On Monday, UFC Women’s Bantamweight contender Cat Zingano took to social media to vent her frustration regarding the purse former WWE Superstar CM Punk earned for his Octagon debut according to figures released by the Ohio Athletic Commission this week (see full list of UFC 203 fighter salaries).
According to the figures released by the commission that sanctioned the UFC 203 pay-per-view event that took place at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio this past Saturday evening, the UFC paid Punk a $500,000 purse for his first-ever, and likely only, fight inside the Octagon, was positioned third-from-the-top on the PPV main card.
As Zingano pointed out in a series of messages posted on her official Twitter page, she came into the UFC as an undefeated contender with a legitimate combat sports background. In her first fight inside the Octagon, Zingano fought a former Strikeforce World Champion and future UFC Women’s Champion (Miesha Tate) in a title eliminator bout for a shot at Ronda Rousey, earning $8,000 to show and $8,000 to win.
Zingano went on to win the fight and cleared all of $16,000, not including her post-show bonus for her fight with Tate being considered the “Fight of the Night” at the event, and also won a spot as a coach opposite Rousey on The Ultimate Fighter (which Tate ended up getting anyways due to Zingano suffering an injury).
“CM Punk made [$500,000] on his entry fight while the rest of us pay to fight,” Zingano wrote on Twitter on Monday. “F*ck this! Ya’ll should be ashamed, UFC.”
Zingano was only getting warmed up, as she would go on to post a number of additional tweets that were of the same nature. You can check out some of the tweets she posted regarding Punk’s purse for UFC 203 below.
CM Punk made 500k on his entry fight while the rest of us pay to fight?! Fuck this! Y'all should be ashamed @ufc https://t.co/hVVrspQ3fP
— Alpha Cat Zingano (@CatZingano) September 13, 2016
So…do you think the rest of us @ufc fighters came out of the room punching & kicking? We all paid for every penny https://t.co/k9zt395kjM
— Alpha Cat Zingano (@CatZingano) September 13, 2016
My accolades prior to @UFC were REAL wresting plus being undefeated.My debut was a #1 contender spot. I made 8k/8k https://t.co/226pLT4fdr
— Alpha Cat Zingano (@CatZingano) September 13, 2016
Me vs @MieshaTate got first FOTN, first women's TKO, first mother, & the winner coached TUF… You tell me smart guy https://t.co/26QaNA7rQ6
— Alpha Cat Zingano (@CatZingano) September 13, 2016
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