Former UFC lightweight Myles Jury opened up about the business side of competing for the promotion. In a recent video, he talked about a career-altering knee injury that led to his release and reflecting on how little the pay actually amounted to once expenses were factored in.
Jury explained that his introduction to how disposable athletes can feel came early, during his run on TUF season 11, the Brock Lesnar versus Junior Dos Santos season. He tore his knee on the show before ever getting a UFC fight on his record.
“I hurt my knee. You know, I got on the show, didn’t do anything wrong. I blew my knee out and literally had to go home. You know, they were like, ‘Hey, sorry, kid. Uh, you know, you can’t compete. You got to go back home. You got to get surgery. You’re going to be out for a year.'”
He assumed the promotion would look out for him given his potential, but that is not what happened.
“Being a young athlete and being, I thought, ‘All right, no worries.’ You know, they see my potential and they’re going to take care of me. And literally, I got my surgery. Nobody called to check on me. Nobody was like, ‘Hey, you know, are you doing good?’ None of that.”
The news of his release did not come as a phone call or a face to face conversation. It came in the mail.
“I get a letter in the mail like two or three months later, and it’s from Zuffa. And it was like, ‘Hey, Myles Jury, we regret to inform you that, you know, we no longer need your services.'”
Jury said the experience taught him quickly that the sport was a business first.
“I was young and I was learning the combat business. I was like, ‘Damn, I didn’t even compete yet in the UFC. I didn’t even get an opportunity to perform and I got hurt. Wasn’t even my fault and they’re still firing me and nobody called or checked on me.’ So I knew right then and there that it was a business and I needed to play the business hand to the best of my ability.”
He described the feeling of working under UFC contracts as one of constant uncertainty.
“When you’re with the UFC, you feel super expendable… I felt like I had no job security… At any given moment for any reason, they can let you go.”
Jury also pushed back on the assumption that a UFC roster spot guarantees financial comfort, especially early in an athlete’s run.
“When I got with the UFC, you know, I got my first fight. I won. I had a little chunk of change, probably like, you know, maybe 20 grand or something. And I was living out in California and I’m like, after I pay taxes, my rent, my food, my car insurance, my phone bill, I was like, I barely have any money.”
He said that reality held for most athletes, not just himself.
“Especially in the beginning, guys, the money is not that good with the UFC… It takes years and years of beating guys, working your way up the ladder to get to a position where you can get comfortable money where you’re taken care of.”
Jury said it took roughly a decade of work before he reached a point of earning real money in the sport, adding that most athletes never reach that level at all.
