Does Dana White Really Care About His Fighters?

Dana White gets a lot of heat from some of his fighters and other folks in the MMA community, over whether or not he has their best interest in mind or is just greedy. Dana has a net worth of 500 million, he sold his last equity stake in the UFC of 9% back in 2016 and now just works on a annual 20 million dollar salary.

I myself have been very critical of Dana over things like the Reebok deal. It was very upsetting to see fighters lose their sponsors in the cage. The deal was supposed to significantly increase fighters payouts and earn them more than their in fight sponsors can pay. This wasn't the case for many fighters, especially the newer ones still making a name for themselves. The Reebok deal is about to end and now UFC is doing a deal with Venum. We shall wait to see what all this entails and if it's any better than Reebok.

A lot of folks crucify Dana for being so successful but paying some of his fighters measly sums. I actually don't agree with the crucifixion here. It's really hard to start a business, it's immensely risky. Even the most liberal socialistic folks like Bernie Sanders do a 180 degree turn after reaping rewards from their efforts. Go watch Bernie tell one of his followers to write their own book and become a millionaire when they question him about sharing his wealth.

The fighters definitely generate more cash than they earn, but that can't all be blamed on Dana. Dana has built the biggest MMA promotion in the world and took MMA from a back alley sport that nobody took seriously to the fastest growing sport in the world. The guy took a lot of risks to get us here and he deserves a reward equal to those risks and effort.

Whether it's from the kindness of his own heart or the logical analyzing that any business savvy person can see - the UFC is gonna have to start leading the game in fighter compensation as their competitors like Triller and Bellator may soon be stealing talent with larger PPV sales and benefits. I think Dana cares about his fighters and a lot of people forget that networth is tremendously more valuable than liquid capital. However, if Dana wants the UFC to stay on top he's gonna have to lead the industry in fighter rewards too.