Dana White has walked a very fine line this year. On one hand, the UFC broke some iconic barriers—think, the Las Vegas Sphere fight night, producing the highest gate in UFC and Sphere history, with $22 million in ticket sales revenue. But there was also a $375 million-worth blotch on their resume that’s not going away anytime soon. And that’s exactly what former Middleweight Champion, and Hall of Famer Rich Franklin dived into, providing very interesting details, on December 17. But before we get to that part…

To give you some context about what went down: Exactly a decade ago, the UFC got entangled in one of the biggest controversies in the combat world. The allegations were serious: The original plantiffs, Cung Le, Nathan Quarry, Jon Fitch, Brandon Vera, Javier Vazquez, and Kyle Kingsbury, accused the promotion of low-balling fighters by using their market power. Zuffa (the UFC’s parent company back then) reportedly put contracts in “restrictive long-term contracts” and suppressed wages. But only if this was all to the damning brutality of their business model…

On December 1 last year, some emails surfaced on X, after Zuffa kept defending itself against the allegations. The content in those emails? Well, this is what one of them said: “Rogerio Nogueira has flat out refused to fight Daniel Cormier. He says he wants someone easier after his layoff. He was jumping up and down to fight Rich Franklin! Would love to cut him but he would just end up fighting Rampage [Quinton Jackson] in Bellator.” 

And then there was another exchange about on Jon Jones where Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of UFC Lawrence Epstein wrote to Dana White, “We need to send him [Jones] a letter formally offering the Gustafsson fight and giving him a specific deadline to accept or reject. When he says no we need to extend him.” And when Nate Diaz’s name popped up, the directive was plain and simple.

“I lowballed them on purpose the first offer knowing they would turn it down. How about I come back with 29+29, 32+32, 38+38. If they turn it down I put him in a prelim against a really tough guy for his last fight.” And now Franklin is here with quite some complaints and demands!

On the MightyCast podcast with former MMA fighter Demetrious Johnson, the host asked him, “What are your thoughts on the UFC lawsuit, because you’re right in that time frame?”

To this, the HoF replied, “Here’s what I would have liked to have seen out of this whole thing. I don’t know enough about the emails that were released and how much was going on. Clearly the athletes were at disadvantage. They were the only organization…you didn’t have any negotiating ability because there was no competition. If you went to an organization and, this is not me talking trash…If you went to the UFC and said, ‘Here’s what I want to make’. And they’re like, ‘No, this is what we’re going to pay you.’ Then you’re like, ‘No, I’m gonna go…[thinking]…never mind I’ll go ahead and sign this contract because it’s my only option’.”

“And so that’s the way things were. There were no competing organizations at the time at the top level. And so a business is not in the business of giving out money, right? It’s your job to get what you’re due, get what you’re worth. And so I would have never complained if the UFC would have added another decimal place or two, for that matter, to my paycheck. I wouldn’t have been like, ‘You don’t need to do that’.” But that’s not all! The 50-year-old also raised some very points that many fighters would surely agree with.

“It would have been nice to be able to truly retire and have enough money to be like, ‘I am set’. But that wasn’t the nature of the industry at that time either. I made way better money than I ever would have made as a math teacher. I always keep this in mind. What I wish…that they would have had at that time: A pension plan where…whatever you put into a retirement, they [UFC] will match a percentage or whatever.”

And the other thing is Lifetime Healthcare…I gave almost 10 years to the organization. So for me to have healthcare for the rest of my life is not really a big ask. I could care less about this check that’s coming, whatever amount of money, I’m going to get because my fights…would’ve gotten me that at the time. Like I could care less about that. If I’m getting a $50,000, $100,000 check…I can always make more money, but it’s good to have premium healthcare.”

“To know that I’m taken care of for the rest of my life. Because I put my body on the line for somebody else. That’s what I would have wanted and that’s my takeway from this whole thing. I think, in the end, it’s nice that some fighters are going to get bigger checks than other fighters. And great! Kudos to them! But you know, when you’re sitting there in your 60s and 70s, and things are really starting to break down because you put your body on the line for something like this, you’re going to start thinking, ‘Like, you know, this probably would have been a good thing’.” 

“And I mean…other organizations, like other sports, like the NFL…if you’ve been so many years in the league, you get healthcare for the rest of your life. And it’s good premium healthcare. Healthcare is not cheap, so…I wish that there would have been a retirement pension fund and some healthcare.”

As things currently stand, UFC fighters do not receive any sort of retirement compensation—a source of clear discomfort among them. Notably, there was some relief from the California administration last year when they passed a bill: The first-of-its-kind retirement fund for MMA fighters. As per a press release by California State Athletic Commission on October 9 last year, “Beginning in 2024, MMA fighters that fought in at least 39 scheduled rounds in a CSAC-sanctioned professional mixed martial art contest held in the state would be entitled to distribution of the funds when they are at least 50 years of age, with exceptions. Funding for the MMA retirement fund will be generated through multiple sources, including assessments on ticket sales.”

Dana White is yet to talk about the development, or even address about the retirement fund issue that has started to crop up in recent times.

Now, speaking about the emails that Franklin mentioned earlier in the conversation, it seems Franklin will have no benefits no matter how much money White has to shell out. As per a hilarious confession, he listed out the silliest of reasons, stating, “You know what? I didn’t turn my paperwork in on time. I’m bad about that stuff, so yeah, I didn’t get my paperwork in. I’m not gonna have a check.” Well, talk about being forgetful.

Meanwhile, let’s check what happened in the lawsuit and how the promotion came to a settlement.

Dana White & Co. came to a $375M settlement with more than 1200 fighters

Dana White can finally close the case after a decade of battling with former fighters in the promotion. The promotion agreed to pay $375 million in damage- an increase from the initial $335 million. This agreement is a part of the two ‘Anti-Trust’ lawsuits that have been filed by the fighters against the promotion.

Now, Dana White as well as the top dog of TKO published a statement that said, “We have reached a revised agreement with Plaintiffs to settle the Le case with terms that we believe address Judge Boulware’s stated concerns.” The statement further counted, “While we believe the original settlement was fair — a sentiment that was also shared by Plaintiffs — we feel it is in the best interest of all parties to bring this litigation to a close. As for the Johnson case, that process is in very early stages, and a motion to dismiss the complaint remains pending.”

However, the tides have not subsided yet because a second lawsuit is still hanging in the air. What is your take on UFC’s process of payouts? Share your thoughts in the comments below.