5 UFC champions who clashed with Dana White over their pay
Fighter pay is always a highly touchy subject in the UFC, and if President Dana White is ever quizzed about it, it’s likely whoever asks the question will get either a snarky response or an angry one.
The UFC claims that it pays its fighters well, and that might be the case to an extent, but it hasn’t stopped some champions from clashing with Dana White over the size of their slice of the pie.
So while the likes of Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey have seemingly been happy with the cheques that the UFC have cashed for them, we’ve also seen multiple UFC champions and legends get into major spats with the promotion – even walking away at points.
Without further ado then, here are five UFC champions who clashed with Dana White over their pay:
#5. Francis Ngannou – UFC heavyweight champion
Right now, the most noteworthy clash between UFC President Dana White and one of his champions over fighter pay involves reigning UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. It’s a bad situation that will hopefully iron itself out soon.
Prior to winning the UFC heavyweight title from Stipe Miocic at UFC 260, Ngannou seemed relatively happy with his treatment from the UFC. 2020 even saw ‘The Predator’ ask the UFC to make his fight with Jairzinho Rozenstruik into an interim title fight due to his frustrations with then-champion Miocic’s lack of activity.
However, since winning the title, Ngannou – who made a disclosed $730k for his victory over Miocic – has not been back to defend his title.
And while White hasn’t seemed all that fussed about this – choosing to book an interim title bout between Derrick Lewis and Ciryl Gane at UFC 265 – it’s painfully clear that Ngannou’s problem surrounds his pay or lack thereof.
‘The Predator’ took to Twitter to display his anger at YouTube star Logan Paul somehow making $20m for his boxing exhibition against Floyd Mayweather, asking, “what are we doing wrong?”
And since then, he’s also questioned the UFC’s traditional pay model, which sees fighters paid a certain amount to take a fight, and then a further amount should they win. Ngannou suggested this method of pay was robbing fighters.
While we don’t know what Ngannou is demanding of the UFC when it comes to his pay, it’s pretty clear by now that to entice ‘The Predator’ back into the octagon, White will clearly have to loosen his purse strings a little more.