Dana White has been taking criticism from the past, present and future of the UFC over pay disputes and treatment recently.
The argument over UFC fighter pay has been raging on for many years with fighters young and old coming out of the woodwork to share their thoughts and experiences working with the promotion.
Recently, middleweight legend Anderson Silva spoke up about his time with the UFC and criticized the promotion and Dana White specifically for not respecting fighters by making it difficult for them to earn money outside of the promotion.
“UFC doesn’t respect the legacy that fighters have,” said Silva in an interview with Sportsnaut. “They try to use you and kick you out, and when you’re out, they try to destroy your career [so] you don’t fight anywhere. This happened [to] a lot of fighters. People don’t think about that.”
“When I was done in UFC, everybody — especially Dana White — said, ‘Oh, Anderson can’t fight anymore. Nobody in the same age [group] with Anderson can fight, it’s terrible,’ and blah, blah, blah. And talking a lot of sh*t about me,” Silva said.
“I’ve Never Talked Bad About Anderson Silva”
Dana White had the opportunity to respond to Silva’s comments during his appearance at the UFC 274 post-fight press conference.
“Anderson Silva, what the f*ck is Anderson Silva talking about?” White questioned during UFC 274 post-fight presser. “When have any of you ever heard me talk negative, except for the fight in Abu Dhabi, about Anderson Silva? Never. I’ve never talked bad about Anderson Silva. Not only that, we let the guy fight through his contract, he lost seven of his last eight, or eight of his last nine fight, and always treated him with — I don’t know where the hell this is coming from, from him that then I started trying to make is so he couldn’t make money after. I said, ‘Jake Paul is looking to fight somebody, fight Anderson Silva, that guy’s out there, he’s available, he’s 47 years old.’ It’s baffling to me.”
The fight that White is referring to in Abu Dhabi is the much maligned middleweight title fight between Silva and Demian Maia at UFC 112. For 25 minutes, Silva essentially played with his food, toying with Maia for the entirety of the bout. After five full rounds of dancing and taunting, Silva was announced as the winner of a bout so poorly received, Dana White refused the put the title around the champion’s waist.
“Been a long time,” White said when asked the last time he spoke with Silva. “His son hits me up and wants to come to fights, absolutely. This is his house, if he ever wants — that came out of left field and makes absolutely no sense to me. Unless you guys have heard me say something that I don’t remember saying, the only time I ever said anything negative about Anderson Silva was in Abu Dhabi after that fight.”
Featured image credit to Embed from Getty Images
