40K is not nearly enough for the time and effort fighters put into training, nor is it enough for the damage they do to their bodies, while providing the entertainment that produces significant income for MMA.
Paige and other MMA fighters fight, because it is what they have a passion for. MMA can pay them peanuts, because there is no completion for their services, the fighters have poor managements, there is no player representation like they have in the NFL, so in the end they risk their health for peanuts.
Consider this.
Players in other major league sports were taken advantage in the early years of their sport. Once the sport gained significant fans, the players wanted a cut and formed player associations. These associations rightly demanded more money for the players, without whom any major league sport would not exist. This may happen in MMA.
Consider this too.
The fighters by the very act of entering the octagon at the pro level, generate jobs and income for TV, PPV, radio, gear makers, gear sellers, food vendors, the venues, local/state,federal taxes, print media, blogs, local hotels and restaurants etc. etc. Who is more important to the success of the business of fighting, the fighters or the promoters? Neither, at the pro level there are economic, symbiotic, and mutually beneficial relationships, usually legal in nature between all essential parties which defines who gets what. Of all the people making money directly or indirectly from the contest between two fighters, it is the fighters getting the short end of the stick at this point in time.
Nanajunas and Vanzant were the main event, the draw for UFC Fight Night. I believe 40K is way too little for the main event.
