UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland ripped apart UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby for the cutthroat way he conducts his business.
As the UFC matchmaker in charge of the UFC’s bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight divisions, Shelby is responsible for scouting fighters, signing fighters to contracts, and cutting fighters from 135 lbs to 170 lbs.
But because the UFC is a business and not a charity, Shelby has to budget the way he spends his money and pay the fighters that he matches up. According to Strickland, he does so in a cutthroat fashion.
Sean Strickland Rips Sean Shelby
Speaking to the “Shawn Ryan Show,” Strickland touched on several hot topics in MMA, and one of the topics he touched on was fighter pay.
According to Strickland, while the fighter pay in the UFC is low to start, one thing that can give fighters a bump in value is when they take fights on short notice. Strickland said that these short-notice fights are something that Shelby is known to offer fighters — but he will bench them if they decline to taking them.
“It’s so predatory. Mind you, you could get a couple fights. The UFC, they love for you to take a short-notice fight. If the UFC calls you and they say, ‘Hey, you want to take a fight on five days’ notice?’ They will give you like, maybe a 30, 40, 50-grand pay bump. The UFC loves that (expletive). Short-notice fights give you the biggest pay bumps,” Strickland said (via MMAFighting.com).
“There’s a (matchmaker) named Sean Shelby. Everybody hates dealing with him. I’m friends with him, but he was my (matchmaker) at welterweight. Dude, he was such a (expletive) (expletive). I say this as a friend, Sean. You’re a nice guy, but everybody (expletive) hates you.
“This guy is so (expletive) brutal. You could have a boring fight or something, and this (expletive) will bench you for like eight months. Or you could say, ‘Hey Sean, I want a fight.’ He’ll call you two weeks out from a fight, like, ‘Hey, we’ve got a fight for you.’ Dude, two weeks out. You can’t give me a little more (expletive) notice? And if you say no, he’ll bench your ass. Yeah, the UFC is (expletive) brutal. This is why the UFC attracts (expletive) degenerates, 10 and 10 for a lot of guys, where they come from, that’s still a lot of (expletive) money. But yes, I would tell anybody, ‘Don’t join the UFC.’”
Sean Strickland’s Next Fight
Since Strickland is at middleweight now, he deals with the UFC’s other primary matchmaker, Mick Maynard, these days.
Right now, the UFC middleweight champ is healing up from a shoulder injury, and he is hopeful to fight by the end of the year, with December being the target date for his return.
While a rematch with Khamzat Chimaev has been talked about, Nassourdine Imavov recently said that he would be the one getting the next title shot at 185 lbs, so he will likely be Strickland’s opponent when he returns from injury.
UFC Matchmaker Sean Shelby Ripped Apart by Sean Strickland