Shane Burgos knows from personal experience that it is not an easy decision to leave the UFC but it was ultimately the best of his career and most importantly the best for his bank account.
The 32-year-old veteran, who competed in the UFC for 11 fights over nearly six years, made the decision at the end of his last contract with the promotion that he would test free agency. It was a gamble on himself but one that Burgos was willing to take because he just wanted to know how much he was worth on the open market, especially with so many promoters looking to build impressive rosters.
Eventually, Burgos signed a deal to join the roster in the PFL — a move that made UFC president Dana White admit the organization made a mistake by letting him go — and he hasn’t regretted that decision. Perhaps the only thing confusing Burgos is that more fighters aren’t even trying the free agency test to better understand the potential opportunities open to them.
“It makes no sense for fighters not to be tested [free agency] Burgos explained when speaking to MMA Fighting. “I’d been in the rankings for two years at that point and it made sense for me to test that. Why not test it to see what I’m worth? In my opinion, I know what I’m worth — a billion dollars — but I want to see what these other promotions think I’m worth.” I don’t understand why any fighter, especially high ranked fighters, wouldn’t do this. But don’t be afraid if you are not ranked.
“You have guys who have been in the UFC for many years and never tried to test it which really amazes me. Are you married to the UFC? Because the UFC, they will replace you at the drop of a hat. Because they are not married to you as much as you are married to them. You cannot fall in love Three letters. You have to do the right thing and this is not a long career.”
Now to be clear, Burgos has never been at odds with the UFC and had no ill will towards the promotion whatsoever, but he has also made it clear that he is ultimately an advocate for the fighters.
That’s why he hopes more athletes will at least consider the options available to them, which in turn may force the UFC, as the biggest promoter in all of MMA, to become more aggressive while offering better pay and benefits.
“You don’t have many men capable of that [fight] I’m in my 40s, so I feel you have to maximize your potential to earn as much money as possible and the only way to do that is to end your contract,” said Burgos.
“You want competition. Competition is healthy. It’s healthy for the UFC, it’s healthy for the PFL, it’s healthy for the fighters and I really only care about the fighters.”
Outside of his own deal, Burgos would have to look no further than former UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou to know that free agency works for athletes.
When Ngannou could not come to an agreement with the UFC on a new deal, he tested the open market before signing a lucrative deal with the PFL that would also give him the chance to follow boxing matches as well as the chance to bring MMA to Africa, which was very important to him.
“I feel like he’s joined my team,” said Burgos. “I want to grow with the PFL. I want the PFL to grow obviously and Francis will just help that. They have Jack Paul signed, they have Cedric [Doumbe] Sign, so they’re making great strides. They are showing that they are not just here to participate. They are trying to compete with the UFC and that’s what I think will happen next.
“Money talks and when you have guys making a million dollars, you probably don’t have as many Instagram followers as the guys in the UFC on the undercard but what carries more weight — Instagram followers or a few million dollars in the bank? When I sat down and thought about the pros and cons, It just didn’t make sense for me not to sign the deal I signed with the PFL. I’m very happy with the decision I’ve made and signing Francis only adds to my joy and happiness with my decision.”
However, Burgos acknowledges that there is still a lot of work to be done when it comes to pay for fighters across the board, be it the PFL, UFC or elsewhere.
“This is the craziest sport,” said Burgos. “We do insane s***, we go out there and fight and you have guys who make like $10,000, $10,000, $12,000, $12,000 and what we do is insane. You have guys who heat up the bench in the NBA and are guaranteed to make $2 million a year. It’s mind boggling to me.
“Our fixed wage is still way too low. I need that to go up. I want Francis, the money he’s making, not to be normal but not crazy. Obviously this is going to take some time but I think that’s where we’re headed. I just want it to speed up damn it.” “.