Several high-profile UFC fighters have left the mixed martial arts promotion to pursue big boxing paydays. Francis Ngannou is chief among them, parlaying his 2023 UFC exit into big-money boxing matches against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. UFC CEO Dana White argues the financial upside for UFC fighters in boxing is overblown.
Ngannou left UFC in January 2023 to sign with the Professional Fighters League MMA promotion. The PFL gave Ngannou the contractual freedom to dabble in boxing, a key point of contention in Ngannou’s failed renegotiations with UFC. White feverishly combated the idea that boxing is a more lucrative option for high-profile UFC fighters while discussing the subject with combat sports journalist Kevin Iole.
“That’s not necessarily true,” White said. “That’s the bullshit publicly that people believe, but that’s not the truth. Total bullshit. Total bullshit.
“That’s that whole myth that makes everybody go, ‘Oh, let’s f—ing go to boxing!’ and all this bullshit. Boxing doesn’t work. Boxing does not work. What makes it work? You need a Saudi f—ing trillionaire to make f—ing fights. And even Saudi trillionaires get tired of the f—ing bullshit. It’s all a f—ing myth. It’s all a myth.”
White seemed to pivot that the boxing pay model is not sustainable, drifting from his argument about where Ngannou would have profited most. The UFC CEO blamed the media for false narratives about boxing’s business structure.
“It’s those types of f—ing statements and those types of quotes by the media that make all this shit. All these fights are happening, it takes a Saudi f—ing trillionaire. Every f—ing guy that tries to do the boxing thing, they all end up losing shit-loads of f—ing money. The model doesn’t work. A Saudi unlimited amount of money pops up and that’s what makes these fights happen, and even guys with that kind of money get f—ing tired of the bullshit.
“I know all the shit that you people don’t know, and I don’t care what everybody says,” White told reporters. “It doesn’t matter to me. But that’s a fact. He was offered more money because I know the real numbers.”
White has repeatedly criticized boxing for relying on financial backing from Saudi Arabia to book big fights. Yet UFC recently brought on Riyadh Season as its first-ever partnered sponsor for UFC 306 to help finance the MMA promotion’s debut at The Sphere in Las Vegas. White’s latest anti-boxing rant comes at an interesting time. White recently claimed he’d enter the boxing business in 2025.
Nate Diaz, Anderson Silva and Tyron Woodley are among the other notable UFC fighters who collected boxing paydays.
