Gamdom offers every UFC fighter $10,000 a month, right as Strickland’s pay fight boils over

Gamdom published an open letter on X on October 13 offering every fighter on the UFC roster $10,000 a month, from newcomers making their promotional debut up through reigning champions. According to Bloody Elbow, the offer comes with the usual sponsorship fine print, subject to agreed terms, applicable regulations, and whatever existing contractual obligations a fighter already has with the UFC or other sponsors. Gamdom founder Felix Romer addressed the obvious reading of the timing directly, saying the offer is “in no way an attack on the UFC.”

That timing is doing a lot of work, though. The letter landed in the middle of an escalating pay dispute between the UFC and middleweight champion Sean Strickland, who announced he won’t fight or sign anything further until the promotion resolves what he’s called an insulting offer, going as far as threatening to vacate his title and publicly courting a boxing match against Jake Paul instead. The UFC has already moved on without him, booking Charles Oliveira against Diego Lopes for the December 12 card Strickland was expected to headline. A flat $10,000-a-month floor, open to literally every fighter on the roster regardless of status, reads very differently dropped into that specific moment than it would as a standalone marketing push.

Reaction in MMA circles has been immediate, though contracts are a different matter from social media buzz. The offer has reportedly drawn interest from fighters connected to coach Tim Welch, who trains UFC bantamweight Sean O’Malley, with suggestions that some of his fighters are open to signing on. None of that has been confirmed as an actual deal yet, no contracts, no payment schedule, nothing beyond a public offer and some public interest. Gamdom isn’t new to this kind of sports marketing: Usain Bolt has been its brand ambassador since 2022, and the platform sponsors Imperial Esports’ Counter-Strike rosters under the Gamdom Imperial name. What this specific offer doesn’t do is establish any relationship with the UFC itself, the letter is addressed to individual fighters, not the organization, and nothing about it suggests Gamdom branding is headed for the Octagon anytime soon.