Sports

Ex-champ to UFC: ‘You ain’t Michael Vick and we ain’t dogs’

A former UFC heavyweight champion is taking aim at the company and sport of MMA for not paying fighters enough.

“You ain’t Michael Vick and we ain’t [expletive] dogs,” Kevin Randleman said in an interview with Rattle the Cage MMA (via fiveknuckles.com).

Randleman, who won the UFC title in 1999 before the current regime took over, thinks fighters are entitled to half an event’s profits as well as better health insurance and life insurance.

“Without the fighters, the UFC would fold,” Randleman said. “Without the fighters, Bellator would fold. Without fighters willing to bang every day, it would fold. There should be insurance for every fighter that’s on the company’s [expletive] payroll. You should have insurance just like any other company has.”

Randleman, 41 and retired now, believes his fellow athletes should band together and start a union, but feels like they are being supressed by UFC executives.

“Everyone is scared to make a presence, but the government can always come and do their due diligence,” Randleman said. “We need a governing body for MMA. There needs to be more rules, more laws, more profit sharing for the fighters. Period. … Until a government gets involved and makes a governing body that will govern this sport, it’s gonna stay [BS].”

Randleman gives the UFC credit for advancing the sport, but believes the company is getting too big for its britches. He said he’s getting involved with a new company springing up that will pay fighters 10 percent of the business’ profits.

“They’re not the [expletive] sport,” Randleman said of the UFC. “Every guy that fights, we’re the sport. Without us there ain’t no fights.”

Randleman, a two-time NCAA champion at Ohio State, was one of the most talented guys to ever step in the cage, yet many believe he never really lived up to his potential. The UFC heavyweight belt, back when talent in the organization was very thin, was the lone major title he won in 15 years of MMA.

He does bring a unique perspective to this argument and makes some good points, but he admits to being fired by the UFC, so he could have an axe to grind.

In the last two years, the UFC has made great strides in fighter safety, implementing a full-fledged health care plan. Many people have complained about fighter pay, but because that information is not released to the public and the fact that there really isn’t anything to compare it to, it’s hard to judge who is on the right side of the battle.

mraimondi@nypost.com