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We’ve heard it from athletes all across the sports landscape, there’s nothing they hate more than talking to the media. They spend weeks in the gym getting ready to fight. Talking to reporters about their job is, for many, a chore they could do without.
Unfortunately for most, those duties are also written into their contracts surrounding competition. In the case of the UFC, the duties are even rolled into their sponsorship deal with their official outfitting partner. Starting with Reebok, but continuing with Venum, fighters get a small bonus for performing ‘fight week’ duties including weigh-ins, media day interviews, and post-fight scrums while wearing Venum gear. Veteran fighters can get as much as $42,000 for showing up and following the UFC’s ‘Code of Conduct’, but even newcomers collect $4,000 for their work.
UFC welterweight Charles Radtke demands pay for interviews
Just because it’s there in black and white when fighters sign up for a bout, however, doesn’t mean everyone gets the message. This past weekend at UFC Vegas 85, un-ranked welterweight talent Charles Radtke decried his lack of compensation for having to sit down with the media following his knockout victory over Gilbert Urbina.
“How much money you got? That’s what it is,” Radtke shot back when a reporter asked him how soon he’d like to return to competition. “You guys get these interviews for free, I need to get paid. Let’s go.
“Up next is?” Radtke asked a suddenly silent room. “Good. I’m out.”
Not Radtke’s first struggle with post-fight interviews
This isn’t the first time that ‘Chuck Buffalo’ has come off like a man carrying a large chip on his shoulder, even after getting his hand raised inside the Octagon. The 33-year-old made his debut last September in Sydney Australia, picking up a grinding unanimous decision win over City Kickboxing talent Mike ‘Blood Diamond’ Mathetha.
After the victory, Radtke addressed the booing crowed—who were vociferously unenthused by his clinch heavy performance.
“F*** all you f****ts up in the f***ing crowd,” Radtke told the audience. “Come down here and get some you p***y-a** b****. F*** you.”
Not long after the fight, however, Radtke took to social media with a note of apology for his choice of words.
Fair play to Radtke, complaining about media obligations is a really solid step up from where he started. Something tells me he’ll be getting a lot more chances to “learn from my mistakes” over the course of his Octagon career. In the meantime, the UFC might want to give him a refresher course on his contract obligations.
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