Dana White says UFC fighters hide pay to avoid giving ‘handouts’

UFC fighters‘ pay — or lack thereof — has been a recent hot-button topic.

It is widely estimated that fighters are given a smaller share of the organization’s revenue compared to athletes in other leagues and fighting promotions.

There is also much speculation that despite astronomical growth in recent years, fighters’ pay has not scaled along with it.

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UFC president Dana White in attendance during UFC 300 at T-Mobile Arena.  (Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports)

UFC president Dana White admitted that fighters “don’t want” fans to know “what they got paid,” but not because they don’t make enough.

Rather, White believes they don’t want to give “handouts” when people find out how much they actually make.

“There’s no gag order on any of these fighters. They could all sit down and do full interviews on how much they make and what they were paid …” White told Vegas PBS. “When people find out what you made, it makes life a lot tougher. There are a lot of people sitting around looking for handouts when they find out you made millions of dollars.”

Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White speaks on stage on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 18, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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White’s net worth is an estimated $500 million, and the UFC recently just scored a nearly-$8 billion deal with Paramount.

In 2014, former UFC fighters filed a suit in Las Vegas federal court, seeking class-action status, accusing the company of using “an anticompetitive scheme of long-term exclusive fighter contracts, coercion, and acquisitions of rival MMA promoters to establish and maintain dominance in the MMA industry and suppress fighter compensation,” according to a Forbes report on developments in the suit.

Dana White and his wife Anne arrive at the Rotunda in January 2025. (RICKY CARIOTI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

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That suit resulted in a $375 million settlement last year.

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