Dana White has heard Sean Strickland’s complaints about money. He just isn’t losing sleep over them.
Talking to reporters after the final episode of Contender Series, the UFC CEO waved off the middleweight champion’s latest round of shots at the promotion, MMA Fighting reported. White said he hadn’t spoken to Strickland directly and had only caught the complaints “through social media and stuff.”
Then came the line that’ll be printed on a shirt by Friday. “But when isn’t Sean Strickland upset about something or doesn’t have something to say?”
White’s main rebuttal was the calendar. Strickland signed a new UFC contract in May, and White went back to that point again and again, guessing out loud whether it was four months ago or five. He also went after the money Strickland has been talking about. “The number that he claimed he made is not true,” White said.
That part gets a little murky. According to MMA Fighting, Strickland never gave an exact figure for his pay. What he did say was that he earned “a fraction” of what Conor McGregor made at UFC 329, a purse reportedly worth $30 million. So White is knocking down a number that hasn’t been made public, at least not in anything the champ has said on the record.
How we got here
Strickland unloaded a list of grievances against the UFC last week, most of it about pay. He was frustrated with negotiations for a proposed title defense against Nassourdine Imavov and said he wouldn’t defend the belt until things got sorted out. He went further than that, too, threatening to vacate the title and fight out his contract so he could hit free agency.
He hasn’t let up since. Strickland has kept taking swings at the UFC over fighter pay and the way the company negotiates. He’s also said he wants to try boxing and offered himself up for Zuffa Boxing, which White has no interest in.
White’s read is that none of this has a good reason behind it. “It is what it is,” he said, before going back to the same point one more time: “he just signed a contract in May. He got a whole new deal in May.”
May was a big month for Strickland. Along with the new contract, he fought at UFC 328 and took a split decision over Khamzat Chimaev to win back the middleweight title. That’s a guy coming off the biggest win of his career, with the most leverage he’s ever going to have, and he’s spending it on a public fight with his boss.
My take: White has a fair point about the timing, since it’s tough to cry poverty over a deal you signed in the spring. But Strickland is the guy who answers every question straight, and that’s exactly why people listen when he talks about pay. The weak card in his hand is the vacate threat. Giving up a belt he just pried off Chimaev, then sitting out a contract to maybe box someday, hurts Strickland a lot more than it hurts the UFC. Meanwhile, Imavov is still waiting on a title shot that nobody has put a date on.
