For as long as Dana White is in charge, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) won’t make any big adjustments to athlete compensation.
The subject of athlete compensation across is a very important question especially considering we’re more and more aware of health repercussions with each brain study conducted.
Being the largest and most well-known organization in the world, UFC is often accused of underpaying its athletes. This question is especially pertinent considering UFC’s parent company just declared its sports branch (Ie UFC) had made then 320 million just in second quarter of 2022.
According to Forbes, athlete pay in 2022 would total between 19 and 20 percent of money made by an event. This is a percentage that UFC has tried to maintain across the last 11 years.
White told GQ Sports,
“Listen, there aren’t too many things you can talk s**t about the UFC about. If you look at what we’ve done with the business in the last 22 years, it’s incredible.”
“Never been done ever, the things that we’ve done in the fight business. You always have to have something to b***h about, I guess. Fighters always want to make more money.”
“Boxing has absolutely been destroyed because of money and all the things that go on. [A change in fighter pay is] never gonna happen while I’m here, believe me, these guys get paid what they’re supposed to get paid. They eat what they kill.”
“They get a percentage of the pay-per-view (PPV) buys and the money is spread out amongst all the fighters.”
White recently gave Kyle Forgeard of the Nelk Boys $250,000 (in cash), which didn’t help the UFC pay discussion. He was careful to emphasize that it was his money, not the UFC’s.
He said that everyone should mind their own business. He restated that idea in the GQ conversation.
White stated, “If you don’t like it, there’s a simple solution to this problem. Go start your own MMA organization, no buried entry, knock yourself out paying whatever you want to pay ‘em.”
“It’s been done before. Hasn’t worked out for other guys. Not well. Mind your business.”
This is especially interesting considering it’s come out that PFL is paying Kayla Harrison over half a million for each outing – and that’s just in disclosed pay.