Dana White’s generosity toward UFC fighters has been called into question many times, as fighter pay within the promotion continues to cause controversy. However, the same cannot be said about the way White treats his friends.
The UFC president gifted Kyle Forgeard, co-founder of popular YouTube group Nelk Boys, $250,000 for his birthday last year. White has now gifted viral sensation Hasbulla Magomedov a room full of puppies, which can be seen in a video uploaded to Hasbulla’s YouTube channel.
Hasbulla recently partnered with Dana White and the UFC to perform certain promotional activities after he rose to fame via social media and his friendship with Khabib Nurmagomedov and company.
White was joined by Kyle Forgeard to surprise Hasbulla, who appeared elated at the UFC president’s gift.
Hasbulla hails from Dagestan, Russia, the same region as former UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. The viral sensation appears to have built a good relationship with ‘The Eagle’ as well as Islam Makhachev.
Following Makhachev’s victory over Charles Oliveira at UFC 280 to claim the lightweight title, Hasbulla joined the team in the octagon to celebrate.
Hasbulla’s signing with the UFC led fans to speculate that he may be preparing for a fight. But Dana White was quick to confirm that his role within the company would be strictly promotional.
Watch the footage – Dana White surprises Hasbulla with a lovely gesture below:
Dana White states ‘for a fact’ that he pays UFC fighters more than they’re contracted to make
The debate about whether the UFC pays its fighters enough money has been around for close to a decade. With the rise of celebrity boxing matches and influencers such as Jake Paul reportedly making $25 million per fight, the controversy surrounding fighter pay is only growing.
UFC middleweight star Paulo Costa was scheduled to fight Robert Whittaker in the co-main event of UFC 284 in February.
However, the Brazilian withdrew from the bout a month prior to the event. ‘Borrachinha’ claimed that he was still earning the same amount that he received in his first UFC fight. He gave the promotion an ultimatum: improve his contract or he won’t sign a deal to fight anyone.
Costa claimed he would have earned $60,000 for showing up against Whittaker, and another $60,000 if he had won.
But UFC president Dana White has firmly stated that the promotion pays its fighters more than enough. During a recent appearance on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast, White said that the UFC pays fighters more than they are contracted to make:
“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 pay them more than they’re contracted to make.”
Watch the video below:
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