UFC News: Sean Strickland Triggered by Dana White’s Meagre “$200K” Pay for Paulo Costa Fight on 7 Weeks Notice

When it comes to paying fighters for a last-minute duel, how much do you think Dana White offers them? Sean Strickland gave some insight and hints on the same matter recently. He is reportedly not refusing to fight Paulo Costa at UFC 302 but he just refused to fight his opponent for less than $200,000 in show money.

“Tarzan,” himself said this after “Borrachinha” allegedly accused him of rejecting an offer to fight on June 1st pay-per-view in Newark NJ. However, Strickland had a different reason for turning down the fight which he showed on his X profile and even included the fans in the guessing game.

Sean Strickland asks fans to guess how much he was offered for the fight

Recently the UFC fighter uploaded a post on Twitter where he asked the fans how much he was offered for the Costa Fight with 7 weeks’ notice. Fans had different answers and Strickland was playing around with hints and not giving away the exact figure.

He asked the fans, “Out of curiosity… what do you guys think I was offered to fight Costa on 7 weeks’ notice? Base contract…” One fan said 500k and he answered, “Way less lol.” Another fan took part in the guessing game and gave a detailed answer writing, “$200 show, $200 win and $10K fight week incentive.” Meanwhile, Strickland said, “Close but loss lol.”

While the guessing game looks entertaining, Strickland’s probable opponent Costa added his take to the matter and revealed how didn’t know the reason for Strickland’s refusal during an earlier appearance on The Coach and the Casual. He said, “It’s a great fight. It’s a fun fight, [more] than Cannonier, I think. Unfortunately, I don’t know what happened. Strickland says no, he doesn’t want to fight me. Strickland, refused to fight me, unfortunately. That’s what UFC told me. I just have this information from UFC. I think this fight would be great, I would love to fight him.”

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Perhaps Costa did not know that he was not the reason behind the rejection but the amount that Strickland was being paid. He reportedly received $1,000,000 when he fought Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297. And compared to that humongous figure, the recent one offered to Strickland was seemingly way lesser. 

But, now that we know how much the former King of the Cage middleweight champion earned, questions arise on how much his then opponent did!

Dricus Du Plessis’ earnings at UFC 297

As per reports, in UFC 297, he earned $3,50,000 as a base salary along with $32,000 as incentive pay. In his previous fight against  Robert Whittaker, he had won $75,000 as the base salary along with the win performance and promotional bonus.

On the other hand ‘Tarzan’ reportedly had a salary of $500,000 for the fight along with $42,000 for sponsorships. The 33-year-old has secured three victories and has suffered two defeats in the last five MMA fights inside the Octagon. In his most recent fight, he lost his UFC middleweight belt through a split decision against Dricus du Plessis on 2024 Jan.

White declared that an immediate rematch is not likely to happen but someday they could clash again. Presently Strickland holds the first spot in UFC middleweight ranking while Costa stands at #7.

Do you think that the fight is going to happen and that Strickland is going to be paid properly this time?

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