Chris Leben made news last week when he tweeted that he wished he’d been a truck drive for last decade than a fighter, as he would have mad more money. Leben subsequently removed the post and apologized to the UFC the next morning.
However, the sentiment that fighters are underpaid is a common one and recently Nate Quarry has made a lot of news with his comments on the Underground.
Former UFC and Bellator Fighter Matt Riddle recently spoke with Sherdog’s Beatdown Radio Show and expressed the same sentiment:
On why he retired: I retired from Bellator because they refused to give me an extension on my fight in the tournament or a fight this year, in 2013, when I was talking to them. I saw they would do other things for Joe Warren and other fighters that they just had a soft spot for, I guess. I didn’t like that, and honestly, getting fired from the UFC for marijuana — honestly, this whole sport is just politics and hypocrites and everything. I was really tired of it. And it’s not like I’m getting paid that well. I could work at McDonald’s and get paid more. That’s why I retired.
On whether he’s insinuating anything with the UFC: I think I’ve insinuated it in the past. You know, they gave me a drug test in London and I failed that after I quit like a month out. It’s whatever. They said I failed. Whatever. They fired me. Other dudes failed drug tests; they keep them on the roster. Whatever. I don’t really care. It’s a bunch of hypocrites and a bunch of douchebags that run the show, and I’m tired of it.
