Julia Avila clarifies UFC fighter pay comments, hopes to see improvement over time: “I love the UFC, but I know they can do more”

UFC women’s bantamweight Julia Avila has clarified her fighter pay comments.

‘Raging Panda’ has been out of the octagon since July 2021. In that outing, the 34-year-old secured a third-round submission victory over Julija Stoliarenko. That win gave Avila her third in her last four outings in the UFC octagon.

Since her last appearance in the cage, the 135-pound contender has been forced to the sidelines. Avila has had ten fight cancelations in her UFC career, with many coming over the last 12 months. In addition to that, she’s also currently pregnant, sidelining her indefinitely.

Last month, Julia Avila discussed fighter pay, and how she was forced to take a second job. In a string of tweets, the 34-year-old opined that she doesn’t feel important to the UFC. With her fight cancelations and pregnancy, Avila has struggled over the last year.

In an interview with MMAFighting, she’s now clarified her comments. Avila was quick to note that she loves the UFC, and competing in the octagon. She also discussed how she’s been paid for a fight cancelation of hers in the past.

However, beyond that love, ‘Raging Panda’ also believes the promotion can do better. In terms of fighter pay, insurance, and allowing fighters to work in other fields.

Julia Avila defeats Julija Stoliarenko

“I feel like a lot of people took it out of context, I don’t have any issues at all with fighter pay. I get paid great and I think it’s very fair what they do to earn your keep. If you win, you get a win bonus. It’s like any industry: If you perform well, you get a bonus and you continue to progress. If you’re static, or you’re just getting by, or you’re losing, there’s no incentive to get better. If everyone’s the same, there’s no incentive to get better.” (h/t MMAFighting)

Julia Avila continued, “…“I love the UFC, but I know they can do more. If we had insurance year-round, that would be great. But I think having an incentive program where there would be online business learning, where you can learn about business management, or physical education or something, and then afterwards, you’re committed to working for that company for x amount of years to pay off learning. For example, the UFC gyms: If there was a business management program that the company offers, you’d have to maintain a certain GPA, and then after we’re done fighting, we’d be committed to working for one to two years at a UFC Gym, that’s amazing.”

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