UFC bantamweight champ Sean O’Malley isn’t hiding how he feels after hearing about Conor Benn supposedly landing $15 million for just one fight under the new Zuffa Boxing banner. The size of the payday didn’t just raise eyebrows, it lit a fire under the ongoing gripe about pay in fighting sports.
O’Malley zeroed in on the main issue during his recent podcast. “I don’t even know who Conor Benn is. I’m not making f*cking $15 million to fight,” he said, sounding stunned. O’Malley’s take grabbed attention fast. In UFC circles, the feeling is well known: Fighters pull in a fraction of the revenue, with numbers floating around 20 percent, far less than what boxers like Benn are apparently pulling for a single night in the ring.
For O’Malley, the news didn’t just seem far-fetched, it was a jab at MMA fighters everywhere. “I’ve never heard of Conor Benn before this,” he repeated. “How is some guy with barely any name in the U.S. making that?”
He tossed out a theory, too: maybe this is about Dana White’s old rivalries as much as anything else. “Dana really wants to do it because he hates Oscar De La Hoya, he hates Eddie Hearn, I could see this just being an ego thing,” he said. O’Malley didn’t let business realities drift too far out of focus, though. “It’s crazy how you put in so much work in the UFC, build this name… I get it, business is business.”
O’Malley’s disbelief echoed across the industry. Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson, himself a former UFC champion, called the deal a “flex” by Dana White to let the boxing world know Zuffa wasn’t playing around. “$15 million for one fight, it’s crazy. I truly believe it’s a flex from Dana White,” Johnson said.
Michael “Venom” Page and others in MMA didn’t pull punches, either. To them, deals like this mean fighters might need to start demanding real money, especially with Saudi-backed outfits and crossover superfights changing the landscape.
Conor Benn is a 29-year-old who’s made his career on the UK boxing circuit, with highly lucrative scraps against Chris Eubank Jr. that reportedly earned him as much as $10 million per fight. Yet, outside Europe, Benn’s name barely rings out. The $15 million Zuffa deal, which officials haven’t actually confirmed, has folks both inside and outside the ring skeptical. Dan Rafael and other old-school boxing writers have reported it as true, but plenty of fighters think it’s at least half PR.
Beyond fighter pay itself, the optics can’t be missed. Zuffa Boxing’s swinging for the fences in the opening round, aiming straight at the established kings of boxing promotion: Eddie Hearn and Oscar De La Hoya. Word is, Hearn (who used to promote Benn) took the news hard. Hall of Famer Carl Frampton even called it “the biggest betrayal in boxing.”
Big picture, O’Malley’s rant just shows the rift that keeps growing in the combat sports world. TKO Group Holdings, which runs UFC and controls WWE, has already blurred the lines between MMA, wrestling, boxing, and streaming giants like Paramount+. Fighters, meanwhile, keep shaking their heads as they see the sports’ biggest names bring home checks MMA stars aren’t anywhere close to cashing.
O’Malley keeps beating the drum for better pay, and with moments like this, his voice keeps getting louder. There’s talk, but not yet any real movement for UFC fighters to band together for change. Instead, fighters like O’Malley just keep putting the issue right in front of everyone.
No one’s officially confirmed Benn’s $15 million check, but the story’s hit a nerve. Whether this actually pushes MMA fighters together, or just keeps the frustration in the headlines remains to be seen. Combat sports money is changing, and the whole fight world is paying attention.
