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Fighter pay is always a highly touchy subject in the UFC, and if President Dana White is ever quizzed about it, it’s likely whoever asks the question will get either a snarky response or an angry one.
The UFC claims that it pays its fighters well, and that might be the case to an extent, but it hasn’t stopped some champions from clashing with Dana White over the size of their slice of the pie.
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So while the likes of Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey have seemingly been happy with the cheques that the UFC have cashed for them, we’ve also seen multiple UFC champions and legends get into major spats with the promotion – even walking away at points.
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Without further ado then, here are five UFC champions who clashed with Dana White over their pay:
#5. Francis Ngannou – UFC heavyweight champion
Right now, the most noteworthy clash between UFC President Dana White and one of his champions over fighter pay involves reigning UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. It’s a bad situation that will hopefully iron itself out soon.
Prior to winning the UFC heavyweight title from Stipe Miocic at UFC 260, Ngannou seemed relatively happy with his treatment from the UFC. 2020 even saw ‘The Predator’ ask the UFC to make his fight with Jairzinho Rozenstruik into an interim title fight due to his frustrations with then-champion Miocic’s lack of activity.
However, since winning the title, Ngannou – who made a disclosed $730k for his victory over Miocic – has not been back to defend his title.
And while White hasn’t seemed all that fussed about this – choosing to book an interim title bout between Derrick Lewis and Ciryl Gane at UFC 265 – it’s painfully clear that Ngannou’s problem surrounds his pay or lack thereof.
‘The Predator’ took to Twitter to display his anger at YouTube star Logan Paul somehow making $20m for his boxing exhibition against Floyd Mayweather, asking, “what are we doing wrong?”
And since then, he’s also questioned the UFC’s traditional pay model, which sees fighters paid a certain amount to take a fight, and then a further amount should they win. Ngannou suggested this method of pay was robbing fighters.
While we don’t know what Ngannou is demanding of the UFC when it comes to his pay, it’s pretty clear by now that to entice ‘The Predator’ back into the octagon, White will clearly have to loosen his purse strings a little more.
#4. Jon Jones – Former UFC light-heavyweight champion
Jon Jones first won the UFC light heavyweight title back in 2011, and over the decade that's followed, he's become not only one of the all-time greats in MMA but has also been a go-to fighter for the UFC.
If anything, the UFC has probably had more of a right to become frustrated with 'Bones' in that time rather than the other way around.
Jones has found himself in hot water on numerous occasions thanks to his run-ins with USADA, and in 2012, was in Dana White's bad book after refusing a last-minute fight at UFC 151, resulting in the show's cancellation.
However, in recent years, Jones has been at loggerheads with White over his pay and exactly what he's worth to the UFC.
After his successful title defense against Dominick Reyes at UFC 247, Jones made his intentions to move to heavyweight and look to win his second UFC title clear. And for a time, it looked like a debut fight in the division against Francis Ngannou would be booked.
However, Jones reportedly balked when it became clear that the UFC was not willing to up his pay for the potential clash with 'The Predator.'
According to White, Jones was demanding "Deontay Wilder money" – somewhere in the ballpark of $30m – for the fight, a figure the UFC wasn't willing to match.
In response, Jones labeled White a liar and then demanded to be released from his UFC contract – something that has, of course, not come to pass.
Whether cooler heads will prevail in this situation remains a question mark right now, but hopefully, Jones and White can find common ground – and the UFC can match a figure in the right ballpark – to bring this brilliant fighter back into the fold.
#3. BJ Penn – former UFC lightweight & welterweight champion
Former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion BJ Penn was every bit the company man in his second stint with the promotion, which lasted from 2006 through 2019.
Credited by Dana White as being “the man who built the 155lbs division,” Penn was a two-time Ultimate Fighter coach and was entered into the UFC’s Hall of Fame in 2015. Despite this, it’s fair to say that his first run with the promotion ended about as acrimoniously as possible.
Penn defeated Matt Hughes for the UFC welterweight title at UFC 46 in 2004, but the bout happened to be the final one on his contract. And according to ‘The Prodigy,’ he was then offered $187.5k per fight by Japanese promotion K-1 – around five times the amount the UFC was offering him on a new deal.
Penn claims he was willing to stay with the UFC for one-third of the amount offered by K-1, but such an offer never came – and so when he decided to sign with the Japanese promotion, White was apoplectic.
According to Penn, White made an angry phone call to him, telling him that he’d never be welcomed back in the UFC and that the promotion would even remove his fight with Hughes from the DVD version of UFC 46.
‘The Prodigy’ eventually returned to the UFC two years after his departure, and the relationship between himself and White was seemingly repaired from then on. However, he remains a major example of a UFC champion who clashed with the UFC President when it came to fighter pay.
#2. Jens Pulver – former UFC lightweight champion
The UFC’s inaugural lightweight champion, Jens Pulver, won his title back in 2001 by defeating Caol Uno and defended it successfully on two occasions. A bonafide legend, why ‘Lil Evil’ is not part of the UFC Hall of Fame is a question mark.
However, one explanation could be the spat he had with UFC President Dana White that resulted in his initial departure from the promotion in 2002.
According to a lengthy interview with his manager Monte Cox, Pulver wasn’t exactly the highest-paid fighter during his first tenure with the UFC. ‘Lil Evil’ had signed a deal with the promotion before they made it onto pay-per-view, and according to Cox, his contract’s base pay guaranteed him less than $10k per fight.
Worse still, Pulver’s opponents were apparently all making more money than him, despite ‘Lil Evil’ being the titleholder in the UFC lightweight division.
And so when Pulver reached the end of his contract, Cox avoided any contact with the promotion, allowing an extension clause to expire. Then, when the UFC contacted him about Pulver’s next title defense, Cox immediately demanded a new contract.
The UFC then refused – and when they found out that the extension clause was no longer active, White was reportedly livid, warning Pulver and his manager that they’d never do business in the sport again.
Pulver subsequently relinquished the UFC lightweight title and headed to Japan – and didn’t return until 2006. Essentially, both parties lost out here, as the UFC lost the best lightweight in the sport, and while Pulver made more money elsewhere, his profile never became as big as it could’ve been had the UFC been willing to pay him a little more.
#1. Tito Ortiz – former UFC light heavyweight champion
Perhaps the greatest example of a UFC champion who clashed with Dana White over his paycheck remains former UFC light heavyweight kingpin Tito Ortiz.
When Zuffa bought the UFC in 2001 – installing White as its President in the process – Ortiz was undoubtedly the promotion’s poster boy. ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ was already considered one of the most dominant fighters in the sport, having held the UFC light heavyweight title for a while, but he was also one of the most charismatic.
To add to that, White had previously acted as Ortiz’s manager during his negotiations with the UFC’s previous owners. If anything, it seemed like a relationship made in heaven.
But despite Ortiz being pushed heavily by the UFC’s new owners, the relationship quickly turned sour. Ortiz made three successful title defenses under the Zuffa banner, but when it came to the fourth – a clash with former training partner Chuck Liddell – ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ balked.
He demanded more money than the UFC were willing to offer to fight his former friend and quickly ended up on the outs with the promotion, to the point that they made a fight between Liddell and Randy Couture to crown an interim champion instead.
And despite eventually returning to the fold – and fighting Liddell – the relationship between Ortiz and White never truly recovered, with further spats over money taking place in the years that followed and a boxing match between the two even planned at one point.
The years don’t seem to have mellowed Ortiz when it comes to the subject of fighter pay, either. While he’s reportedly buried the hatchet with White at this point, 2018 saw him state that his first fight with Liddell saw both men paid $150k – while the UFC made around $40m.
