Tyron Woodley reveals the truth behind UFC pay controversy in candid interview

Former UFC champion Tyron Woodley has opened up about his pay during his time in the MMA organisation and how it compares to modern fighters.

As the UFC continues to become one of the biggest organisations in sport, it is facing more and more scrutiny over the amount of money that fighters are being paid to compete.

For quite some time, fans and journalists have criticised the UFC for not giving enough to their fighters, something that former welterweight champion Woodley has addressed in an exclusive interview with SPORTbible.

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Tyron Woodley reveals what he was really paid during UFC career, and how it compares today

From 30 July 2016 to 2 March 2019, Woodley reigned as the UFC's welterweight champion having won the belt by knocking out Robbie Lawler at UFC 201.

Woodley defended the belt four times as champion — twice against Stephen Thompson (one win and one draw) and once against both Demian Maia and Darren Till - before losing to Kamaru Usman at UFC 235 via unanimous decision.

During this time Woodley would likely have enjoyed some of the best pay cheques in the UFC, with champions in his era earning a share of the pay-per-view buys.

Despite this, Woodley has admitted that, while he described his pay as 'decent', he also feels that he was underpaid during his time in the UFC.

Speaking exclusively to SPORTbible, via Mr Gamble, Woodley said: "I always argued for a little bit more. I wasn’t grossly underpaid, in my opinion. I feel like I was paid decently, especially for somebody who used to fight for free. I fought for free for two or three years in MMA."

However, where Woodley is really concerned is when he compares what he earned a decade ago to the reported payouts of the current stars of the sport.

He added: "But I have looked at some more recent fighter payouts, and for champions to be making the same as I made in 2016, ten years later, it’s kind of mind-boggling. But, can’t tell the UFC what to do with their money, they built that empire.

"If I could go back and do it again, I’d realise very quickly: this is not my world. This is their world. This is what they built."

For example, the reported salaries for the UFC's latest major event, UFC 331, reportedly saw flyweight champion Joshua Van earn $500,000 (£370,000), while his opponent and former champion Alexandre Pantoja earned $650,000 (£481,000), the most of any fighter on the card.

By far the biggest estimated pay day from a recent UFC event was, unsurprisingly, Conor McGregor's purse for his 69-second to Max Holloway during his comeback in July, reportedly earning him somewhere in the region of $20m to $25m (£14.8m–£18.5m).

But that doesn't mean that Woodley believes he should have argued more for himself back in the day, as he admitted: "But I would have fought more on victory. Fought more to win. Fought more to prove myself right and less to prove anybody else wrong.

"I would have focused more on victory and less on pay, sponsors, entertainment and brand, then let the brand speak for itself."

Unfortunately for Woodley, he lost the opportunity to continue to fight for better pay in the UFC following his loss to Usman as the defeat was just the beginning of a poor run of form that ultimately led to his UFC in April 2021.

After losing his title to Usman, Woodley lost three further fights to Gilbert Burns, Colby Covington and Vicente Luque, leading the UFC to decide against renewing the former champion's contract.

"I lost focus. I let some years get by, and I let some people get victories over me just by not being focused. That’s something I have to deal with," he admitted to SPORTbible when reflecting on the end of his UFC tenure.

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Jake Paul a 'groundbreaking' force in combat sports according to Tyron Woodley

Thankfully for Woodley, his combat sports career didn't end after his time in the UFC, as he has since transitioned to compete at various other events.

Most notably, the former UFC champion has faced YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul on two occasions, losing via split decision and knockout.

Despite the outcomes of the two bouts, Woodley had nothing but good things to say about his former opponent when asked about his impact on combat sports in general.

Speaking to SPORTbible, Woodley said: "I think his impact is good. He has constantly put himself in a position to do something groundbreaking, change the game, do something everybody didn’t think he would do, break records and break barriers.

"Whether you like him or not, you can’t negate that he has broken quite a few barriers in combat sports. He’s done fights where people said, 'Oh my God, I can’t believe we’re watching him fight Mike Tyson.'

"You have to give him credit for being a trailblazer in breaking things people didn’t think would happen."

For the first fight against Paul, Woodley reportedly earned a guaranteed purse of $2m (£1.48m), with the second fight said to have earned him a similar amount.

Now, Woodley has instead returned to compete in wrestling and recently lost to active UFC superstar Khamzat Chimaev at a Real American Freestyle in Moscow, Russia.