When Juan Adams was released from the UFC following his loss to Justin Tafa at UFC 247, ARES Fighting Championship immediately showed interest.
When Adams was looking to sign with a new promotion, he wanted to make fighting his full-time job. And, ARES has given him that opportunity as he revealed the African-European based promotion is paying him more money than the UFC did.
“My base salary is actually more than what I was making with the UFC. The sponsorship also plays a huge part of it. I’ve had two or three huge companies reach out for sponsorships. I’m really looking to cement my sponsors in the next two or three months,” Adams said to BJPENN.com. “My social media reach is really good so it is great for business. I look at my numbers and once I break into the European market it will add more money for me.”
Juan Adams believes ARES is a perfect fit for him because like himself, the promotion is young in the fight game. They have only had one event with their second event set for April.
For Adams, he thinks ARES can be a massive promotion and he wants to grow alongside the company.
“They are doing everything right to make waves, they are singing guys that were established in other organizations. They have some young exciting prospects as well. ARES is positioning itself to be a real power player,” he explained. “We have UFC that runs Western civilization and Bellator. Then on the other side, we have RIZIN and ONE but ARES has done a great job. They did an event in South Africa than in Belgium which is two huge markets. They are expanding into Europe which is a massive market. ARES has a really solid business model. In the future, they will be rivaling those other promotions.”
When Adams will make his ARES debut is unknown at this time. They only have the event in April which the UFC veteran will not be apart of. Instead, he is looking for a summertime return.
“I’m not looking to fight immediately. Right now my big focus is helping Don’Tale Mayes get ready for his fight,” he said. “I’m going with his camp and be 100% there for him and after that, we will look at potential dates. I’m not looking to fight until July or August.”
Who Adams will make his debut is uncertain at this time. But, the Jackson-Wink MMA product says he doesn’t think he will fight Reug Reug anytime soon. The reason, he says ARES will try and build up the Senegalese wrestler and fighting Adams in only his third or fourth pro fight doesn’t make sense.
“Not anytime soon. I’m down for it, but I think what is best long term is for Reug Reug to not make the same mistakes I made which is taking on too much too soon. He’s an exciting fighter and our styles go head-to-head really well,” Adams concluded. “We are both strong wrestlers with heavy hands so somebody goes to sleep there for sure. But, he’s just 1-0 as a pro so I’m not going to call him out. If he keeps winning and I keep winning we will probably meet down the line.”
What do you make of Juan Adams revealing ARES is paying him more than the UFC did?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 03/02/2020.