Not many people are thrilled with the new UFC owners, in fact a lot of people outright hate them. It was only 3 months after talent agency WME-IMG bought the company that they laid off over 100 staff and closed international offices. Then some peculiar new trends in match-making began to appear shortly afterwards.
After the sale it appeared that most things would be business-as-usual. Dana White staying on as President seemed to indicate that no major changes would be forthcoming, but that turned out not to be true. Big changes have taken place since the new owners took over, and few feel they have been for the better.
In addition to all the UFC staff who were laid off, which includes Matt Hughes and Chuck Liddell, here are six people who already hate the new UFC owners…
6. Stipe Miocic
Stipe Miocic isn’t a fan of the new UFC owners thus far. This stems from his UFC 203 payday which he called a “slap in the face”. Despite receiving $600,000 for his defeat of Alistair Overeem, Miocic was quite upset that his payday was lower than his opponent’s that night. Overeem actually made $800,000 in defeat.
“They told me it was the best deal they could do, and I said, oh okay, great. And then come to find out, it wasn’t.” the champion would later state.
“I just felt like I was kinda crapped on a little bit,” he continued. “I try to do things right and work with them, and they just didn’t give me a great deal. That’s my own fault, but also they knew what they were doing. They took my kindness for weakness.”
Sounds like future contract negotiations between Miocic and WME-IMG could get interesting.
