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***EDIT***
Many of you don't know why I referenced Conor in context with the truly honorable fighter in the story below, therefore, I'll sum things up with this quote from Conor about Eddies pay for UFC 205:
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"He got it done by signing his last contract. He didn't even negotiate new money for himself," McGregor said at the UFC 205 pre-fight press conference. "Imagine that — look at everybody up here, they're all dressed like me, they're all trying to talk like me, they're all trying to be me. Everyone in the game wants this fight. This is the lottery fight and this man took it on his last contract.
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I could go on and on about how Conor thinks he's above everyone else just due to his paychecks...and how truly and utterly he's fucking full of himself...but I think the above quote says enough.
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/w...to-opponent-who-needed-it-more-200702194.html
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Conor McGregor’s $40 million year notwithstanding, few fighters get rich in mixed martial arts, even when they compete at the highest level of the sport.
For fighters on the low end of the sport, working their way up the ladder, it’s almost impossible to make a living without holding at least a part-time job. Every dollar counts.
And that knowledge is what makes John Castaneda’s actions following his Aug. 11 TKO of Angel Cruz on a Combate Americas show in Los Angeles all the more remarkable.
Cruz’s original opponent fell out, and Combate officials were scrambling to find a replacement for him in a bantamweight fight. It was looking bleak for Cruz when Campbell McLaren, the head of Combate Americas, reached out to Castaneda.
Castaneda had little reason to take the fight. A split decision victory he scored over Gabriel Solorio on April 25 had earned him a shot at the Combate bantamweight title. Taking a fight with Cruz would put that title shot at risk.
Castaneda, who trains in Minnesota under Greg Nelson at the same gym at which former UFC champions Brock Lesnar and Sean Sherk trained, agreed to take the fight.
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What followed was Castaneda winning the fight via GnP in the 2nd round (after a heated first round) thus securing a $2,000 KO bonus.
And although Castaneda is a working class fighter himself, he gave the bonus to Cruz as he was aware of his financial situation.
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Awaiting the post-fight ring announcement, Castaneda sidled over to McLaren. He’d had a pre-fight chat with Cruz, who thanked him for taking the fight. He’d learned a little about Cruz’s family.
He saw the difficult situation Cruz was in, fighting because he needed the money.
And so, McLaren said, Castaneda leaned in and whispered to him, “Give Cruz my bonus.”
It was a remarkable act of selflessness because Castaneda himself isn’t getting rich by fighting and he moonlights as a trainer at Lifetime Fitness to help supplement his income.
Castaneda almost sounded embarrassed when asked about it. McLaren said he became emotional.
“It really choked me up,” he said. “I’d never encountered anything like that. MMA is a very charitable sport and you see fighters starting GoFund Me pages to help each other a lot. But this was a little different situation and it was so impressive. This came in the heat of the battle after a very tough fight.”
Castaneda, who graduated from Minnesota State in Mankato, Minn., with a double major and degrees in criminal law and Spanish and interviewed for a government job as a Spanish analytic linguist, said giving the bonus to Cruz was the right thing to do.
“After the weigh-in, he stopped me and thanked me for taking the fight, and he said if I hadn’t taken it, the fight probably wouldn’t have happened,” Castaneda said. “He told me without the fight, ‘I couldn’t feed my family.’ That really hit home to me. This is real. This is life. He’s doing this because he has to in order to support his family.
“I met his kids, two little girls, and they were so cute. This was an extra fight for me and I wasn’t expecting this money. And so when I got the finish, I told Campbell that I could do without it and to give it to [Cruz].”
It’s not often anything like that happens, but it’s one of the many things that makes MMA unique among sports.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Many of you don't know why I referenced Conor in context with the truly honorable fighter in the story below, therefore, I'll sum things up with this quote from Conor about Eddies pay for UFC 205:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"He got it done by signing his last contract. He didn't even negotiate new money for himself," McGregor said at the UFC 205 pre-fight press conference. "Imagine that — look at everybody up here, they're all dressed like me, they're all trying to talk like me, they're all trying to be me. Everyone in the game wants this fight. This is the lottery fight and this man took it on his last contract.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I could go on and on about how Conor thinks he's above everyone else just due to his paychecks...and how truly and utterly he's fucking full of himself...but I think the above quote says enough.
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/w...to-opponent-who-needed-it-more-200702194.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conor McGregor’s $40 million year notwithstanding, few fighters get rich in mixed martial arts, even when they compete at the highest level of the sport.
For fighters on the low end of the sport, working their way up the ladder, it’s almost impossible to make a living without holding at least a part-time job. Every dollar counts.
And that knowledge is what makes John Castaneda’s actions following his Aug. 11 TKO of Angel Cruz on a Combate Americas show in Los Angeles all the more remarkable.
Cruz’s original opponent fell out, and Combate officials were scrambling to find a replacement for him in a bantamweight fight. It was looking bleak for Cruz when Campbell McLaren, the head of Combate Americas, reached out to Castaneda.
Castaneda had little reason to take the fight. A split decision victory he scored over Gabriel Solorio on April 25 had earned him a shot at the Combate bantamweight title. Taking a fight with Cruz would put that title shot at risk.
Castaneda, who trains in Minnesota under Greg Nelson at the same gym at which former UFC champions Brock Lesnar and Sean Sherk trained, agreed to take the fight.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What followed was Castaneda winning the fight via GnP in the 2nd round (after a heated first round) thus securing a $2,000 KO bonus.
And although Castaneda is a working class fighter himself, he gave the bonus to Cruz as he was aware of his financial situation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Awaiting the post-fight ring announcement, Castaneda sidled over to McLaren. He’d had a pre-fight chat with Cruz, who thanked him for taking the fight. He’d learned a little about Cruz’s family.
He saw the difficult situation Cruz was in, fighting because he needed the money.
And so, McLaren said, Castaneda leaned in and whispered to him, “Give Cruz my bonus.”
It was a remarkable act of selflessness because Castaneda himself isn’t getting rich by fighting and he moonlights as a trainer at Lifetime Fitness to help supplement his income.
Castaneda almost sounded embarrassed when asked about it. McLaren said he became emotional.
“It really choked me up,” he said. “I’d never encountered anything like that. MMA is a very charitable sport and you see fighters starting GoFund Me pages to help each other a lot. But this was a little different situation and it was so impressive. This came in the heat of the battle after a very tough fight.”
Castaneda, who graduated from Minnesota State in Mankato, Minn., with a double major and degrees in criminal law and Spanish and interviewed for a government job as a Spanish analytic linguist, said giving the bonus to Cruz was the right thing to do.
“After the weigh-in, he stopped me and thanked me for taking the fight, and he said if I hadn’t taken it, the fight probably wouldn’t have happened,” Castaneda said. “He told me without the fight, ‘I couldn’t feed my family.’ That really hit home to me. This is real. This is life. He’s doing this because he has to in order to support his family.
“I met his kids, two little girls, and they were so cute. This was an extra fight for me and I wasn’t expecting this money. And so when I got the finish, I told Campbell that I could do without it and to give it to [Cruz].”
It’s not often anything like that happens, but it’s one of the many things that makes MMA unique among sports.
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