"How else is Dana White going to be able to gift his buddies $250k for their birthday?" - Fans are unhappy after ESPN+ jacks up its monthly subscription price by 43%
Dana White and the UFC are being criticized by MMA fans after a reported hike in the ESPN+ subscription cost. The subscription fee will reportedly increase from $6.99 a month to $9.99 starting August 23rd.
Bloomberg first reported this 43 percent price hike, which was later confirmed by MMA Fighting. A UFC PPV, which costs $74.99, can only be purchased if one has an ESPN+ subscription.
The price increase comes at a time when the UFC and its president, Dana White, are being lambasted for underpaying the UFC fighters. White recently took a lot of flak for gifting the Nelk Boys’ Kyle Forgeard a whopping $250,000 on the YouTuber’s birthday.
In response to a tweet by MMA Fighting regarding the ESPN+ price hike, many MMA fans jibed at the UFC and White.
One fan tweeted:
“How else is Dana going to be able to gift his buddies $250k for their birthday?”
Another Twitter user asserted:
“yeah i’m cancelling my subscription. only reason i had it was because it was less than $10.”
In addition to these responses, some fans pointed out that (for some users) the ESPN+ app works about "50% of the time." Others joked that the UFC president "needs to make that 250k back."
ESPN+ to raise price 43 percent starting in August (@DamonMartin) mmafighting.com/2022/7/15/2322… https://t.co/OFacK7IXgQ
@MMAFighting @DamonMartin How else is Dana going to be able to gift his buddies $250k for their birthday?
@MMAFighting @DamonMartin yeah i’m cancelling my subscription. only reason i had it was because it was less than $10
@MMAFighting @DamonMartin You mean the same ESPN+ that constantly freezes, has terrible stream quality, works about 50% of the time? That’s the one you want us to pay more for? Maybe it’s time to just be a bellator fan
@MMAFighting @DamonMartin He needs to make that 250k back. https://t.co/GVBbHf2eST
Some fans took aim at the Nelk Boys, too. Meanwhile, others indicated that they’d rather follow other MMA promotions such as Bellator and PFL:
@MMAFighting @DamonMartin Right cause Dana needs more money for sure . Don’t want him going broke yanno .
@MMAFighting @DamonMartin Ah, glad we're paying for the Nelk Boys @espn @espnmma 🖕
@MMAFighting @DamonMartin PFL and Bellator are free to watch with cable
Dan Hardy’s take on Dana White and UFC fighter pay
Former UFC fighter Dan Hardy responded to a video tweeted by Kyle Forgeard that showed Dana White handing him $250,000. ‘The Outlaw’ opined that the UFC president could perhaps pay all the top-15-ranked UFC fighters $250,000 each on their birthdays.
Retweet if you think Uncle Dana should give all of the UFC’s top 15 ranked fighters $250,000 for their next birthday. twitter.com/KyleForgeard/s…
Dan Hardy then emphasized that the idea isn’t farfetched and White can afford to do that. In a jab at the UFC relating to fighter pay, Hardy tweeted that instead of White, the UFC could pay its fighters the money from the billions it garners:
"Just for context - it's only $45 million, which would leave approximately $455 million from his profits off the sale of the UFC....or they could pay it out of the Billion dollars profit that the UFC makes per year, which would leave them around $955million.”
Just for context - It’s only $45million, which would leave approximately $455million from his profits off the sale of the UFC.
...or they could pay it out of the Billion dollars profit that the UFC makes per year, which would leave them around $955million.
#Peanuts twitter.com/danhardymma/st…