MMA Math
Justin Gaethje is best known for his barn-burner fights that inevitably end with himself or his opponent going down in flames. In his four UFC fights, he’s never gone the distance and his last decision win came in 2014. Nonetheless, Gaethje thinks he should be paid by the round. Not so much in case he goes the distance, but as extra compensation for fighting in a five-round main event rather than a typical three-round fight.
“If I’m getting paid something for three rounds, it’s easy to do the math,” he said at UFC Philadelphia media day (via MMA Junkie). “If I’m getting paid $100,000 (to show) and $100,000 (to win), that’s like $33,000 a round if I lose, $66,000 a round if I win. So I’d like to get paid ($132,000) more to fight for two extra rounds.”
Gaethje makes a fair point and fighters only seem to get a bump in pay if they are in a title fight or pay-per-view main event. Based on Gaethje’s history and his opponent on Saturday night, Edson Barboza, the chances of this fight going five rounds seems slim. Regardless of his thoughts on fighting five rounds vs. three and the relative compensation, Gaethje is just focusing on his fight.
“I’m here to fight,” he said. “I’m not worried about the business. You can’t worry about the business this close to a fight. There’s only a certain amount of things I can control leading into this fight, and I will not spend an ounce of energy thinking about the other things that I can’t.”
Waiting game
Jose Aldo very much wants to fight at UFC 237 this May from Rio de Janeiro, but at this point, his appearance is up in the air. Aldo had a bacterial infection in his knee that saw him admitted to hospital last week. Because of this, Aldo may not be able to make the May 11 date.
“I went to the hospital on Wednesday and they wanted me to stay for one night to take antibiotics,” Aldo said at the UFC 237 press conference in Brazil (via MMAJunkie). “Then, the next day the antibiotics didn’t work, only on Friday when they changed it. At that moment, it did go through my mind that I might not be able to fight. I thought I was practically out.”
While he is recovering, Aldo can’t guarantee that he’ll be ready to fight Alexander Volkanovkski.
“I’m not even saying I’m in yet. I can’t confirm that because I still have a medical evaluation to do. If the doctor lets me, I’m in. But we sent the video of the puncture they did on my knee, we sent it to (UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby), so everyone knows what’s happening.”
Aldo was hoping to retire after fighting out the last to fights on his contract this year. With that said, he’ll do everything he can to be on the UFC 237 card.
“When the UFC moved from Curitiba to here, the minute I knew I sent a message to (UFC president Dana White), and he confirmed me on the card. So I’m doing everything I can to be able to fight here.”
Friday Notebook
-Gegard Mousasi vs. Rafael Lovato Jr. is booked for Bellator London on June 22. Paul Daley and James Gallagher are also expected to fight on the card.
-Warlley Alves vs. Sergio Moraes and Thiago Moises vs. Kurt Holobaugh are booked for UFC 237 on May 11 from Rio de Janeiro.
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