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 \u2013 himself in particular.<\/p>\n
“The way I see it, I\u2019ve been taking the risks the whole time,” Iaquinta said of his career on a recent episode of BJ Penn Radio<\/a>. “I went on to the Ultimate Fighter, those contracts are bullshit, there\u2019s no money on the Ultimate Fighter, so that\u2019s 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\u2019re gonna make money once you get into the UFC. I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t wanna even keep harping on it.”<\/p>\n “If I\u2019m gonna fight an unranked guy, and I\u2019m 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\u2019ll fight somebody that\u2019s like a top guy. But I\u2019m not gonna fight an unranked guy that\u2019s neck and neck with Edson Barboza for the same amount of money I would get to fight Kajan Johnson.\u201d<\/p>\n Yesterday, as the MMA community celebrated Christmas<\/a>, Iaquinta reiterated his desire for decent financial incentive to fight top opponents, sharing his Christmas wish with UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby.<\/p>\n For Christmas I just want to be paid half as good as sage northcut to fight opponents twice as tough @seanshelby<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Alexander Jay🗽 (@ALIAQUINTA) December 26, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n