Top Rank CEO Bob Arum has reignited his war of words with UFC head honcho Dana White by insisting the MMA promoter’s fighters “don’t get paid anything”. In conversation with fellow Hall of Fame promoter Frank Warren, Arum said of the UFC talent: “they fight where he tells them to fight. He sets the purses, and if they don’t like it he goes somewhere else.”
“We promote in a very competitive arena… the fighters are able to capitalize on that and get purses that are much, much bigger than the amounts the UFC guys get because they have a monopoly.”
The latest in the Arum-White back-and-forth comes just days after Dana declared to Frank Warren’s Heavyweight Podcast that boxing was a “sh*tshow” and it was “hard to articulate how messed up it was.”
88-year-old Arum came to the defense of the sport and it’s athletes though and said, “our participants are paid like the independent stars that they are.”
Arum is no stranger to going after his MMA counterpart and in a recent interview with CBS said that Dana “should be ashamed of himself” for trying to promote fights during the Coronavirus crisis, finishing by calling White “somebody with a flawed intelligence.”
Both Top Rank and Queensberry Promotions have postponed shows in response to the current public health emergency, with Queensberry’s Dubois vs Joyce event tentatively pushed back from April to July 11th.
Arum told the podcast that to be safe he has ordered his staff “don’t make plans… we don’t know how long this thing could last.”
In a wide-ranging chat with Frank and Adam Catterall, Arum spoke at great lengths about his conversion from lawyer to boxing promoter in the mid-1960’s, his association with Muhammad Ali and even his current efforts to grow a beard.
Episode 8 with Bob Arum follows recent high profile episodes with guests such as Dana White, Ricky Hatton, Tyson Fury and even former speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow!
I’m no fan of Bob Arum he’s done some shady business in the past. With that said, he is completely correct here. White is a crooked person who grossly underpays the fighters assigned to him.
I agree with Arum. This is where McGregor comes in, he’s the fighter who started getting the MMA guys paychecks. Ali, did the same in his time pay in boxing was crap until Ali. A multi-millionaire needs to start signing the champs in all UFC weight classes and they would succeed. Problem is it could takes years until they could be bought out of their contracts.
Major problem though is how MMA and boxing are promoted. UFC built their brand, and if you want to rise to the top of that sport, you need to be in the UFC. People can knock Dana all they want, but he’s built a great and profitable organization. And he makes the big fights, which is something boxing has struggled to do with the bazillion sanctioning bodies and promoters. UFC will ultimately be able to pay more as time goes on, and still get the big fights made. That’s the best thing about building the brand before leveraging it to the hilt by paying more than can be afforded.
Both make a valid point except Dana’s in position to give the fans the fights they wanna see. In Boxing, we are lucky to see the best fight the best. Corruption, PED, tampered gloves are an issue at the highest levels in Boxing. Hard to defend at this point. MMA fighters get paid less but the fans are happy and usually have fights to get excited about nearly every weekend.
NJ, you make some valid points. I recall in the 1993 when the first few UFCs were being debuted, the one-fighter-takes-all trophy was only like a mere $50,000 and these guys fought multiple fights in one night. I must admit, UFC was the berries back then to watch and fighting was not about money, it was about pride. Kinda sad today money and seeing who can take a bigger leak on somebody else’s fire hydrant by promoters limits seeing the best fights out there.
MMA fighters get caught with PED’s too more often so what you talking about? Lucky see the best fights in boxing? You just literally be a casual. Just read articles and STFU please
Arum is right and the ufc should be paying fighters what they draw independently
Nit a fan of Arum BUT he is sticking up for our sport.Look, this is easy. Dana White is talking mad crap about boxing, then he shld jus stay away from Boxing. Boxing doesnt need him NOR his greedy/petty half skilled lil fighters. They can stay in the UFC where indeed they are superstars and not enter boxing where they r nothing more than half a stars at that.
Arum is right. white ruined MMA! Pays shit!! Thats why u get Nobody kids fighting Mostly. He aint paying shit.
True, but let’s not forget, all MMA fighters agreed to get paid what they make by signing a contract before a fight. Makes a person wonder if all the MMA fighters would have a strike and White is shut down, he may give in and cough up more cash?
Ur right scoobs BUT Dana would jus bring up the next fighters n “give them a shot” and prob jus fire the ones who went on strike. Thats jus how it is with that guy. Look what he did to cyborg.. dana wins cuz hes a one man show unfortunately.
Its apples and oranges. There are great things about both. I like how the UFC really has a single promoter so the best matches can be made. No five or more champions per weight class. Also if a fighter isnt willing to fight the UFC just moves forward without him. We have lost so many great boxing matches because we have too many promoters and boxers who dont have to fight the best to be the best. They can just capture one of the many titles and claim to be the guy and not face the top fighters.
We need the big boxing players to promote MMA.MMA fighter’s deserve so much more. They are getting soooo ripped off it’s not even funny. Boxing promoter aren’t angels themselves but dam Dana pays them peanuts and pockets 80%.