There are a lot of reasons why Dana White loves the way the UFC stacks up against every other major sport across the globe, but he’s particularly happy when it comes to equality among the athletes.
While there’s been endless debates about pay for men versus women across sports, particularly in the wake of the explosion in popularity for Caitlin Clark, who earned just over $76,000 for her rookie season in the WNBA, White is happy that these are problems the UFC solved long ago. While there was a time where White famously declared women would never fight in the UFC, he’s long since changed his mind as the promotion now touts three female-led divisions and a trio of champions representing various countries from around the globe.
The women’s revolution in the UFC all started with Ronda Rousey, who White still praises to this day and uses as the perfect example about how women can draw just as much if not more money than their male counterparts.
“The women make just as much money as the men do,” White said when speaking to the Straight Talk podcast. “When you look at the UFC, it’s very real and very fair.
“The WNBA in the United States right now, tennis, golf, all these other things, when Ronda Rousey was here, Ronda Rousey made more money than everybody until Conor McGregor hit the scene. She was the highest paid athlete in the company because she brought in the most money.”
Rousey’s star power was undeniable, but the women’s divisions have continued to flourish long after she retired from the sport.
Saturday’s UFC 312 event from Australia features a co-main event in the women’s strawweight division as champion Zhang Weili takes on Tatiana Suarez.
In addition to his statements regarding equality in the UFC, White also touted that he always allows the athletes to be themselves inside and outside the octagon — no matter what anybody says.
That attitude led to White verbally lambasting Bryce Mitchell just days ago after the UFC featherweight produced a podcast where he called Adolf Hitler a “good guy” and denied the Holocaust. As much as White hates what Mitchell said, he continues to champion allowing his athletes the right to say it.
“We don’t tell anybody what to say, what not to say, what to do,” White said. “They all have their own personalities. Whoever you are, that’s what I’m selling. Wherever you come from, that’s what I’m selling.”
Fighters all have different personalities, but it’s undeniable that vast majority of the biggest stars ever produced by the UFC have all shared some sort of magnetism with fans outside of what they do in the cage.
That’s how superstars like McGregor and Rousey became household names, but White promises that as much as he loves when a new superstar comes along in the UFC, he never centers his focus on any kind of promotional bluster to earn headlines.
Instead, White insists it always comes down to signing and promoting the best fighters in the world and the rest eventually works itself out.
“Skills,” White said about what matters most to him about UFC fighters. “You can be a deaf mute. If you’re a bad ass, that’s what I’m interested in. I’m interested in how good are you at fighting.
“If you have a personality like Conor and Ronda and all these others, it’s a home-run. It doesn’t suck.”
