Dana White Dragged By MMA Community After Giving YouTuber $250k Gift

UFC fighters often criticize the promotion for what they see as an unfair pay scale. While the company rakes in tens of millions of dollars in revenue, those who do the hard work frequently see paydays that don’t reflect who the real stars are. After a recent kind gesture by UFC boss Dana White, the UFC community took offense.

White recently gifted YouTuber Kyle Foregeard $250,000 in cash for his birthday. Fighters, analysts, and others within the MMA world took umbrage with the act. Many were extremely unhappy with the public gift, as a lot of UFC fighters are paid less than that to put their bodies on the line in the Octagon.

Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting tweeted (in Portuguese, with a translation via Twitter) that with no benefits and zero additional sources of income, UFC fighters are right to be upset about the scene. Luke Thomas of CBS Sports said that the promotion runs a con where they convince fans that the fighters are the least responsible for the brand’s success.

“One of the biggest victories the UFC has achieved is convincing a massive swathe of fans that the people who are central to the very existence of the product – the fighters – are somehow the least responsible for the product’s success. In that view, the fighters are akin to assembly line workers who are marginally relevant, which is why you see hostility to their entreaties for more money.”

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MMA insider John Nash noted that fighters should be proud that they were able to finance the gift. You can check out more of the MMA community’s reaction to Dana White’s gift, as well as the original video below. It doesn’t seem like the ongoing drama over UFC fighter pay will be ending any time soon.

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