Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White recently posted a self-congratulatory video to remind the mixed martial arts (MMA) community how successful the promotion has been during the 2020 global pandemic.
Sure, 1.7 million people are dead, over seven million folks lost their jobs in the United States; but hey, UFC store sales are at a record high, increasing 135 percent! Still not impressed? Live viewership was up 33 percent!
Probably a good time to mention that UFC still pays new fighters $10,000 per fight.
On the flip side of that coin, UFC did manage to keep its staff employed and honor its fighter contracts, so despite a lot of bitching — and a shit load of COVID-19 cases popping up at every event — there is credit due for keeping the train on the track.
That said, this video was more of a “fuck you” to the critics who condemned White for plowing ahead when the rest of the sports world was scaling back, which is why photos of select media members (like longtime whipping boy Josh Gross) were included in the footage.
All’s fair in love and sickness.