‘I Stand With Wonderboy’

Sonnen made it clear that he believes the UFC should pay ‘Wonderboy’ his show money after his UFC 291 opponent missed weight, causing their fight to be canceled.

UFC 291 marked the second time the Baddest Motherf—er title was on the line, and the bout between Justin Gaethje and Dustin Poirier definitely delivered. Unfortunately, we never got to see the Nicest Motherf—er belt holder Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson compete in Salt Lake City. He was set to face Michel Pereira, but Pereira missed weight by three pounds.

Thompson refused to fight Pereira after that, given he’d previously been out-muscled by Darren Till for a decision loss after Till missed weight badly. Now “Wonderboy” is stuck in limbo wondering whether he’ll get paid at all for all the blood, sweat, and tears he put into preparing for the fight.

Fighter pay is broken down to show and win money. You make a certain amount to show up, and a certain amount if you win. In theory, if a fighter hits the scales, makes weight, and is ready to fight, he should get his show money. In practice, the UFC is very selective when it comes to who gets their show money if a fight falls through.

Sometimes they reschedule a fight, and you get paid then. Sometimes they pay the ready fighter in full. But in Stephen Thompson’s case, he recently stated he may not get paid at all.

“Wonderboy” is getting a lot of support in his push to get paid his show money. Some of that is coming from Chael Sonnen, who returned to action as an analyst on the ESPN+ broadcast at UFC 291.

“I stand with Stephen. I stand with Thompson on this one,” he said in a new YouTube video. “Thompson made a statement and he said, ‘I hope my actions will preclude somebody in the future from missing weight.’ I liked it. It was condescending, it’s what you would say to a six year old. I thought it was beautiful. I really did.”

“This was about an honor and a respect that goes deeper than just this organization, you and I both know the deal and you and I both know you can’t [miss weight].”

“Why should [Thompson] be punished?” he said later in the video. “What are you mad about? Are you mad that ‘Wonderboy,’ who’s followed every rule in the history of rules and then some, wanted to continue following the rules? We’re mad that he wanted to do things right?”

UFC contracts are famously one-sided and don’t lay out anything regarding when a fighter should or shouldn’t get paid in situations like this. That’s undoubtedly by design. The promotion knows all sorts of crazy things happen in this sport, and they want full flexibility to deal with things on a case by case basis.

Honestly, it’s the athletic commissions that should lay down the law on what constitutes show money. They’re the ones who are supposed to be protecting the fighters from sketchy promoter behavior like this. Making weight is a commission thing, so they should have clear guidelines as to what happens to a fighter’s purse if they refuse to fight someone who misses weight. Relying on the largesse of a promotion that has every financial incentive to force fighters to fight in unfair situations is not a good system.

“It’s an interesting situation,” Sonnen concluded. “I hope they do the rematch but I will tell you: I stand with ‘Wonderboy.’”