(‘Fuck you, pay me.’)

When we looked at the payouts for WEC 36 and saw $14,000 next to Urijah Faber‘s name, we had little choice but to assume that Zuffa was screwing him like a one-legged Panamanian hooker: cheaply and with shocking disregard for his delicate feelings.

But Faber’s manager, Mike Roberts, says that figure was “not even close” to a full accounting of what Faber was paid to face Mike Brown:

“That was an accurate statement of the check he received that night. Some contractual issues came up after the September fight was postponed and that $14,000 was the remaining balance of what was owed to him. That is not what he made.”

[...]

“Keep in mind Urijah’s still fighting off an old contract, but Urijah’s been well taken care of for the last couple fights.”

And so the old ‘he’s being taken care of’ line resurfaces yet again. Guess it’s either that or start bitching about money to the press, and you can ask Roger Huerta how that’s worked out. In this case we want to believe it’s true. Even with his usual win bonus we’ve noted in the past that Faber still isn’t getting the kind of money you’d expect, given his status. Without him the WEC is an organization devoid of marketable stars. With him, it can pack an arena.

If Faber’s on an old contract now, it will be interesting to see what the new one looks like. If Jens Pulver can walk into the WEC and get $33,000 in guaranteed show money (good thing, since he’s 1-2 there so far), Faber ought to see a much bigger slice of the pie when it’s time to renegotiate, whether he happens to be the champ at the moment or not.