Dana White was a guest on AXS TV’s Inside MMA tonight and had a lot of interesting things to say about fighter pay, PED’s in MMA and Scott Coker as the new Bellator CEO.
Jose Aldo had recently made some public complaints about his pay, which White addressed on the show by stating that fighters in the lower weight classes often make less than the heavier fighters as that is simply who attracts the bigger crowds, stating that champions are PPV partners with the UFC and their pay depends on how much they can sell.
“Yeah, they don’t sell as much as the bigger guys and a guy like Jose Aldo has the talent and the ability to be a big star,” White said. “It’s up to a guy like Jose Aldo to make people care and want to watch your fights.”
On Scott Coker replacing Bjorn Rebney as Bellator CEO, White was fairly complimentary of the former CEO head and took one last shot at Rebney. “It’s a much better fit than Bjorn was,” White claimed after pointing out that he knows both Coker and the men in charge at Spike TV.
In other topics covered, White stressed that he feels Wanderlei Silva will be punished heavily for his running from a drug test, stated that MMA has no PED problem and talked about how he puts on fights fans want to see and brought up Top Rank, Golden Boy Promotions and Mayweather Promotions’ inability to make Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather.