Paulo Costa Uses Rampage's $7 Million Payday to Attack UFC Pay

Paulo Costa has again criticized how the UFC pays its athletes. This time the trigger was a resurfaced clip of middleweight champion Sean Strickland asking former light heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson about the largest payday of his UFC career.

Where the $7 million came from

Jackson answered that he made $7 million for his fight with Chuck Liddell, a figure that included pay-per-view compensation. He explained that the money did not come from a contract negotiated with the UFC itself. Jackson had signed with the World Fighting Alliance, where his manager also played a promotional role, and that agreement included pay-per-view terms. When the UFC's parent company bought WFA assets in December 2006, it had to honor those terms.

In other words, the UFC inherited the deal rather than offering it. That detail did not stop Costa from using the number as a benchmark for the current pay structure.

The comparison with Raoni Barcelos

Costa set Jackson's 2007 win over Liddell against Raoni Barcelos's loss to Raul Rosas Jr. last month. The 39-year-old Barcelos lost consciousness during a grappling exchange in the fifth round of that bout. Costa estimated that Barcelos earned somewhere between $80,000 and $100,000 for the five-round fight, and suggested that the veteran may have to retire because of the injury.

In his post on X, Costa stressed that he was not comparing the two fighters' star power, only the money involved against the risk taken. The Barcelos figure is his own estimate, not a disclosed purse.

Jackson's $7 million figure dates from his 2007 fight with Liddell and came from a contract the UFC took over from the WFA, while Costa's Barcelos figure refers to a five-round fight from last month in which Barcelos was stopped after losing consciousness.

Source: Paulo Costa on X