Joshua Van says Sean Strickland is 'in a bad spot' in his UFC pay row with Dana White

The flyweight champion says Strickland should have taken his complaint to White in private, and says he is happy with his own UFC pay.

UFC flyweight champion Joshua Van has sided with Dana White in Sean Strickland's public row over pay, saying the middleweight champion should have raised it with the UFC boss in private.

"He just signed a contract in May and fought Khamzat, and then he won," Van told Outta Pocket. "Instead of going on Twitter and going on all that [expletive], he should have talked to Dana and said, 'I wanna renegotiate.' Behind closed doors."

Van compared it to someone in a 9-to-5 job going off at their boss and demanding more money. "So he's in a bad spot right now. He's still under the contract. I don't know how that's gonna work," he said.

Strickland has complained about the offers made for a title defence against Nassourdine Imavov and has threatened to give up the belt. White has said the complaints are unfair because Strickland signed a new contract in May, before he beat Khamzat Chimaev for the title.

Van, 25, agreed that fighters should be paid more but said he is happy with his own deal. "I'm getting paid good," he said. "I start from zero to now, the UFC literally made me where I'm at, gave me everything that I got right now. I don't know, I'm happy right now. I can't really say for the other guy."

Van recently defended his title with a decision win over Alexandre Pantoja. He stopped Tatsuro Taira in the fifth round in the co-main event of the card where Strickland beat Chimaev.

READ NEXTArman Tsarukyan says Sean Strickland should have been smarter before signing his UFC contractRead the next story →

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