Following the promotion’s eighth PPV this year, UFC CEO & President, Dana White said good riddance to the $100,000 bonus levied for outstanding performers. The promotion’s frontman during the post-fight presser divulged his thoughts after the Manchester card saw not one, not two but seven back-to-back lackluster fights ending in decisions.
Venting out his frustration, the 54-year-old remarked that raising the bonuses didn’t matter at all as nobody fought any harder going into their fights.
“I think tonight showed we should not, so upping them doesn’t change anything, it doesn’t make anybody fight any harder, doesn’t change anything. I’m not doing this again. You can thank everyone on this card for that. Nobody fought any harder. There was no sense of urgency. ‘Holy sh*t, I want the $100,000.’ Seven straight f*cking decisions.”
Dana White says he's DONE raising bonuses from $50,000 after #UFC304.
"You can thank everyone on this card for that. Nobody fought any harder. There was no sense of urgency. 'Holy sh*t, I want the $100,000.' . Seven straight f*cking decisions." pic.twitter.com/adnbojGig4
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) July 28, 2024
Earlier, White shook things up when he agreed to double the Fight of the Night bonuses to $100,000 after UFC lightweight King Green made the request.
But after seeing the fighters nonchalantly passing it to the judges for their verdict, resulting in a dull card, White went back on his word despite the Manchester extravaganza bringing in a $6.72 million record gate.
Now, going into the card, many a fan on social media had already predicted this to be a lackluster card with no big names to speak of. Besides, White wouldn’t have to raise bonuses if he just paid his fighters fairly like other MMA organizations continue to do; so as far as motivations to put up interesting fights go, an extra $50k hardly scratches the itch.
Regardless, the UFC is right now focused on expanding its home ground and making it global.
“Gonna be bigger and better”- Dana White on Apex
Following the announcement of the UFC’s Noche card for Mexican Independence Day weekend, White dropped the good news about promotion’s Apex Facility in Enterprise, Nevada getting a massive rejig as the authorities look to completely revamp the venue and go global.
The Apex facility is UFC’s equivalent to a home court, a venue where many of its fights and other shows such as the Contender Series are hosted.
In a recent exclusive to TNT Sports, the promotional head chimed in on the organization’s plans, he said,
“The other thing is we’re actually…the Apex is going under construction here. We’re actually expanding the Apex. It’s gonna be bigger and better. We’re doing like a $25M expansion on the Apex.”
Furthermore, White also revealed that they’d add in more bathrooms and amenities for the fans while increasing the overall seating capacity of the facility.
How this will help put up better fights remains a puzzle but it seems like that increasing the seating capacity at the arena seems to be primary goal.
