UFC president Dana White has taken aim at boxing salaries in an explosive rant, insisting boxers are 'overpaid'.
White pulled no punches as he ripped into boxing salaries, claiming it's one of the big problems in the sport.
The topic of UFC fighter pay has been under intense scrutiny with the likes of Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones putting a spotlight on the matter, with Jake Paul advocating for better pay.
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But he defended the way he runs his business. Asked about UFC fighter pay, White exclaimed: "There’s always gonna be head butting. Do you make enough money? Do you? I want to meet that guy that goes, 'Oh, I’m good. I make plenty of money. I don’t need another dime.'"
He then argued that boxers are 'overpaid' and slammed the sport's business structure, explaining you can't build a league with the same model.
"You’re never going to meet that guy. It’s never going to happen. Everybody wants more money. And one of the big problems with boxing too, is that all those f**king guys are overpaid, and every time they put on a fight, it’s a going-out-of-business sale. We’re just trying to get as much f**king money as we can from you guys, and then we’re out of here. We’ll see you in three years," the 52-year-old added.
"You can’t build a league like that. You can’t build a sport. You can’t have 750 fighters under contract, making money, feeding their families every year, with that kind of mentality. It doesn’t work. You have to run a business."
White continued by revealing the pay system in the UFC, saying 'you eat what you kill' in terms of pay-per-view points.
"What we did it we built a business model where, if you’re the champion, you share in the pay-per-view revenue If you’re the guy headlining the card, or there’s been some special occasions where we know you’re bringing in the money, too, and you’re a big draw so you, too, get to share in the pay-per-view revenue. You eat what you kill," he said.
"The truth is, you get some of these guys that - you can walk in and say, 'I want $30 million dollars.' OK, based on what? I do too. Give me $30 million. We all want $30 million, but based on what? And you’re never going to have the guys on the other side worrying about the business of the sport.
"Because this isn’t a team sport.... In this sport here, it’s about me. 'I’m the biggest f**king star here. I knocked out 30 people. I did this, I did that. I want as much money as I can get, and I really don’t give a s*** about anybody else, including you, the boss that runs the business. I don’t care about this whole business. It’s about me.'
"So, you have to maintain some sort of control over that type of stuff to run a real business, because at the end of the day, the reason this business has been this rocket ship of success is because not only have we built a solid [business] where these fighters are all making lots of money and doing well - even guys that are journeymen [are doing well]."
White remains firm on his stance of UFC fighter pay despite the recent backlash not to mention Paul's relentless campaign.
Topics: Dana White, UFC, Boxing
Nasir Jabbar