Bellator contract surfaces revealing it offered a $250 fighter purse
By Amy Kaplan
A contract has surfaced that shows Bellator offered to pay a debut fighter only $250 to show at Bellator 195 in March.
Fighter pay has always been a hot topic in MMA, with some athletes making six figures or more (ahem, Conor McGregor) and others crowdfunding their fight camps and working odd jobs to make ends meet. But if this fight contract from a potential Bellator bout is true, we’ve seen a whole new low.
According to Marc Sims, a fighter looking to make his pro debut, he was offered a fight at Bellator 195 but with a shockingly low purse.
As in, just $250 to show and another $250 if he wins.
https://twitter.com/MarcSimsRJ/status/960730715603292165
The bout agreement appears to be for Bellator 195: Caldwell vs. Higo, which takes place at WinStar World Casino & Resort in Thackerville, Okla. this March, but Sims says he will not be signing the agreement due to low pay. Can you blame him?
“I’d rather get a job at Dollar Tree,” Sims wrote on his official Twitter account.
Sims would have been making his pro debut.
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In response to multiple replies to his tweet, Sim says that he has made more doing various karate tournaments and that his purse would not nearly cover his fight camp.
It’s also likely that Bellator would be kicking back a portion of ticket sales that Sims would be required to sell, but no more than they would do for any other fighter on the card.
If you compare the pay from Bellator 192, one of their marquee fight cards, the lowest paid fighter walked away with $1,500 and the promotion paid out a total of $1.1 million for the night. Last year, Bellator 183 fighters received a total of $513,500 with the lowest paid fighter making $1,000.
We reached out for comment from Bellator, but at press time the promotion had no response.