Don Frye believes the time has come for fighters to unite and take a stand against UFC President Dana White.
Back in April, the MMA legend spoke with Sherdog.com about his belief that fighters are being underpaid in the UFC. He even went as far as to call it “criminal” the way White is conducting business.
Spencer Lazara of MMAinterviews.TV caught up with Frye at the K-1 World Grand Prix in Los Angeles to get his thoughts on White, Jon Jones and the cancellation of UFC 151.
“Well, from what I heard is that Henderson got hurt and they were going to throw Sonnen in, but they told Jones he was going to get less money. That’s bulls–t,” said Frye. “I know one guy who’s a heavyweight, and he got beat and he wanted to go down to light heavyweight and they said, ‘No, we hired you as a heavyweight.'”
“Why turn the tables? It’s the same way on both sides of the coin. You change the fighter. You don’t reduce a guy’s pay. You pay him the same amount of money. It’s just Dana White trying to cheat somebody more.”
Jones’ statement regarding his reasoning for turning down the fight with Sonnen didn’t include fighter pay. According to the light heavyweight champ, it was due to the change of opponents on such short notice. He didn’t feel he’d have ample time to prepare for Sonnen.
Regardless of the Jones situation, Frye is happy with how much the sport has grown, but he still feels fighters are being underpaid. If fighters don’t grow a backbone and stand up for themselves, he believes they’ll never receive an equivalent compensation for all of the hard work they put in.
Frye continues:
“The sport has grown and it’s a fantastic sport, but the guys need to be paid more money. Obviously, it’s none of my business, and they need to man up and step up and demand some money or like Jon, back out. Tell Dana White to kiss their ass and do the show himself. He wants to bitch and throw a fuss like that. Why don’t he put the gloves on and get in there.”
White responded to Frye’s earlier interview with Sherdog.com, and he stated Frye was “bitter” he didn’t make the same amount of money current fighters make.
Is Frye just a bitter old fighter, or could there actually be some truth to what he’s saying?
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