“Fighters always want to make more money. Boxing has absolutely been destroyed because of money. And all the things that go on. It’s 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.” During a conversation with GQ in 2022, Dana White revealed his stance on fighters complaining about low pay. But this debate has been going on since Dana White helmed the world’s premier fighting promotion.
To be fair, the UFC follows a structure where fighters are paid as per their past records in the organization. Entry-level fighters get a minimum of $16,000, and have the chance to earn more through performance and win bonuses. With time and a few wins, these rookies have a chance to get a base salary consisting of 6 figures. When they reach the top and become challengers to the title, they get around half a million dollars. And when they become champions, they likely receive more than a million. But according to some, things were apparently a bit nicer when Lorenzo Fertitta was dealing the checks.
Recently, Jake Shields and Henry Cejudo sat down together for a talk on the Fight Back Podcast. Therein, the former welterweight contender revealed, “Lorenzo wrote me some nicer checks.” ‘Triple C’ chimed in and claimed that he actually heard that Fertitta was pretty generous when it came to rewarding fighters. Shields continued, “He gave a couple of nice back door bonuses that were behind the scenes. A lot more than my contract. I don’t think you do that anymore. You never got that, huh?”
Well, the answer was no. However, Cejudo agreed that he was trying to get a good deal. Even during his last fight against Song Yadong, Cejudo apparently got $300,000 to show up for the fight. Of course, even Shields didn’t receive the bonuses all the time. It was only on special matchups like the one against Georges St-Pierre that he got the bonus checks. Shields went on, “It wasn’t all the time. It was after a big fight. Like after GSP. It was such a massive fight, you know. And I was way underpaid. Don’t get me wrong. So, I deserved it. But like, he did write me f—— like way more than my contract.”
But while most of the fighting community stood against the UFC head honcho, Nate Diaz came in as a savior. Instead of bashing White for paying the UFC fighters less money, he revealed that they actually get exactly what they deserve. Curious? Let’s hear it directly from the Stockton native.
Nate Diaz defends Dana White from low fighter pay allegations
During his appearance on All The Smoke podcast in 2024, Diaz revealed his thoughts on the age-old low fighter-pay debate. He said, “I don’t think people have the concept of what money is and how much. I think Dana White gets a f—–g bad rap. I’m not giving him a good one, but bro, he’s paying a lot more people a lot more money than f—–g people think. I just don’t think people know what’s what…”
Needless to say, every single person wants to earn more money. But he seemingly didn’t like it when the blame reached the UFC head honcho. And Diaz decided to give the fighting realm a reality check. He said, “I want more money, too. Give those motherf—–s some more money, give me more money too. But he’s paying a lot of people a lot of money, more than the boxing [fighters]. As far as combat sports say, boxing pays the highest-paid fighters a lot more than the UFC has. But the UFC, I think pays a lot more people a lot of money. He pays the whole roster a bunch of f—–g s–t. People when they make this s–t happen, though, they should get their own s–t.”
As of now, White has stood by his claims that the fighter pay wouldn’t experience any significant change as long as he’s the CEO of the organization. On the other hand, the UFC contenders have the chance to earn quite a bit of money through means other than fighting. According to White, UFC salary shouldn’t really be a fighter’s only source of income. On top of that, he pointed out that people should learn how to manage their money. Yes, just like Forrest Griffin did. Or Demetrious Johnson.
What do you think of the low fighter-pay debate in the UFC? Do you think there’s a lack of money management skills in the modern world? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.
The post Dana White’s UFC Fighters Pay Controversy Gets Unusual Twist as Lorenzo Fertitta’s Involvement Revealed appeared first on EssentiallySports.
