Paige Van Zant ruffled some feathers earlier this week when she explained that her OF makes her as much money in a day as the entirety of her MMA career.
“OF has definitely been my largest source of income. I would say combined, in my fighting career. I think I made more money in 24 hours on OF than I had in my entire fighting career. Combined. Yeah.”
She went on to say: “I would say when I made the switch to — there’s a lot of stuff I’ve done in my career. I’ve been really fortunate in my career. Even outside of the UFC and out of fighting has been pretty successful. I’ve worked pretty hard in other industries and trying to cross over, I guess [to] a more mainstream personality.”
And Van Zant actually made a lot more than the average UFC competitor. Back in the Reebok era of the UFC, Van Zant and Sage Northcutt were believed to be on the receiving end of ‘Dana White privilege’ with better contracts and favorable promotion. Van Zant famously secured one of a handful of standalone Reebok sponsorships to boot.
And yet all that pales in comparison to what she earns creating content showcasing her voluptuous curves.
Controversial statements from UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland have once again stirred the pot in the MMA community, highlighting the ongoing debate over gender dynamics and marketability in the sport. Strickland took to Twitter to respond to former UFC fighter Paige VanZant’s revelation about her earnings.
There was a variety of responses to Strickland’s statement. And while most agree that Paige Van Zant’s looks had a part in her signing with the UFC there’s quite a few fans who have enjoyed classic female bouts.
 
Sean Strickland is famously outspoken. This landed him in some hot water recently, when UFC opted to mute part of his appearance on an official podcast.
“So, let’s just say you make it. Now, you make it to the UFC. What do you think they sign the average guy on? You know, this one man, TJ, you’re a UFC guy. ”
De Santis offered meekly: “Uh, it’s twelve and twelve.”
Strickland corrected:
“Ten and ten. Ten and ten from this man. So, you make it to the UFC. You get signed ten and ten, and now you fight for ten and ten. You’ve spent your entire life working toward this one goal. You can get the blue checkmark. You get the UFC in your logo. You get all the people. You get all of it now. So, you go to the UFC, and they’ll get you, and now guess what, you guys? You’ve made a total of, let’s see, $20,000. You’ve made a total of $60,000 your entire career, and you have no other options because you can’t be a part-time fighter. You’ve got to be full-time, right?”
“So, now, you’re a 24-year-old man looking at yourself in the mirror saying, ‘I spent my entire life doing this one thing, and I’ve made $24,000 or $30,000.’ You go teach karte or kickboxing, and that’s like the damn shame of most industries. It’s like you get kind of Weinsteined. You know, you get like you. They put this big old **** UFC logo, and again, I love you guys. I make more money than you see. ****, I mean, I’m not a poor man. You guys, I would be in the rich category, which still **** shocks me every time I think about it, but they put this big **** logo, and you sell your **** soul for it. You sell your **** soul. ”
This latest outburst is more indicative of the fact that MMA is not that great of a career choice than anything else. Majority of other professional sports are likely to reward their stars comparable to their contribution. While the average Joe might make $10,000 to show and $10,000 to win, Conor McGregor cashed in under $6M for a PPV event that brought in $60M for the promotion in PPV alone.