Chad Mendes is set to make his return to combat sports after retiring from the UFC a few years ago. Recently, he made quite the claim regarding his pay compared to Francis Ngannou.
Francis Ngannou revealed that he was paid $600k for his fight against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270. Chad Mendes recently claimed that he is being paid a lot more than that for his stint in bare-knuckle boxing.
“I’ll put it this way: I just saw what the UFC heavyweight champion of the world got paid, and it’s gonna be more than that,” Mendes told MMA Junkie. “I’m getting paid well for the fight, and I’m doubling that with the sponsors alone. It’s crazy. That was such a big money maker for us in the UFC. Obviously not everybody, but people who knew what they were doing and could promote and actually get out there and do what they needed to do to get those, it was great.”
Sponsors have been a huge selling point to fighters looking to leave the UFC to make more money. The Reebok deal, now the Venum deal, restricts their sponsorship opportunities and many athletes have lost a lot of revenue.
Many were surprised by Chad Mendes' bold claim and there are some question marks around the legitimacy of his statements regarding his current pay. The UFC is expected to come up with a solution with Francis Ngannou before the end of the year. Claims like Mendes' are only going to add fuel to the fire.
