on the Ultimate Fighter, so that’s a huge risk. I got injured a lot on that. You go through the Ultimate Fighter, I made it to the finals so I got a contract. You think you’re gonna make money once you get into the UFC. I don’t know. I don’t wanna even keep harping on it.”

“If I’m gonna fight an unranked guy, and I’m gonna fight for the same amount of money, I might as well fight the easiest guy, right?” he added. “Otherwise, pay me money and I’ll fight somebody that’s like a top guy. But I’m not gonna fight an unranked guy that’s neck and neck with Edson Barboza for the same amount of money I would get to fight Kajan Johnson.”

Yesterday, as the MMA community celebrated Christmas, Iaquinta reiterated his desire for decent financial incentive to fight top opponents, sharing his Christmas wish with UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby.

For Christmas I just want to be paid half as good as sage northcut to fight opponents twice as tough @seanshelby

— Alexander Jay🗽 (@ALIAQUINTA) December 26, 2017

“For Christmas I just want to be paid half as good as Sage Northcutt to fight opponents twice as tough,” Iaquinta said in a Tweet directed to Shelby.

Do you think Al Iaquinta’s Christmas wish is a fair one?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 26/12/2017.