UFC President Dana White on Tuesday launched into an expletive-laden rant when asked about his recent $250,000 cash gift to the Nelk Boys, blaming backlash over the gesture on the “scumbag MMA media.”
In an interview on the The Pat McAfee Show, White defended his birthday gift and fighter pay, accusing the media of using the former to attack him on the latter. White reiterated a point about UFC pay that was made public and what is actually being paid privately.
“Let’s get this straight. First, to all the people who are on the Internet, go f*** yourself,” White stated. “I use my money as I see fit. You are responsible for your own f ****** company. 1.
“No. 2, if you look at what Kyle and the Nelk Boys have done as far as Howler Head and a lot of other things that they’ve done, those kids have never asked me for anything, ever. Never asked me for anything, and they couldn’t be better people; Kyle has done so many things for me, and believe me, the $250,000 that I have him for his birthday does not cover the amount of things that that kid has done for me. Don’t let other people’s money get in the way of your ****** business
The Nelk Boys, led by pranksters Kyle Forgeard and Jesse Sebastiani, this past December gifted White a van branded by the Howler Head whiskey company in which he is an investor. The social media influencers also have repeatedly promoted the UFC brand and offered sponsorships.
White’s gift, a plastic-wrapped brick of cash to Forgeard, immediately drew criticism online from fans and fighters who indicated the gesture was in poor taste. Others pointed to the share of revenue the UFC pays to its fighters, a figure revealed by an ongoing anti-trust case against the fight promotion to be between 5 and 20 percent. The promotion’s corporate parent, Endeavor, has boasted record profits thanks to the continued success of the UFC, which boomed during the pandemic due to a shorter layoff in event promotion. The availability of information about specific fighters’ salaries has declined as several states athletic commissions refuse to disclose the data.
Many UFC rank-and-file fighters asked for bonuses in order to repay fight camp debt. In a 2020 survey conducted by The Athletic, 92. 5 percent of fans surveyed said fighters were underpaid; 47 percent of fighters said their biggest payday was at or under $49,999. Other fighters have supported the UFC’s compensation structure and rewards for those who take advantage of opportunities.
To the long-time promoter, it is the people who are watching his business that cause the problems.
” A lot of this was driven by the scumbag MMA Media,” White responded. They act as if there is a huge safe at UFC headquarters that has ‘Fighter Pay’ written on it. I go into the office and get whatever fighter pay I want. You f ****** bits of s ***, I have earned this money over my entire career and will use it as .”
I please.
A former fighter in the UFC suggested the creation of a union after seeing the cash present, pointed out by Jake Paul, a YouTuber and boxer, as more than just the pay for its flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo.
Paul was a longtime victim of White and the starting point for White’s tirade about his treatment by the media. He ripped reporters for asking him about the possibility of Paul fighting in the UFC and the influencer’s repeated criticism of the promotion over pay.
White said he was not bothered by ongoing queries about UFC’s business practices. But he made it very clear that he has no intention of combating them with transparency.
” What drives them insane is that they don’t understand [about our business],”, he stated. “They don’t like the fact that they don’t know. They want to know f****** everything, like all these other sports, you find out – we’re already hearing what’s going on with the negotiations with the Boston Celtics and possibly [Kevin] Durant. These f ****** folks don’t know anything. What do they know about me? What I tell them, and I tell them nothing, because I can’t stand them, and I don’t trust them.”
