Sean O’Malley’s White Home win has shortly become a contemporary fighter-pay debate after the previous UFC champion mentioned he made round $600,000 for the bout. That determine drew a surprised response from Eddie Hearn, who argued O’Malley was underpaid for one of many greatest levels the promotion has ever constructed.
Eddie Hearn Questions UFC Pay Construction After Sean O’Malley Reveal
UFC Freedom 250 on the White House on June 14, 2026, delivered a second-round TKO as Sean O’Malley dropped Aiemann Zahabi twice for a stoppage at 4:02 of round two. The occasion, staged on the South Garden, was the UFC’s most symbolic present in three many years, with the White Home calling its price over $60 million.
O’Malley later mentioned he made roughly $600,000 for that struggle, a determine he known as “close-ish” to stories and described as a drop from his title-run paydays. He advised host Steiny on the One Evening with Steiny podcast, “It positively sucks [fighting for less]”.
That element set off a pointy response from promoter Eddie Hearn, who lamented that lower-card fighters earned greater than the White Home main-event champ. Hearn mentioned, “You’ve actually acquired guys making extra for an eight-round struggle in opposition to a man that I might beat than Sean O’Malley made preventing on the White Home”. He added, “These guys must cease being suppressed. I’m simply shocked by the mindset of, ‘Oh properly, there’s nothing else we are able to do, actually. It’s what it’s.’ There’s a man preventing on the undercard within the fourth struggle who’s making greater than you”.
Hearn’s ire stems from a months-long public struggle with Dana White over Zuffa Boxing, a brand new enterprise the UFC president launched earlier this yr. In February, White in contrast taking over established promoters like Hearn to “assaulting infants,” and Hearn responded that “Zuffa’s choices are totally subpar”. The confrontation grew when Conor Benn left Matchroom for Zuffa, prompting White to problem Hearn to a struggle. Hearn has mentioned he doesn’t view Zuffa Boxing as a critical risk and known as its inaugural cruiserweight title announcement “the cringiest factor I’d ever see”.
The backstage rigidity additionally consists of the long-awaited British heavyweight showdown. In April, Hearn declared the Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury struggle “signed, sealed and delivered,” confirming the bout whereas White regarded to develop into the promoter for the struggle.
In pure pay phrases, the hole will be big. Sean O’Malley mentioned he made round $600,000 for his White Home struggle, whereas Conor Benn’s one-fight Zuffa Boxing deal was reported at $15 million, a quantity Sean himself publicly reacted to earlier this yr. The broader construction is simply as placing, with court docket disclosures within the UFC antitrust case displaying UFC fighters obtain about 18 to twenty p.c of firm income, whereas inside benchmarking mentioned round that case positioned boxing’s share at about 62.5 p.c.
