Sean Strickland is asking the UFC to release him after spotting Jake Paul’s name on the Forbes list of highest-paid athletes in the world. The media publishing house unveiled its list of highest-paid athletes of 2026, and for the fourth straight year, Cristiano Ronaldo topped the list with an estimated $300 million in total earnings. Canelo Alvarez clinched the second spot with estimated total earnings of $170 million.

While the top spots weren’t all too surprising, ‘The Problem Child’ also secured a spot on the list at the 23rd position with a total earning of $70 million. And this was enough for the UFC middleweight champion to tear into the promotion over their fighter pay.

“Oh my god,” Strickland exclaimed while on a stream with Nina Drama. “I gotta leave the UFC and beat up Jake Paul. Cut my contract with UFC, it’s time for me to leave. Even if I make a fraction of that, I would be making more than what the f—–g UFC is paying me. Nina’s like, ‘I’m a plant, I can’t talk about the UFC.’ I’ll f—–g beat the s–t out of Jake Paul. Jake Paul lost against pretty much a TV star named Tyson… Tommy… not a real boxer.”    

While it’s true that even a fraction of the pay he’d get fighting Jake Paul would be higher than his earnings from the UFC, the chances of Sean Strickland leaving the promotion to fight Paul are pretty slim. While Paul’s earnings as reported on the Forbes list definitely tower over what most UFC champions have made throughout their career, it’s worth noting that Zuffa under TKO and Dana White signed Conor Benn to a $15 million one-fight deal.

So the multi-million figure is not unachievable. Meanwhile, a social media account named SparWars revealed on Threads that Strickland’s total career payout had reached just $8 million, up until the Houston fight against Anthony Hernandez.

In that case, the middleweight champion might have gotten a million or two bump after beating Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 328. Still, his total earnings under the UFC would not match what Conor Benn is reportedly earning under TKO for just one fight. Because of that disparity in fighter pay, Sean Strickland once labeled the UFC’s practices “predatory” during an interview with Complex News. However, ‘Tarzan’ is not the only one eyeing the money in boxing.

In an interview with Marca, Ilia Topuria also stated he would eventually pivot to boxing after wrapping up his MMA career. Now, if the UFC stars actually want to step into the boxing ring, they would first need to get out of their UFC contracts, which is easier said than done. And nobody understands that better than Jon Jones right now.

Jon Jones hopes to get out of the UFC contract for the Francis Ngannou bout

Following Francis Ngannou’s triumph over Philipe Lins at MVP’s inaugural MMA event, Jon Jones has been plotting for a super clash against the Cameroonian. However, the biggest hurdle is ‘Bones’ current UFC contract, which seemingly has six fights left. To fight Ngannou, the former UFC champ would first need to get out of that deal, which reportedly includes several legal clauses.

With that situation unfolding, Jon Jones made it clear that he is exploring the right legal channels to potentially free himself from his UFC contract so he can test himself outside of the UFC.

“I think getting out of my UFC contract is very possible,” Jones said in an interview with his publicist Denise White. “I need to find the right people and go through the right channels. I’ve really wanted to box. If I were to put all my energy into just my hands, combinations, and punching power, I think I would really surprise a lot of people. I love to box, that would be a lot of fun.”

Well, with Jon Jones now showing serious interest in boxing, Tyron Woodley recently revealed that ‘Bones’ had reached out to him about getting out of his UFC contract. The UFC former welterweight champion stated that he connected Jones with a legal expert who allegedly helped Conor McGregor secure the Floyd Mayweather fight through the Ali Act. So, if the Rochester native decides to explore a similar route, he could actually end up facing Ngannou in a boxing ring.

With many UFC fighters now looking toward boxing for massive paydays, it will be interesting to see what UFC’s parent company TKO does to keep them under their contract.