In a wide-ranging conversation on the Mighty podcast, veteran MMA analyst Luke Thomas offered candid observations about the sport’s evolution, touching on everything from fighter compensation to the cultural shift within mixed martial arts.
When discussing his connection to fighters and their stories, Thomas acknowledged a growing distance between himself and many athletes in the sport. “I don’t think I click with a lot of the people who are in MMA, and that makes it harder for me to share interests with them,” he admitted.
Pressed to elaborate, Thomas didn’t hesitate: “Let’s just be honest. It’s become an aggressively right-wing sport.”
Thomas was quick to clarify that his position wasn’t about imposing views on others. “Some people will like that, some people will not like that. I’m not trying to tell anybody they don’t have to like that if they, in fact, do,” he explained.
Rather, his concern centered on how athletes conduct themselves publicly. “It’s just that it has gotten to a point where they’ll espouse things and say things and then do things that I just don’t rock with. And it makes it a little bit harder for me to personally connect to their stories.”
The analyst offered a specific example, citing featherweight champion Ilia Topuria’s praise of the Nelk Boys’ interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—a conversation Thomas described as “a disaster of an interview with a guy wanted for war crimes.”
While acknowledging Topuria’s elite skills inside the octagon, Thomas admitted such moments create “friction” in his ability to engage with fighters’ narratives.
This cultural observation emerged during a broader discussion about fighter compensation and the proposed Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, which Thomas argues could fundamentally reshape combat sports economics. He expressed concern that the UFC’s expansion into boxing through its UBO model represents an attempt to circumvent the protections boxers currently enjoy under the Ali Act.
“If you can be a little UFC inside of boxing, you don’t have to obey the Muhammad Ali Act,” Thomas explained, describing exemptions from coercive contracts and other protections that have traditionally given boxers leverage over promoters.
Thomas’s analysis extended to MMA’s economic structure, where he noted that despite the UFC’s recent $7.7 billion deal with Paramount, fighter compensation remains significantly lower than in boxing. He cited expert testimony from the antitrust lawsuit showing boxing headliners typically receive 60-80% of event revenue, compared to what he estimates as under 20% for UFC fighters.
The analyst also raised concerns about MMA’s talent pipeline, pointing to declining event numbers in major markets and suggesting that inadequate fighter pay may be deterring top athletes from entering the sport.
“If people don’t believe that they can get the kind of financial returns from boxing that they once could have… what does that do long term?” he asked.
Throughout the conversation, Thomas emphasized his commitment to editorial independence, even when it comes at a professional cost. “If you really want to see how far the rabbit hole goes, you have to criticize power,” he said. “And if you criticize power, there is a cost to be paid.”
