UFC President Dana White Offers His Opinion On Fighters Looking For More Money

Things are heating up when it comes to fighter pay in the UFC. Light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has been vocal about his desire to get a raise to move up to face Francis Ngannou at heavyweight. Ngannou has said he won’t face Jones for the amount he is currently receiving from the promotion. On Saturday, Jorge Masvidal joined the growing chorus of raised voices speaking out about pay concerns.

When UFC president Dana White was asked about the big name fighters who have been sounding off on the UFC’s pay structure, White didn’t seem too interested in discussing the subject.

“I have no idea why that’s going on. So you want me to tell you why this is going on right now?,” White said at the UFC 250 post-fight press conference. “That’s a really stupid question. Such a stupid question.”

“We’re in a pandemic now, and the world is going crazy right now, and all these guys are like ‘I want more money too!’ But let me tell you what’s going to happen, I’m gonna predict the future here,” White added. “Most of the media in this country is going to get laid off in the next several months, and that’s going to be a bigger — everybody is going to want money. Nobody wants to get laid off.”

According to Jones, he was told he would get a new deal if and when he moved to heavyweight. Meanwhile Masvidal has said the UFC offered him less money to face welterweight champion Kamaru Usman than it paid him to fight Nate Diaz.

White does not sound sympathetic to the fighters request for more money right now while his main concern is staging UFC events during a global pandemic.

“I’m doing what I can do to keep the bus on the (expletive) highway, or the train on the tracks, or whatever you want to call it. I don’t give a (expletive)! If people don’t want to fight, you don’t have to fight! If you’re afraid of COVID-19, stay home. Whatever your deal is, you don’t have to do it,” said White.

What White leaves out in his explanation is that if UFC fighters don’t compete, they don’t get paid and that they cannot opt out of their contracts and pursue MMA fights elsewhere.