Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Dana White brought up his usual statement for fighters who try to get better pay.
Dustin Poirier has been trying to negotiate for better pay recently. Even his potential opponent in Tony Ferguson have joined in his efforts, urging the UFC to “pay the man” and put on the fight that fans want.
Unfortunately for the former interim champion, the UFC hasn’t budged with his request, with Dana White saying they’re not even trying to salvage the bout.
The UFC President again addressed the issue, and he brought up the same line he has always said whenever champions and stars have tried to negotiate for better pay. According to White, Poirier simply just “didn’t want to fight.”
“Listen, I like Dustin. I’m not going to sit up here and say anything negative about Dustin, he’s a great kid. I don’t know if it was he didn’t want to fight in Abu Dhabi or what his deal was. He didn’t want to fight,” White told the media on Tuesday.
“Listen, there’s a lot of different ways to turn down a fight. Negotiating yourself out of one is one of the ways you can do it. So for whatever reason, he didn’t want to take this fight. Only he knows that.”
Poirier had a pretty simple and direct response to White’s comments.
I WANT THE FIGHT https://t.co/fGrTT8QFbY
— The Diamond (@DustinPoirier) September 16, 2020
This has been White’s go-to line through the years.
Georges St-Pierre doesn’t want to fight Bisping. Cris Cyborg doesn’t want to fight Amanda Nunes. More recently, it’s Jon Jones doesn’t want to move to heavyweight. Despite those fighters and several more repeatedly asking for specific bouts, White claimed none of them actually wanted to fight. You see, underpaid prize fighters can’t want better pay, it’s just that these champions and certified killers just suddenly didn’t want to fight anymore.
Apart from putting on entertaining wars each time out, Poirier was recently awarded by the UFC with their first — and so far, only — Forrest Griffin Community Award for constantly donating to charity and helping various causes that support the less fortunate.
It’s a bit ironic that they’d give Poirer a trophy for his generous and charitable efforts, but refuse to give him a deserved pay bump. Instead, they just publicly question Poirier — the man who has defeated some of the most violent men in this sport — and his desire to fight.