Dana White on Gegard Mousasi’s fighter pay complaints: He’s not selling out arenas

[Wild]

Like many of his contemporaries nowadays, Gegard Mousasi is greatly dissatisfied with the money he has been getting from the UFC. Last week, he aired out his grievances, pointing out how fighters such as Vitor Belfort, Michael Bisping, Mark Hunt, and even the retired Dan Henderson were getting paid more than him.

Mousasi just fought out the last fight on his contract on Saturday night against Chris Weidman, a win which was marred by controversy. During the post-fight press conference, Dana White gave his reason why the former Strikeforce champion was not making as much as the aforementioned names.

“Dan Henderson has been in the game forever. Mark Hunt has an entire country behind him. When we do fights in…

White on Mousasi’s pay complaints: He isn’t selling out arenas

 

[Ministry of Silly Walks]

fuck that guy

 

[Rambo John J]

 

[HEATH VON DOOM]

Well he isnt wrong

 

[member 603]

Dana you dumb fuck, you're a PROMOTER.... PROMOTE the guy who is knocking out big names better until he's selling out arenas ya dumb bastard.

Or is that how you control your fighters... Keep them all under thumb, and only promote a few heavily.... Keeps your payouts low because "they're not needle movers".

 

[TheOutsiders]

Dana you dumb fuck, you're a PROMOTER.... PROMOTE the guy who is knocking out big names better until he's selling out arenas ya dumb bastard.

Or is that how you control your fighters... Keep them all under thumb, and only promote a few heavily.... Keeps your payouts low because "they're not needle movers".

yeah its kind of wild, ive yet to see a push for mousasi.

 

[Rambo John J]

yeah its kind of wild, ive yet to see a push for mousasi.

Champions from other organizations will not get pushed the same as fighters UFC can call their own.

 

[Onetrickpony]

They have never put him on a headlining card in the Netherlands or Iran so how does he know that he can't sell out an arena in his home country?

 

[La Paix]

They have never put him on a headlining card in the Netherlands or Iran so how does he know that he can't sell out an arena in his home country?

Who at MW is their big star selling out arenas? They were giving Conor the lights out walk ins before his first title fight.

 

[soundoff71]

Dana you dumb fuck, you're a PROMOTER.... PROMOTE the guy who is knocking out big names better until he's selling out arenas ya dumb bastard.

Or is that how you control your fighters... Keep them all under thumb, and only promote a few heavily.... Keeps your payouts low because "they're not needle movers".

Imagine BLAF doing his job rather rather than being a lazy, 3rd-rate reality TV star & making the fighters do his job for him. Conor's & Ronda's don't grow on trees. It takes, like, some work & effort to promote fighters.

 

[member 603]

Who at MW is their big star selling out arenas? They were giving Conor the lights out walk ins before his first title fight.

That's the point, these guys go out and do their jobs.... Moose has been KOing guys and doing his part. Where have you seen the UFC push him as a top guy?

Case in point, Carvallo went out this weekend and had a good fight.... Personally I thought Pearl was a no show in that fight, she never really even attempted to get anything going. Little roughneck Carvallo wins and starts quoting Nate Diaz, next thing you know Dana is saying she's the next Rousey or Conor... Even though you have legitimately 3 or 4 ladies in front of her who are awesome but don't get that comparison (or probably the push she's going to get).

The company chooses who they want to push, the fighters are all starting to try to emulate that shit talking game to get themselves noticed, but now it's become so commonplace it's boring (I'm the money fight, yada yada). MMA comes off looking like a bunch of douchebags who shit talk for attention.

Moose could sell out in the Netherlands, they could try to do a card in the middleeast region (Dubai, Abu Dhabi) and have him headline.... The options are there, but until the company sees it as something they want to do, they keep fighters under thumb and use the "they're not a draw" line to not advance them in title contention or pay them more.

 

[Jdog93]

That's the point, these guys go out and do their jobs.... Moose has been KOing guys and doing his part. Where have you seen the UFC push him as a top guy?

Case in point, Carvallo went out this weekend and had a good fight.... Personally I thought Pearl was a no show in that fight, she never really even attempted to get anything going. Little roughneck Carvallo wins and starts quoting Nate Diaz, next thing you know Dana is saying she's the next Rousey or Conor... Even though you have legitimately 3 or 4 ladies in front of her who are awesome but don't get that comparison (or probably the push she's going to get).

The company chooses who they want to push, the fighters are all starting to try to emulate that shit talking game to get themselves noticed, but now it's become so commonplace it's boring (I'm the money fight, yada yada). MMA comes off looking like a bunch of douchebags who shit talk for attention.

Moose could sell out in the Netherlands, they could try to do a card in the middleeast region (Dubai, Abu Dhabi) and have him headline.... The options are there, but until the company sees it as something they want to do, they keep fighters under thumb and use the "they're not a draw" line to not advance them in title contention or pay them more.

 

[SCADA]

This is the Conor era...aka self promotion. This gives guy like Dana ammunition to pay the fighters less.

 

[Onetrickpony]

I hope he goes to Rizin and makes his money. Then other fighters will see the opportunity for financial gain and follow his lead. We will finally get a worthy successor to Pride.

 

[ConorMcGregor NutHugger]

So UFC is a popularity contest. You can have a 1win out of a hundred but if you sell out crowds (popular)you in good graces? I thought this was a sport, guess its sports entertainment. Maybe call out Mayweather. Seems to work for Rhonda and Conor. At least Rhonda defended the belt once.

 

[ShakaSway]

"Listen, he aint selling out arenas, this guy does not have what McGregor, those interchangeable Brazilians, or Bisping have. He can complain, but I'm saying he is not marketable in this fight business"

"You want him to re-sign"

"Of course, he is a great fighter, I am a big fan of his fights. I'm the one that brought him into this fighting organization"

Dana used Confusion, and must say, was super effective.

 

[TheEmperorRises]

Looking at this list, Mousasi is the fighter you should be trying to keep more than any other. Bisping, Romero, Jacare, Silva, and Vitor are all in their late 30's or early 40's. Weidman is on a 3 fight losing streak and Rockhold is gonna go be a model. Mousasi is entering his prime and he's only 31 years old. If they let him go to Bellator, they'll regret it.

 

[SuperPig]

They have never put him on a headlining card in the Netherlands or Iran so how does he know that he can't sell out an arena in his home country?

The closest would have been his debut in the UFC which was in Sweden. Sold out in a few hours but I'm sure most of that is credited to Gustafsson.

It was also Conor's debut in the UFC.


*Edited to add*

This was also the fight that Gus was pulled late due to a cut and Ilir Latifi stepped in on short notice. But it wasn't sold based on that fight so any numbers were based on Gus/Moose.

 

[SuperPig]

Looking at this list, Mousasi is the fighter you should be trying to keep more than any other. Bisping, Romero, Jacare, Silva, and Vitor are all in their late 30's or early 40's. Weidman is on a 3 fight losing streak and Rockhold is gonna go be a model. Mousasi is entering his prime and he's only 31 years old. If they let him go to Bellator, they'll regret it.

I agree.

Moose, Whittaker, and Brunson are definitely the youth in the division.

The only downfall to Mousasi at this point, since he's finally vocal and showing his real personality, is that he has had 50 MMA fights already on top of his kickboxing fights and you never know when his chin is going to give up.

Otherwise, he has the skills to be a champ.

 

[Qat]

The closest would have been his debut in the UFC which was in Sweden. Sold out in a few hours but I'm sure most of that is credited to Gustafsson.

It was also Conor's debut in the UFC.

Mousasi headlined a FN in Berlin vs. Munoz, which did fine. But the UFC is doing a terrible job of promoting here all in all, including how to actually see events.., for the most part at least.
I doubt most people would even know he is from around the corner more or less.
Alistair would certainly draw better though, not gonna lie.
(and K1 is prolly still promoted better here than the UFC!)

 

[sparkuri]

Thank you @Rhino , for spitting truth and keeping me from having to blow a blood vessel or two.

 

[SuperPig]

Ariel reported today that Jacare's last fight on his contract is this one against Whittaker. Holy crap. Jacare and Moose both on the free market? That's big.

 

[Joemacka]

Looking at this list, Mousasi is the fighter you should be trying to keep more than any other. Bisping, Romero, Jacare, Silva, and Vitor are all in their late 30's or early 40's. Weidman is on a 3 fight losing streak and Rockhold is gonna go be a model. Mousasi is entering his prime and he's only 31 years old. If they let him go to Bellator, they'll regret it.

Nah looking at the list Whittaker is the one the ufc should be promoting.

 

[TheEmperorRises]

Nah looking at the list Whittaker is the one the ufc should be promoting.

If they're not promoting Mousasi, they won't promote Whitaker either

 

[member 603]

Thank you @Rhino , for spitting truth and keeping me from having to blow a blood vessel or two.