Thiago Alves OK with half-pay from canceled UFC bout, would like to see consistency

The UFC has long gone above and beyond its contractual obligations to pay fighters when their bout is canceled through no fault of their own. But as we’ve already seen a handful of times in 2018, the amount the promotion pays in such situations can very dramatically.

Onetime welterweight title challenger Thiago Alves on Thursday told MMAjunkie that like many fighters, he assumed that making weight for a fight was reason enough to claim the full contracted show money and was a bit surprised to only get half that amount when he recently found himself in such a predicament.

“They changed the company policy in 2018, and it was unfortunate that I was in the first show of the year,” Alves (22-11 MMA, 14-8 UFC) said in advance of his FS1-televised fight against Curtis Millender (14-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 126, which takes place at Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas.

MMAjunkie was unable to immediately reach UFC officials for comment.

Alves sought to recover as much of his potential fight purse as possible this past month when his scheduled opponent, Zak Cummings, injured himself and was forced out of UFC Fight Night 124.

The money was much needed after Alves was caught in Hurricane Irma this past fall, forcing him to withdraw from a highly anticipated bout against Mike Perry at UFC Fight Night 116.

“(The UFC) gave me half of (my show purse for UFC Fight Night 124), which is not bad,” Alves said. “At least it helped me pay for the training camp. It wasn’t what I was expecting, but it is what it is.”

Although several state athletic commissions that regulate promotions like the UFC include protections for canceled events, there’s no requirement to reimburse one fighter if his opponent fails or is unable to meet the obligations of a bout agreement.

Several fighters recently have taken issue with the UFC’s policy on paying fighters for canceled bouts. Interim lightweight champ Tony Ferguson vented after being paid less than half his contracted pay for an ill-fated bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 209. Vitor Belfort recently took the promotion to task after his UFC Fight Night 124 co-headliner was scrapped at the last minute.

Asked whether a policy on cancellation pay should be added to UFC fighters’ standard contract, Alves agreed.

“It needs to be a rule,” Alves said. “If you’re going to change the policy, you’ve got to send a massive email to everybody in the company and say, ‘Listen, this is what’s going to happen from now on.’ Not just, ‘Oh yeah, our company just got bought by these new people, and this is what we’re going to do from now on, and we’re not going to tell you, but when it happens, you’ll know.’

“Especially being in this company for 12 years, I’ve seen a lot of changes. And this was a little hard to swallow. But what can you do, right? We’re under contract, so we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do to make sure we’re still fighting and competing.”

Alves most recently fought last April, when he outpointed Patrick Cote at UFC 210. The rebound helped put him on the right track after ill-fated trip to lightweight against Jim Miller at UFC 205.

A 13-year veteran of the UFC, Alves once fought for the welterweight title, taking now-former champ Georges St-Pierre the distance before losing a decision.

For more on UFC Fight Night 126, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.