Back in February 2025, the Le vs. Zuffa antitrust lawsuit reached a settlement worth $375M, which enabled the fighters who fought between 2010 and 2017 to receive a payment ranging from $100K to $1M. And as per Berger Montague, 97% of the fighters applied to receive the funds from the settlement. And one of the names in the 3% group that did not accept the money from Dana White and Co. was Renato Moicano, who first fought under the promotion in 2014.

He had made his UFC debut against Tom Niinimaki and won via a rear-naked choke, and later went on to clash against names like Brian Ortega, Calvin Kattar, Jose Aldo, and, much later, Islam Makhachev. So he has been with the promotion for a long time and has heard enough conversations about fighter pay, contracts, etc. Hence, during a conversation with Matty Betss on the recent episode of ‘Show Me The Money,’ Moicano shared his thoughts on the issue.

“You know how much I love UFC? I did not pay the money that they sent to the fighters. The f—— lawsuit. […] I just had to put my name over there. But I did not take it,” he said. When Betss claimed that he didn’t believe Moicano, the lightweight contender pointed out, “All the fighters that I got money, they are f——, no morals. […] The free check, the free money.”

“This is like 200k.” Betss asked if it was per person, and the UFC fighter responded, “Depends on how many fights do you have.”

While Betss was still skeptical that Moicano turned down that kind of money, the athlete explained, “I’m telling you, you can look it up. Only 3% of the fighters refused the money.” Still, Betss had one question–Did Moicano say no to being part of the group in favor of the lawsuit, or did he say no to the check?

‘Money’ answered, “Both, because what happened is, the lawsuit would happen without me, without my consent. But they went through saying that UFC did not pay the fighters fair enough… I agree, because I remember, my first fight in the UFC was 8-8 to fight. And then what they were saying is, ‘Hey, you know that 8-8, that was wrong with you because they take advantage of you.’ “

He revealed that the concerned lawyer kept calling him every week to convince him to sign the check. A lady even went to the gym while Moicano was training in the USA, asking him to sign the check. The 36-year-old continued, “I’m looking like to everybody that has the fair share. If you did not sign, they’re gonna split your money on the other fighters, you know. They’re not gonna get the money back.” Betss pressed on and asked Moicano to make an estimate of how much money he would’ve received. And the answer lies around $100K to $150K, as shared by him on the Show Me The Money podcast.

However, famed journalist Luke Thomas wasn’t really pleased with Moicano’s deed. Reacting to the video on X, Thomas wrote, “This is emblematic and why I talk a lot less about fighter pay these days. Some literally do not want money they are rightfully owed. Irrational beyond words.” However, there were a few fighters who stood by the UFC head honcho, while many others claimed that he was unfair to the fighters. And Nate Diaz was one of the fighters who supported White.

When Nate Diaz defended Dana White against low fighter pay allegations

During his appearance on the ‘All The Smoke’ podcast in 2024, the Stockton native doubled down on the fighters, who demanded more money from Dana White. He said, “I don’t think people have the concept of what money is and how much. I think Dana White gets a f—– bad rap. I’m not giving him a good one, but bro, he’s paying a lot more people a lot more money than f—– people think. I just don’t think people know what’s what…”

Diaz admitted that he wanted to earn more money, too. But when the blame went to White, the former UFC star wasn’t going to stay quiet. Comparing the UFC’s fighter pay structure with that of other fight promotions, Diaz claimed, “He’s paying a lot of people a lot of money, more than the boxing [fighters]. As far as combat sports say, boxing pays the highest-paid fighters a lot more than the UFC has. But the UFC, I think pays a lot more people a lot of money. He pays the whole roster a bunch of f—– s—. People when they make this s–t happen, though, they should get their own s—.”

In the current scenario, the entry-level fighters earn around $12K to $14K as their base pay. They can certainly double the amount if they win. But the number dwindles when one factors in the gym fees, travel costs, medical bills, and coaching fees. However, with persistent efforts, they can continue to earn more. After all, the high-tier fighters can earn between half a million to even $3M. But for that, the fighters have to prove that they’re worthy of it. Additionally, White has already confirmed that the pay structure wouldn’t change as long as he’s the CEO of UFC.

What do you think of Renato Moicano’s decision to reject the settlement money?