Text messages from White to former owner Lorenzo Fertitta give a glimpse into the aggressive nature of UFC contract negotiations.
While things between the UFC and Jon Jones seem solid these days, that wasn’t always the case. “Bones” and the UFC have a love / hate relationship that goes way back, as recent court documents in an antitrust lawsuit reveal.
The documents contain texts from 2014 between UFC president Dana White and owner Lorenzo Fertitta during tense contract negotiations with their light heavyweight champ, Jones.
The UFC wanted Jones to agree to a contract extension and rematch with Alexander Gustafsson, who had nearly beaten Jones in his previous fight. Jones was refusing to sign the extension without a significant bump in pay. He also wanted to fight Daniel Cormier, not Gustafsson.
All pretty standard contract negotiation stuff, but White and Fertitta seem pretty personally offended by Jones’ reluctance to accept what was offered.
“What’s up with Jones? Did he straighten up or is he still being a scumbag?” White asked Fertitta in a text (via MMA Fighting).
“Still a douche, but we’re inching closer,” Fertitta replied. “Haven’t moved on money, but sent the letter with an ultimatum.”
“Awesome,” White wrote back. “F— that punk, Lorenzo. He needs to know we don’t need him, or he will f— us over more than he already does.”
This was two years after Jones drew White’s ire for refusing to accept a last minute opponent change at UFC 151. After Dan Henderson was injured, the UFC tried to replace him with Chael Sonnen. Jones refused the fight, resulting in the UFC canceling the entire pay-per-view event.
That may explain some of the disdain shown towards one of their biggest stars. But the fighters who brought an antitrust lawsuit against the UFC claim it’s just one more data point proving the promotion ruthlessly depressed fighter pay via anti-competitive measures.
The plaintiffs claimed that once you signed a contract, the promotion forced you to do what they wanted, under the terms they wanted. Anything else was treated as scumbaggery of the highest order. The UFC claims all this was necessary to keep the inmates from running the asylum, but there’s no denying they kept an iron grip on their roster.
Over the years we’ve witnessed their hardball tactics keep some of the biggest names of the sport out of action. Jon Jones spent three years on the bench because the UFC refused to pay him more to move to heavyweight. Georges St-Pierre is another fighter deemed too difficult (expensive?) to work with. Most recently, the UFC slow-played Francis Ngannou’s contract when he wouldn’t agree to a new deal.
Whether all this legally qualifies as anti-competitive behavior from a monopsony is up to a jury to decide sometime in mid-2024.