Mike Tyson says Francis Ngannou’s $600k purse would barely cover Tyson’s training costs

The fighters’ pay issue within the UFC has been a hot topic among the MMA community for a while now.

Pundits, fans, and even fighters have shared their opinion on this matter, most notably in the context of UFC heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou contract negotiations

Ngannou was paid $600,000 for his last outing against Cyril Gane at UFC 270 earlier this year, a number that hasn’t impressed anyone including legendary boxer, Mike Tyson.

On a recent episode of Tyson’s Hotboxin’ podcast, he discussed the pay issue in the UFC.

While ‘The Last Stylebender’ is now one of the UFC’s highest paid, Adesanya pointed out that there are still fighters that are criminally underpaid like Ngannou.

“Shout out to my boy, my big brother Francis, he kicked the door down and said ‘Look, this is what’s happening. They’re paying me this much and I’m this guy.’ He put it all out there. Mike, imagine at the height of your career, you’re fighting and you’re getting paid the equivalent of $600k to fight. That would be atrocious.”

The former Undisputed Heavyweight Champion was disappointed to hear what Ngannou earned, claiming it was just his “training expenses.”

“Listen, that’d be my training expenses. That’s my training expenses.” he said.

Adesanya added that the debutants in the promotion should have been paid enough to not have a second job and focus on fighting.

“The guys who are making their debut … they should be able to just get paid, and then not have to work at all during their training camp. Because a lot of fighters do. They work. Imagine having a second job. Get paid, pay management, pay training expenses, then have enough to live off of.”

As one of UFC’s biggest stars, Adesanya earned an estimated $1,542,000 for his last bout against Robert Whittaker at UFC 271 in February.

While there are some like Adesanya, there are plenty of athletes getting paid the Paddy Pimblett rate of $12,000 to show $12,000 to win – despite established followings.

As for Mike Tyson, he was estimated to have earned around $375 million during his active days as a boxer. Sadly for Tyson, his extravagant spending caught up to him and he’s now estimated to be worth around $5,000,000.

Watch the full episode of Hotboxin’ with Israel Adesanya: