Kaynan Duarte is not only one of the top competitors to ever come out of ATOS but he’s also a multiple-time champion of the IBJJF Worlds and now he doesn’t even know if he’ll be making a return in 2022. Duarte recently gave an interview with Vitor Freitas where he opened up about how low the pay is at the tournament compared to other high-profile events. He was nothing but grateful for the attention that he’s gained thanks to his performances on the IBJJF stage, but he does have a very good point that it really doesn’t make sense for him to continue competing multiple times over a single weekend for less money than he could make in one superfight:
“I still don’t know if I’ll fight the next Worlds in 2022,” Duarte said (Translation provided by Vitor Freitas). “I don’t know if it’s going to be something I’m aiming for, you know? I want to be better paid, have more support. Surely the reward could be better. What they (IBJJF) are paying is nothing, you know? I did seven fights in their event. I fought because I wanted to, you know? I’m fighting because I want to. When I don’t want to fight anymore I won’t fight. They helped me in some ways for sure. Where I was and where I am today is because of the IBJJF. I can’t not be grateful. But a fight I do in another event I win three times or four times more than I win at the Worlds. I won $5,000 at the Worlds. In a fight with Meregali I would make a lot more money, you know? A big fight. That $5,000 amount doesn’t even pay for my preparation.”
The full interview with Kaynan Duarte where he explains his issues with pay at the IBJJF worlds, conducted in Portuguese, was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of Vitor Freitas:
