Dana White appeared on ESPN’s First Take and became aware that he his rhetoric about fighter pay does not resonate with everyone. Former NFLPA President Domonique Foxworth questioned White about the discontent among his fighters and had the last word.
For credibility sake, Foxworth graduated from Harvard Business School and was heavily involved in NFL labor union issues which led to him being unanimously voted as NFLPA President. He went on to become Chief Operating Officer of the NBAPA before becoming a writer for ESPN’s The Undefeated as well as be a TV personality for ESPN.
Clearly, White did not know this.
When discussing the discontent of Jon Jones, Conor McGregor and Jorge Masvidal, White stated that Jones and Masvidal have just executed new deals and are locked in.
For his part, Foxworth attempted to be neutral and while he did not overtly criticize White (in fact, he praised him for keeping his business afloat during this pandemic), he clearly points out the problems White had with the fighter pay.
But he did highlight to White that he’s on the player side of labor unions and called the head of the UFC out on the disparate bargaining leverage that fighters have when entering into contracts with the UFC. He also stated, “I do know the ins and outs of sports labor and I know that when you have a bunch of angry, upset athletes there’s normally a reason why they should be angry and upset, so I was just speaking to that.” White attempted to have the last word by stating that he has 630 fighters under contract and that there were only 2 fighters causing a squawk about pay.
Foxworth quipped, “Right now,” indicating that with the 2 voices, more would join the chorus.
Payout Perspective:
White was not ready to be handed an insightful argument on fighter discontent. Foxworth’s background indicates he knows the issues with player-management negotiations and recognizes sparks that could lead to a blaze of athletes upset over their wages. White relies on the argument that the contracts signed by Masvidal and Jones were inked last year and are still fresh. But, Foxworth points out the actual leverage of negotiating those contracts which infers that the fighters, without a collective bargaining position/union, would be at a disadvantage.
Sean O’Malley stated he wanted to renegotiate his contract after his first round KO on Saturday. Nate Diaz has expressed dissatisfaction with fighter pay on twitter. Certainly, Henry Cejudo and Conor McGregor’s retirements may be attributed to pay as well. So, for White to compartmentalize the issue to just 2 fighters seem to negate the overarching problem. Fighters are not happy with pay. Even without an idea of the industry, Foxworth, who has had to deal with sports leagues at the bargaining table, was able to sniff out the problem immediately and call out White for his attempt to shift the it.
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