Dana White’s latest project, the Power Slap League, reached the end of its first season last night. The show has stirred up controversy within the MMA community, as some believe that the slap-fighting league is glorifying traumatic brain injuries.
But during the post-event press conference for the league’s season finale, White compared the current stage of the show to the early days of the UFC. Dana White stated that the Power Slap League was changing the lives of its contestants financially:
“First of all, these are all grown men and women who make their own decisions on wanting to compete in this sport. Number two, these guys are changing their families’ lives. Some of these guys… yeah, [they’re] gonna walk out of here with $45,000… Some of these guys probably don’t make $45,000 a year, they made it in one night. You know what used to drive Lorenzo Fertitta crazy when we first started the UFC? Everybody who competed here had jobs. So they would have to train, and go back to work. That’s how things start.”
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Dana White seems to believe that the Power Slap League has the potential to grow into a global spectacle in a similar fashion to the UFC. White has compared the current stage of the slap-fighting league to the early years of the MMA promotion on several occasions.
Dana White claims he pays UFC fighters more than the amount in their contracts
Fighter pay within the UFC has been a contentious issue for several years. Critics of the promotion’s pay structure believe that the fighters do not receive enough of the revenue that they earn for the company.
High-profile names such as Paulo Costa and Luke Rockhold have criticized the promotion in the past. ‘Borrachinha’ even claimed that he was was set to earn $60,000 for his scheduled bout with Robert Whittaker in January. Costa eventually withdrew from the fight due to negotiation issues.
However, on a recent episode of Bussin’ with the Boys, Dana White claimed that UFC fighters are paid more than they are contractually meant to earn:
“All these guys that I do deals with, they sign contracts. And this is a fact, not only do I pay them what they’re contracted to make, I actually pay them more than they’re contracted to make.”
Watch the video below:
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