Controversial fighter Sean Strickland has come under fire after his unflattering comment about BKFC. In the days before his bout with Paulo Costa, Strickland made some remarks about the BKFC promotion, calling them “F*cking crooks” who don’t pay their fighters. However, one of the promotion’s past fighters didn’t take this comment lightly.
Alvarez–a former UFC lightweight champion—recently debuted for the promotion in December. The fighter openly denounced Strickland’s claim in a guest appearance on The MMA Hour.
“He said something like, called it a sh*t promotion and that they pay like sh*t and blah, blah, blah, and I’m like, That’s ironic for a guy who just literally fought in UFC your entire life for nothing,” He said. “You literally just got your little paycheck, and you’re going to talk sh*t on a promotion that is just starting.
“I thought it was cute of him to say something about payment because he’s like, ‘They don’t get paid like us.’ He probably does well in the UFC, but I make more than Sean Strickland. I fight bare-knuckle. Hey motherf**ker, they pay, they pay more than you’re getting paid,”
According to reports, ‘The Underground King’ earned over $600,000 for his BKFC debut against Chad Mendes and faced Perry eight months later. The fighter claimed both opponents earned up to $1 million in the fight. Although he acknowledges Strickland as a famous fighter, he believes BKFC fights hold more monetary value. Alvarez suggested the fighter get value for his worth by betting on himself.
“He’s a complainer of pay, but he’s talking about all the promotions not paying,” Alvarez said. “ Hey, motherf**ker, they pay, and they pay more than you’re getting paid. And you’re this famous, well- known–I don’t know how many followers he has and how famous he is, my loves him so he’s a guy, he’s a UFC character, but he was talking sh*t on Bare Knuckle. I’m like, don’t you say sh*t about Bare Knuckle. We’re getting paid.”
When asked if he considered BKFC among the top three promotions currently, Alvarez responded.
“They are. If you want to be -promoted and become a known person, because when you look at Bare Knuckle’s videos. They’re getting a million[views] and up. Sometimes even UFC fights aren’t getting a million and up when it comes to YouTube, so if you want to be known and you want to get your name out there, there’s the UFC and Bare Knuckle right now. I don’t know if there’s very well-known PFL fighters, you know what I mean?”
BKFC has not made any statement and has yet to release the pay of its fighters.
