During a recent live chat, MMA analyst Luke Thomas broke down a fan question about Dana White’s claim that the UFC is contractually required to offer athletes three bouts per year, and what that actually means in practice for fighters who feel sidelined.
The question arose following Dana White’s comments at the Seattle press conference regarding Jon Jones. A viewer asked Thomas: “Dana said if Jon really wanted to compete, they’re required to offer him three matches and pay him if they don’t offer him those. With the amount of athletes who say they’re not offered matches, how true is that really? Do the three match offers have any merit? Can they offer three unrealistic or short notice matchups to get around that?”
Thomas began by acknowledging that contract language may have evolved in recent years. “There might be newer contracts. There might be newer language around these things,” he said. “I can only tell you what I have known to be the longstanding practice. I don’t know if this is exactly the way… I’ve not seen a contract that’s been out in the last year or so, maybe a little longer than that, year and a half probably.”
He then explained how the three-bout obligation has traditionally functioned, and crucially, how the UFC avoids triggering any financial penalty.
He stated, “If they offer you a match and you turn it down, or if they offer you a match and you say you can’t make it or you don’t want it, all of this counts, and in fact can restart the clock some in certain cases when they need to offer a second one again,” Thomas said.
Medical ineligibility is another major factor that works in the promotion’s favor. “If you’re medically ineligible, let’s say that they know you had surgery and you’re not going to be available for nine months, they don’t have to offer you anything,” he noted. “Even if it’s shorter, three months, six months, they don’t have to offer you anything in that time.”
Thomas identified the narrow window in which the UFC would actually face financial consequences. “The way it has traditionally worked is that if they literally don’t give you anything, they don’t call you, they don’t offer you, they don’t do nothing, then there can be situations where they have to pay as a consequence of that,” he said. “But they literally have to have no contact. And I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of something like that.”
He also flagged commission suspensions as another mechanism that can reduce how frequently the UFC is obligated to offer bouts. He stated, “If you’re on commission suspension, that can play a role in how often you get offered something.”
When another viewer asked why no athlete has legally challenged the three-match-per-year requirement as a path out of their contract, Thomas was direct: “No. The UFC is pretty good about staying in compliance with that stuff.”
On the specific case of Conor McGregor, Thomas noted: “They can’t permanently ice him. They can just delay and delay and delay, unless he accepts a lowball offer, but even then they’d have matching rights. It’s going to be hard for him to get out of that.”
