Dana White made an appearance on the Pardon My Take podcast this weekend in the run-up to UFC 268, following on from the success of UFC 267 the previous weekend.
Fighter pay is a very hot topic within the MMA world, and many argue that those who step into the cage deserve more for what they do. However, the UFC president was quick to highlight a big pay disparity between two competitors both fighting in different organizations this past weekend.
“BoJack, he’s a former world champion, has fighting this weekend in the middle east making 75 thousand. A guy on the prelims who has never been a world champion, I won’t mention his name but he’s making 750 thousand.”
“A prelim fighter never been a world champion is making 750 thousand.”
This led to much speculation across the MMA world with fans trying to decipher who the UFC boss could be referring to.
Many fans and experienced journalists such as Ariel Helwani speculated that the UFC boss was speaking about Michael Chandler. However, Chandler competed on the pay-per-view section of the card, it could possibly not be him. If so then who?
Dana White also spoke on the obsession with fighter pay and how fighters are free to tell you exactly what they earn.
“The problem is we don’t tell anybody what we pay everybody and that’s what drives people crazy. They want to know so bad.” “The fighters can tell you what they make, notice that they don’t.”
Many fans are speculating that the former kickboxing champion Alex Pereira could be the person Dana is referring to given the credentials that he brought across with him and how sought-after he was as a free agent before signing with the UFC. If this is true, then the Brazilian certainly delivered within his spectacular flying knee KO over Andreas Michailidis.
It is unlikely we will find out just exactly which fighter Dana was speaking about Who do you think it is that took home the huge payday from UFC 268?