KEY POINTS

  • UFC president Dana White says that fighters disclosing their pay is of their own free will
  • He also says that most fighters prefer to have an LOA in their contract due to privacy concerns
  • In late September, White responded to boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya's claims

UFC president Dana White has had enough of fans and media asking his fighters directly how much money they make with the top-tier promotion.

After an episode of the Contender Series, White revealed to the media that it is up to the fighters’ discretion whether they want to make their earnings public.

“It doesn’t matter to me if these guys want to let you know what they make. You guys [media] asked (Kevin) Holland the other day, and what did he say? He said people were hitting him up for money after I said it,” White said via MMA Junkie.

However, he also said that most fighters prefer their pay to remain private.

“Most of these guys want what’s called an LOA (Letter of Agreement), where you don’t get to see their money. They don’t want people to know how much they make, and you can imagine why they don’t. People start coming out of the woodwork and looking for money when they think you got it,” he stated.

How much money fighters make in the UFC has been a major talking point through the years, especially when the company decided to have a promotion-wide brand partners that disallowed fighters to have their in-ring gear emblazoned with sponsors.

The Reebok deal that kicked in July 2015 had fighters’ pay tiered based on the number of bouts they had within the organization.

However, Venum stepped in as the UFC’s new sponsor when the Reebok deal expired and the payout is structured similarly, but with more compensation given to the fighters.

In late September, White went on an impassioned rant against boxing legend and Golden Boy Promotions chief Oscar De La Hoya for stepping into his business.

“I said it to [De La Hoya] yesterday, and I’ll say it to him again: He accomplished a lot of great things in boxing. Outside of the ring, the guy’s an absolute [expletive] loser,” a fiery White told the press.

As is the case with MMA megastar Conor McGregor posting the receipt of his eye-popping PPV buy rate, White does not mind whether his fighters make them public or not.

“Most of the pay-per-view (numbers) that come out are close or in the ballpark of what they are, so, no real big secrets out there,” the UFC head honcho stressed.

“I don’t really give a [expletive] anymore."

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