The Coronavirus pandemic has disrupted sporting activities all over the world. Organizations have taken financial hits and are resorting to furloughing staff and asking players to take pay cuts. However, that is not the case at the UFC. Dana White clarifies this and a host of other things in a chat with Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole.
“Will take care of my people”– Dana White
He revealed the company was exploring how to compensate fighters who missed out at the canceled Fight Nights and UFC 249 on April 18. He also said there will be no layoffs and promises to take care of every single UFC employee be it a fighter or an office employee.
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“No layoffs at UFC. None of my people will be laid off not happening. People who missed their fights we’re working out a whole deal for those guys. All the people who are with me are with me and I will always take care of my people. We’re not doing stimulus checks. We’ll be back up and running. When you’re with the UFC you’re moving forward. Whether you work at the office or you fight.”
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White also fired back at his haters, “People like to talk s**t. People think they know me. They don’t know anything about me. Let me tell you what. You find out who the real people are when s**t goes bad. Everybody’s great when everything’s good everybody’s making money. You make promises to people when everything is good. You find out who the real people are when things go wrong in your life personally or with pandemics or whatever.”
The UFC President also took a shot at the media with whom he has been at loggerheads since mid-march.
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“A lot of the media were going crazy with me pulling that fight last weekend. Now, a lot of the media are gonna start getting laid off pretty soon.”
White calls this “just the beginning.” UFC will return on May 9 with UFC 249 from Jacksonville, Florida. The fight card will see Tony Ferguson fight Justin Gaethje for the Interim Lightweight Championship and Henry Cejudo will defend his Bantamweight Championship against the returning Dominick Cruz.