UFC president, Dana White has defended his highly-criticized decision to gift Nelk Boys member, Kyle Forgeard a birthday present of $250,000 in cash, claiming that the “scumbag MMA media” is driving the narrative, as well as urging onlookers to keep their noses out of his business.
Dana White, the long-time head honcho of the UFC, has come under fire in recent years amid the longstanding and high-profile fighter pay and revenue split issue between the organization and its contracted fighters – with numerous high-level contenders as well as champions voicing their displeasure with their current paydays.
Earlier this month, footage emerged from the aforenoted, Forgeard’s official Twitter account, where White, a friend of the latter and other Nelk Boys members, gifted him a cash sum of $250,000 for his birthday, in a zip-locked plastic bag.
Dana White has blamed the “scumbag MMA media” for the backlash he has received
Amid a series of backlash, UFC flyweight alum, Louis Smolka called for his fellow fighters to unionize following the release of the footage, however, White has urged those who took umbrage with his lucrative gift to mind their “f*cking business”.
“Let me set this record straight,” Dana White said on The Pat McAfee Show. “First of all, all these people on the internet – go f*ck yourselves. Ok. I spend my money however the f*ck I want to spend my money. Mind your own f*cking business.”
“Number two; if you look at what Kyle (Forgeard) and the Nelk Boys have done as far as how they’re handling and a lot of other things that they’ve done, those kids have never asked me for anything, ever. They’ve never asked me for anything, and they couldn’t be better people. Kyle has done so many things for me. Believe me, the $250,000 that I gave him for his birthday, it does not cover the amount of things that kid has done for me. Don’t count other people’s money, and mind your own f*cking business.”
As far as White’s concerned it seems, the “scumbag” mixed martial arts media are responsible for the backlash he has received, as well as shedding light on the notorious issue of fighter pay in the organization he fronts.
“A lot of this is driven by the scumbag MMA media,” Dana White continued. “So what happens is, they act like there’s this massive safe here at the UFC offices that says, ‘Fighter pay’ on it and I just go in there and grab whatever I want out of fighter pay. No, you f*cking pieces of sh*t. This is money that I have actually made over an entire career, and I will spend it however the f*ck I want.”