Michael Bisping believes Alex Pereira signing an eight-fight UFC contract is good business.
Fighter pay has been at the forefront of headlines after Ronda Rousey ripped the UFC. The absence of the likes of Conor McGregor and Jon Jones from the UFC Freedom 250 card at the White House also has sparked controversy about the promotion not giving its stars their due.
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But former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight champion Pereira (13-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) is not one of those fighters after he signed a long-term deal that will likely lock him in with the company for the rest of his career.
“I assume he was making somewhere around $3 million to $4 million per fight,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel. “This new deal, which probably does lock him up for the rest of his combat sports life, is probably going to be around the $5-6 million range. Who knows? I’m guessing, I’m spit balling, but that would not surprise me. And look at this, Alex Pereira is not complaining.
“He is happy, and it’s the same story with all the guys at the top of the sport. I know just recently a lot of people have been talking sh*t about the UFC, but funnily enough, the champs, the people at the top of the sport, the best on the planet and in the division, the guys that drive the sport, they’re not b*tching, they’re not complaining, and I wasn’t back in the day.”
More: Triple Take: Is the UFC Freedom 250 card a complete letdown?
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Pereira’s first fight of his new contract will come against Ciryl Gane (13-2 MMA, 10-1 UFC) for the interim heavyweight title in the UFC Freedom 250 co-headliner June 14 in Washington.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Michael Bisping supports Alex Pereira’s ‘lifetime’ UFC deal
