Dana White also used his trademark line, about how fighters that ask for money just “don’t want to fight.”
Paulo Costa recently pulled out of his main event bout against Jared Cannonier, citing issues with fighter pay.
Jake Paul has been criticizing the UFC and Dana White for “unfair” pay “shitty contracts,” while a 0-1 boxer in Logan Paul reportedly got a massive payday for fighting Floyd Mayweather last Sunday. According to Costa, these YouTubers have exposed the UFC’s pay structure, and calls it a “disgrace.”
UFC promoter Dana White has since responded via TSN to trash his fighter and his last performance.
“You’re mad?! You just came off a ridiculous, horrible performance!” White said about Costa. “Comeback, and put yourself in a position to do something big.”
He also repeated his trademark line about how underpaid fighters that try to negotiate just “don’t want to fight.”
“I don’t think that’s true, I think he did sign because we extended him, we extended his contract for (taking) the fight. But listen, don’t fight!” White said. “I have to offer you three fights a year. This is my situation with all these guys, I offer you three fights a year. He doesn’t have to fight, no problem, don’t fight.”
“Guess what? You should’ve started a YouTube channel when you were f—king 13 years old and built your name up and everything else and you could’ve had the fight on (Sunday) night. You’re not a f—king YouTuber, you’re a fighter and this is what you do for a living. Or you don’t, it’s up to you,” White continued. “And you’re in no position to be talking about crazy money after your last performance! Okay? You either want to fight or you don’t want to fight, no problem. If you don’t want to fight, you can hang out and do whatever you want, when you are ready, you let me know.”
Costa argues that main event fighters should be paid more, but what was his asking price that White considers as “crazy money”?
Less than 350k is joke
— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) June 5, 2021
Is $350,000 for a UFC main event really outrageous and “crazy,” especially with ESPN basically guaranteeing the promotion big money per show?
As for past performances being a supposed reason to not get paid better, that argument just doesn’t hold up with the sheer amount of accomplished fighters and champions demanding for fair pay.
Francis Ngannou also voiced his displeasure with UFC pay on Sunday night, after hearing about all the money the Paul brothers rake in. The UFC heavyweight champion is coming off multiple KOs, and certainly put himself “in a position to do something big,” but he saw the pay gap between the two sports and still asked “What are we doing wrong?”
It’s a fair question, but what UFC fighters are not doing, is finally organizing and trying to collectively bargain for a better slice of the pie.