Not all MMA fighters make enough money to support themselves that way, so don’t head off to train at a school like MMA Richmond with the idea that you’re going to get into MMA and get rich.
It’s possible, but only for the really big names who win consistently and who have been in the sport for a while. Other fighters have to have ‘real jobs’ along with their MMA careers until they make it big, or sometimes for as long as they are involved in the sport if they never really get a big break in it.
The cream of the crop when it comes to the heavyweights in MMA include names like Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Nogueira, Frank Mir, Josh Barnett, and similar fighters. If you watch MMA and have been doing so for some time these are household names.
A lot of the other fighters, though, you might not have heard of or you might not remember who they are. They aren’t getting rich from their MMA fighting but, for a lot of people, the sport isn’t about money – it’s just what they love to do.
While it may not be true of all MMA fighters, the general consensus among them is that they have little to no respect for professional wrestlers.
Brock Lesnar, like a few others in the MMA today, made the majority of his money and fame as a professional wrestler.