Dan Le Batard Rips ‘Trump Dictator’ Dana White for Underpaying UFC Fighters: ‘I Don’t Know if He’s Capable of Shame and Embarrassment’
During his post-match interview following the main event of UFC Vegas 34, winning fighter Jared Cannonier declared he can’t afford to take time away from the Octagon because he’s “broke.”
The blunt comment from one of the sport’s top-ranked fighters sparked widespread criticism directed at the UFC, which notoriously underpays its athletes. Podcaster and former ESPN host Dan Le Batard revisited the topic during his Monday show, after being dismissed by UFC president Dana White last year over the issue.
“He didn’t even say it with bitterness,” Le Batard said of Cannonier’s “I’m broke” declaration. “It’s been happening more and more,” he continued, noting UFC fighters are frequently stating they don’t have money despite winning.
“It’s not with bitterness, they’re just telling you – ‘to pursue this love that I have, I have to be broke and I have to keep fighting,’” he said on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz. “’I can’t take a lot of time between fights because I’m broke. I have to keep getting out there whether I’m ready or not.’”
Although $100,000 to $200,000 for a winning bout might seem like a nice payday, it won’t afford fighters the ability to wait long before reentering the Octagon. Fighters operate as a small business, needing to pay taxes along with the high costs of agents, managers, training and travel expenses.
“Fighters in that sport are paid…18 percent, whereas in the sports that have unions and collective bargaining, it’s closer to 50 percent of revenue,” Le Batard explained. In 2019, ESPN entered a $1.5 billion deal to exclusively distribute UFC pay-per-view events. The sport has money, but the pay structure doesn’t allot it to the fighters.
According to Le Batard, one way to fix the structure will be if the fighters form a union. Another route is by pressuring Dana White. “I don’t know if he’s capable of shame and embarrassment, but you keep putting public pressure,” Le Batard admitted.
“Because he doesn’t have any use for journalism,” the podcast host continued of White. “Because he wants to do it his way, because he’s a Trump dictator guy and he doesn’t have any use for unions or fairness or anything else. He just wants his money and he gets his money, keeps getting more and more power.”
Last year, Le Batard asked White about fighters being poorly compensated and even proposed a charity fight with the UFC president in hopes of bringing more attention to the issue. The charity match never happened and White dismissed the idea that UFC athletes are underpaid, ignoring calls from fighters claiming they’re broke.
“When you start considering the desperation that is the sole and the undercurrent of the fight game,” Le Batard added during his Monday show. “Choosing that as a living, fighting other desperate broke people for money is about as close as we’ve come to the gladiator stuff.”
Watch above via The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
