Sean O'Malley understood at an early age that if he wanted to make a lot of money fighting, he had to build his brand.

O'Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) is widely considered one of the biggest stars on the UFC roster. He is aware of the criticism surrounding fighter pay in the UFC, but thinks fighters have to take some control over that.

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"People complain, 'I'm only getting paid 10 and 10,' ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win) but in reality, who's there to see you fight? Your mom, your dad, your sister, a couple buddies – no one's really going to pay to watch you on TV," O'Malley said on Johnson's YouTube channel. "You have to build your name up to bring value to the UFC, to whatever promotion you're in. It's tricky because it's such a dangerous thing to do and make money. It depends how you look at it if you're making $50,000 which isn't a ton of money, but it's also you're doing what you love to do and chose to do.

"If you don't want to make $50,000 a fight, go work at Target. No one's forcing you to fight. You don't have to fight. I don't have to work 9-5. I started out $10/10. I was lucky to have Snoop Dogg blow up when I knocked out (Alfred) Khashakyan (on DWCS). I had some sweet knockout, so I had some steam. I was able to go from $10/10, to $20/20. I was able to progress pretty fast. But also, there were times where I was like, 'I feel like I need to be making more, but I'm not going to make an issue about it because that's not going to help anybody.'"

O'Malley will look to reclaim his bantamweight title when he runs things back with Merab Dvalishvili (19-4 MMA, 12-2 UFC) in Saturday's UFC 316 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) main event at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

O'Malley explains how building his own social media early in his career paid dividends.

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"Tim is the one who actually told me to get an Instagram (account) when I moved down here," O'Malley said. "I think I was 18 or 19. He was like, 'Hey, you've got to get an Instagram.' So I got an Instagram. I don't know what it was that made me think – I guess I always wanted to be different. Actually (rapper) 6ix9ine was the hair inspiration, the rainbow hair. It was such a character. It was captivating.

"I was like, if I do my hair, people are going to freak out. The first time I did my hair was the Eddie Wineland fight. The hair plus that knockout was a recipe for success. The UFC loved the hair. ... Every single fight was a new hair, so that helped a lot. But it always comes down to the performances. People want to see people get knocked out."

"The Suga Show" looks at his career in the UFC as a partnership – one he was able to benefit from plenty.

"I still make, I don't know exactly, but probably about the same amount of money outside the UFC as I do inside the UFC right now," O'Malley said. "It's wild to think about. ... But I know the reason I'm making that much is because of the UFC. I wouldn't have this following without the UFC. It was very mutual. I've done a lot for the UFC, but they don't need me. At this point, I could probably be done fighting, live fine, whatever, so I don't want to say I need the UFC. But for me to get to where I want to go, I need the UFC."

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Sean O'Malley defends fighter pay, credits UFC for following