It's sad when a MMA fighter talks to an NFL or NBA player about how much money they make. That's embarrassing. You tell them how much you make and they laugh.
To be candid with you, free agency hurts all sports. It's great for athletes making an enormous amount of money. But to say it helps the sports, I don't believe that.
Anna Kournikova will always be better paid than Lindsay Davenport. The first left the circuit without having won a single title while the second was world number one.
I don't think anyone's worth $100 million if Michael Jordan wasn't, but hey, that's what Abe Pollin thought I was worth, and if someone puts $100 million in front of you, you're gonna take it, too.
In that case Mr. Barrow, Mr. Gehrig is a very underpaid ballplayer.
Today, you hit .230, and you get a million and a half and think you're underpaid.
Jimmy Connors plays two tennis matches and winds up with $850,000, and Muhammad Ali fights for one bout and winds up with five million bucks. Me, I play 190 games--if you count exhibitions -- and I'm overpaid!
I think the healthier Bellator can be, the better it is for the entire sport, especially the athletes who - let's face it - need to be paid more. They need the opportunity to negotiate and have an option. Bellator definitely presents that.
I want every kid to go to college and be like a normal student. I want them to be able to go to a movie, go to a concert. I want them to be able to have that opportunity. But if you're paying kids, are you going to pay a lineman less than you're paying a quarterback? I don't know how to explain that stuff.
Let the D-League be for players who have been in the NBA, who are on the fringe, and that want to fight like heck to get in the NBA. They should have a living wage, not $17,000 to $25,000. A living wage.
I feel like we bring in a lot of money to the universities. We put in a lot of work. Some guys don't have enough money to bring their families to the games... so I feel like athletes should be compensated for it.
Like I say, it's almost embarrassing to talk about. I don't know if Michael Jordan or Bill Gates or Alexander the Great or anyone is worth this type of money, but that's the market we're in today. That's what Mr. Hicks decided to pay me, and now it's time to pay him back and win a couple championships.
For us, the conversation is always about getting paid what we feel like we're worth and getting paid as the sport grows and as we help grow the sport.
I think players need to get paid for what they're worth, for what they put up on the field.
I'm the biggest sports fan there is, I love sports, but I'm still convinced that it's teachers who deserve the big salaries, not athletes.
We play the whole summer. I do think guys should be compensated. Just like I think college players should be compensated as well. Unfortunately, it's not there. But I think it should be something, you know, there for it.
