Could UFC fighters be on the verge of receiving health benefits? UFC President Dana White appears to be hinting at the possibility.
Fight fans and athletes have been wondering whether or not the UFC will eventually provide health benefits to its fighters. It’s a question that one fan decided to ask White on Instagram.
Here’s how the exchange went.
Fan: “Will the UFC ever offer their fighters full time health benefits so they can have them after their careers are over and possibly deal with life altering issues from fighting (?)”
Dana White: “Soon.”
White hasn’t been too vocal about the possibility of giving UFC fighters health benefits outside of comments he made back in 2011. That year, White told MMAJunkie.com that he’d be more than happy to set up a pension for the fighters if there was a way to do it.
“If we can figure out something for a fighter pension, that’s something we’d love to do. But it goes right along with, ‘What do you think about a fighter’s union?’ That’s up to the fighters. That’s not up to me. I (couldn’t) care less. It doesn’t matter to us.
“… Listen, you fight and you make $1 million. You’re like, ‘Holy sh*t, I have a million dollars.’ No, you don’t. These guys pay a percentage to this guy, a percentage to that guy. The government comes in and takes half of what you made.
“Then the end of the year comes, and … you owe ($1.5 million) in taxes. But you went out and bought a house, bought some cars, went on some trips. The next thing you know, you’re broke.
“… We’re trying to prevent a situation where guys retire and they retire with nothing.”
White admitted at the time that it wouldn’t be the easiest thing to pull off. He expressed his belief that fighters were likely to take issue with having a chunk of their purse on hold before being able to access it down the road.
