A few of the most spectacular performances at UFC London got here on the undercard.
Nathaniel Wooden overcame the chances but once more to beat Losene Keita, whereas Mason Jones overwhelmed Axel Sola in a bruising backwards and forwards combat of the yr encounter.
Jones and Sola have been coated in blood and respiration closely by the top of their contest, with each fighters swinging till the ultimate bell, utilizing each final drop of power.
Jones’ efficiency was the kind that may have a long-lasting impact on a fighter’s profession however he and Wooden roused the followers on an evening when the environment was generally flat on the O2 Enviornment.
Fighters on the prelims like Wooden and Jones do not get as a lot media consideration or promotion from the UFC – and strikingly much less cash than their headlining friends.
However in a sport that calls for a lot from the flesh and thoughts, there are arguments the athletes must be higher sorted amid a altering panorama in fight sports activities.
Fighter pay has been questioned by athletes and the media not too long ago after boxer Conor Benn secured a reported £11m one-fight deal with Zuffa Boxing.
Zuffa Boxing is owned by UFC president Dana White, so critics have requested why the 56-year-old is not paying comparable quantities to his MMA fighters underneath contract.
The UFC offers about 20% of income to fighter pay, in contrast with boxers who get about 60% of income from their occasions.
London’s Wooden, who has gained 11 of 14 fights within the UFC, says he hopes the Benn deal will spark a change as a result of he was “heartbroken” when he noticed how a lot he can be incomes.
“Once you assume I have been within the UFC for eight years, however I am not on that, I”m not even on 1% of that,” Wooden informed BBC Sport earlier than UFC London.
“Particularly after I consider MMA is the harder sport as properly, however once more I simply try to management what’s in my arms and it is received nothing to do with me.
“It was undoubtedly heartbreaking to see somebody is getting paid that a lot.”
