Fans kickstart a UFC fighter's career with donations via GoFundMe page

Mixed martial arts community is constantly growing, world-wide. More and more fighters appear, regardless of the gender, and the UFC caravan keeps signing more contenders under their wing.

However, for Sarah Alpar - bantamweight fighter from Texas, USA - it is not all peachy.

Alpar, who will fight for the second time in the top MMA promotion in September, was forced to set up a donations page to cover the cost of her training.

She is trying to balance full-time training with studying and says her 65 hours per week schedule it taking a toll on her financially. That is why she turn to social media and funding platforms to help her.

Alpar has not stepped into the octagon since her debut in May 2020 as the pandemic saw her next two scheduled fights fall through.

Aid arrived from YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul who has donated 5,000 USD (540,000 KSH) to Alpar's GoFundMe page ahead of her next UFC fight. He additionally made quite a point with his supporting tweet.

'Imagine a rookie in the NBA had to start a GoFundMe to play.' said the tweet by the YouTube star.

To make ends meet, she has been forced to rely on her barista job at Starbucks and occasional jiu-jitsu lessons.

'What I thought it would be that, "Oh, everything's taken care of and I can just train full time and then my life is complete" but it's not that way.' Alpar told MMA Fighting, while speaking about the realities of becoming a professional UFC athlete.

'Just being a fighter in general, you don't get paid anything leading up, like the other organizations ... we're making pennies, and that's compared to what UFC gives us.'

So the fighter took to social media to make a public plea to her fans for help. She said the donations to her GoFundMe page would pay for food, supplements, training, living expenses, gym fees, medical fees, and more.

Alpar set a goal of 30,000 USD that she had hoped to reach by December 1, 2021. She had received few donations prior to Paul's contribution but his donation brought her mass following and as a result the public went on to help her reach her target with over 34,201 USD raised so far.

'I'm trying to get the fullest out of my training and to do the best I can and be the best I can be.' Alpar said while speaking about her need for donations.

'I'm not just doing it for myself. I'm trying to be a role model for others. I'm trying to put all my focus on training and go where I need to go to make that happen.'

Her next fight is due to take place on September 18 against Erin Blanchfield.

It is funny - Jake Paul's brother Logan participated in an exhibition match against boxing legend Floyd Mayweather for which Maywether collected tens of millions of US dollars.

It just does not seem fair, right?