Dana White came under fire for a multitude of reasons today, the first of which was the loss of Shane Burgos to the PFL. Still listed on the UFC official rankings as the No. 14 ranked featherweight, Burgos’ move to the Professional Fighters League seemed to come completely out of left field.
Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole had the opportunity to sit down with Dana White to address some of the more pressing issues of the last few days, including the sudden loss of Burgos. While White wouldn’t divulge any specific details, he acknowledged multiple times that it was a mistake on the UFC’s part.
“Basically, there were some mistakes that were made here, some s*** that… he should’ve still been here,” White said. “We respect him very much and I wish him the best. 100 percent [mistakes were made], 100 percent. Big mistakes were made over here.”
During an appearance on ‘The MMA Hour‘ with Ariel Helwani, Burgos confirmed that the offer he received from the PFL was far beyond what the UFC was willing to pay. Burgos went on to say that it would take multiple fights under his previous UFC contract to match the pay he will receive for one fight inside the PFL Smart Cage. The contract also gives Burgos the opportunity to commentate for the promotion which is something the fighter is passionate about.
Dana White Gives Expletive-Filled Rant in Response to ESPN Report on Fighter Pay
During a recent interview with GQ, Dana White was asked multiple questions by fans through Twitter. One of the questions was about the never-ending debate over fighter pay. When asked why fighter pay continues to come up, White repsonded by saying:
“Fighters always want to make more money,” White said. “Boxing has absolutely been destroyed because of money and all the things that go on. It’s never gonna happen while I’m here. Believe me, these guys get paid what they’re supposed to get paid. They eat what they kill. They get a percentage of the pay-per-view buys and money is spread out amongst all the fighters.”
The specific quote that seemed to garner the most attention is when Dana White said, “It’s never gonna happen while I’m here.” That quote ended up becoming the backbone for an ESPN story titled, “UFC president Dana White not planning fighter raises: ‘These guys get paid what they’re supposed to get paid.'” Of course, ESPN is the television partner of the UFC
When asked about the piece by Yahoo! Sports, White quickly went into an expletive-filled tirade, trashing the individual responsible for the article, claiming his words in a lighthearted interview were taken out of context.
“I’m doing a f***ing GQ piece,” White told Yahoo Sports. “I wasn’t sitting down with f***ing ‘60 Minutes’ talking about fighter pay. It was a fun, edited video piece — edited. That wasn’t the full f***ing interview. It wasn’t a serious interview. It was a fun, f***ing edited piece, and ESPN, the leader in sports, is going to write a story on fighter pay based off that f***ing video? Give me a f***ing break.”
Speaking about the ESPN piece by Marc Raimondi, White addmitted that he didn’t read it, but had some harsh words for the author.
“I didn’t see the story. I don’t even know who wrote it, but you’re not a journalist. You’re a f***ing scumbag.”
