UFC President Dana White knows MMA can be an unforgiving sport but it can also be rewarding.
Fighter pay has been a hot topic in MMA for quite a while and it’s something Dana White has touched on many times. Recently, Cheyanne Buys became the talk of the sport following her first-round finish over Gloria de Paula. When Buys was informed that she earned a $50,000 “Fight of the Night” bonus, she fell to her knees and cried tears of joy.
Buys told reporters after the fight that she was struggling financially and that the bonus would help tremendously.
“I just found out two seconds ago I got Performance of the night, so yeah, it’s pretty surreal. Seven weeks ago, I decided to make a big risk and ditch my house and everything in it in Dallas, Texas. And I came here with my animals, and my husband, and we have one vehicle…we packed up our car with one suitcase, we came here, we didn’t have a house, we had nothing. I had to get a loan just to get a house.
“And I knew coming in here tonight that my whole paycheck was just gonna go back to that loan. And I took a big risk to get a big reward, and I can’t thank my team, my husband, my family…because they were the ones that said, ‘Listen, you’re gonna have to go broke for a little bit just to get something good out of this. And I knew I had to do it, and, man, I just feel so happy.
“I am negative in my account right now, so it’s gonna make a big difference,” Buys said. “And my whole paycheck, actually, is I have to pay back $15,000 for a loan I got from a few people. So I made $10,000 and $10,000 from my win and show, so that $20,000 was just gone. And I was OK with it. I was OK if I won and that check was gone because I made the move out here, and I know that this fight was just gonna be for the move, but it was the best decision that me and my husband made for our careers.”
When asked by MMAJunkie about the situation with Buys, White said the winners of MMA get big rewards but those who lose often will find themselves in trouble.
“There’s a lot of people that are on their way up that are broke, struggling. She’s on her way up. But I’d say the flipside to that is, she’s 1-1 in the UFC and she’s made, what? 80 grand in the last six months? Listen, this is one of those sports you gotta win. If you win, everything’s good. If you lose, everything’s bad. That’s the nature of this beast.”
Do you think this is a sensible response from Dana White on the subject of fighter pay?
