Alexander Gustafsson is weeks away from another opportunity to capture the UFC light heavyweight championship. He’ll face off with Daniel Cormier in the main event of UFC 192, which takes place Oct. 3 at Houston’s Toyota Center.

Gustafsson (16-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) and Cormier (16-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) stand to make a good deal of money when they battle over the title. But a privileged position in the payout hierarchy hasn’t softened Gustafsson’s position on UFC pay. When he sat down with MMAjunkie he named pay issues as the primary thing he would address were he in charge of the promotion.

“Pay the fighters a lot more money,” Gustafsson said. “For all the hard work and the sacrifices fighters generally do to fight, I think they’re a little bit underpaid. The same thing with the Reebok deal, too. I don’t have anything negative to say about it. I just think, why take away from fighters who haven’t established themselves in the organization? They have a hard time already, so why take away the small sponsors so they can pay the rent and pay their bills? Why take that away too? Really squeezing that last money from the fighters that haven’t been established yet. I think it’s sad to see.”

Reebok’s exclusive sponsorship deal of the UFC has ruffled many feathers in the MMA world. Fighters are required to wear Reebok gear on fight week and fight night, with no third-party sponsor apparel allowed. With Reebok payouts based on the number of fights the fighter has had for promotions owned by UFC parent company Zuffa, less established fighters have been at risk of taking a major financial hit.

Less money for fighters who are starting out could make the sport less attractive to athletic youths attempting to determine what direction to take their gifts.

“Of course (it makes the sport less attractive),” Gustafsson said. “It’s hard as it is. Some of them don’t have a choice, they have to do the sport to survive. Some of them don’t. But I still think that the more support you can have from local sponsors, the more time you have to put in the gym and the more the sport will develop. It’s just that this Reebok deal is not going to help the fighters.”

Check out the full interview above.

For more on UFC 192, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.