Dana White’s push into professional boxing is facing scrutiny after a caller to The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder argued the UFC president deliberately waited for Donald Trump’s presidency to launch the venture, allowing him to help shape legislation that strips away worker protections for boxers.
The caller, identifying himself as Bob from Mongolia, connected the timing of UFC’s “Zuffa Boxing” project to a legislative push in Congress known as the Ali Expansion Act. That bill would exempt organizations like Zuffa Boxing, structured as a “Unified Boxing Organization” or UBO, from protections currently guaranteed to boxers under the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act.
“Essentially, they’re pushing through legislation where the protections that go to boxers, they still apply outside of these UBOs, but for specifically like the UFC or Dana White’s like, it’s also kind of Saudi backed as well, their organization it wouldn’t count,” Bob said.
The bill, originally introduced by Rep. Markwayne Mullin, has passed the House and is now before the Senate, where Sen. Ted Cruz has taken over as its lead sponsor following Mullin’s move to a role at the Department of Homeland Security.
Show co-host Brian, described as the program’s boxing expert, argued the timing was deliberate.
“It’s no coincidence that Dana White waited to get into boxing until Donald Trump was elected president because he was able to manipulate legislation in order to take away protections from boxers so that he can continue his pay model from UFC into boxing, where he completely underpays athletes and strips them of all any kind of organizing capabilities,” Brian said.
He continued, “It’s just another mega donor to Trump who’s getting legislation passed in exchange for money.”
The discussion also noted an ironic twist: roughly a decade ago, Mullin backed a different measure, the Ali Expansion Act, that would have extended the same Ali Act protections to MMA stars, co-sponsored at the time with Rep. Ilhan Omar.
The caller Bob called it “a great piece of legislation from Markwayne Mullin of all people.”
White has previously drawn criticism for UFC’s pay structure, which classifies athletes as independent contractors rather than employees, limiting their access to health care, benefits and collective bargaining power. Critics on the program suggested the new boxing legislation would import that same model into a sport that has spent decades under stricter federal oversight designed to prevent exploitation of boxers by promoters.
