Following Tim Kennedy’s complaints last week about UFC fighter salaries, Dana White has responded by suggesting that the company may alter their current payment structure and do away with their fighter bonus system.
“You don’t like the structure? All right, we’ll pay the lower-level guys more money – no more f–king bonuses,” Dana White told MMAJunkie. “You guys come in, you negotiate your contracts, and we do away with all bonuses. That’s what I’m thinking about doing.”
“The bonuses are something we’ve been doing out of the kindness of our f*cking heart,” White continued. “It was something we liked to do. Apparently, people don’t like it. They want the lower-level guys to get paid more money.”
This seems more like a threat than anything to me – attempting to call the fighters bluff by appearing to be giving into their demands, but doing so by hitting them in their own pockets.
In reality it’s not in the UFC’s best interests to drop their bonus system as it’s an added incentive for fighters to perform well and produce the kind of exciting fights and finishes that they need to entertain the fans.
