UFC's Dana White Clarifies Comments About Fighter Raises from Viral Video

UFC President Dana White recently came under fire for his comments about fighter pay, but he made an attempt to clarify his stance Tuesday.

In a video published by GQ last Thursday, White indicated that he isn't planning on raising fighter pay anytime soon, declaring, "these guys get paid what they're supposed to get paid."

White recently spoke with Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports and he explained what he was really trying to convey with his comments.

"Fighter pay has gone through the roof since the sale in 2016," White said. "Fighter pay continues to go like this [pointing upward]. Yes. Do you think I'm going to sit here and say, 'Fighter pay will never go up while I'm here.' That's the dumbest f--king thing I've ever heard. And do you know how stupid you have to be to think that's what I said in that interview when I was talking about boxing?"

White was referring to his belief that the pay scale in boxing has skewed how fighters believe they should be paid. He said the sport of boxing is suffering because of the amount of money being doled out to the highest-drawing boxers.

"Fighters always want to make more money," White told GQ. "Boxing has absolutely been destroyed because of money and all the things that go on, It's never gonna happen while I'm here."

White is currently in the midst of an ongoing antitrust lawsuit brought against the promotion by some former fighters. The lawsuit says that UFC pays its fighters only 20 percent of its revenue, far lower than any other major sports organization. However, other leagues are unionized, while many attempts to unionize UFC fighters have failed in the past.