Unsealed UFC docs show Dana White’s reaction to CM Punk salary b

UFC CEO Dana White’s personal policy, at least in 2017, was not to reveal a fighter’s pay unless they had misrepresented it in public.

When Randy Couture in 2007 revealed his earnings amid a dispute over his retirement, White claimed the UFC Hall of Famer “completely lied” and went to the UFC’s accounting department to get the real number so he could counter publicly.

Behind the scenes was a different story. He didn’t want certain numbers to make the rounds, and while he couldn’t remember any specific instances, he said the promotion had “probably” worked to keep salary information under wraps, according to a 2017 deposition for the UFC antitrust lawsuit, recently unsealed by federal judge Richard Boulware.

That didn’t necessarily keep paydays private with the fighters.

“All the fighters know what other fighters are making,” White said. “They all talk. They all know. Even guys who say they don’t want their number out there, they tell.”

Occasionally, that led to flareups among talent. One example at the top of White’s mind was a professional wrestler who’d signed with the UFC without any professional fights.

Four weeks out from Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor, and admittedly hopped up on an energy drink — “I’m getting crazy over here,” White declared after a brief spat with the plaintiff’s attorney — he struggled to remember the name.

“It just happened recently again, too,” White said in the deposition. “We had some guy that was — that was paid a certain amount of money and never — oh, the professional wrestler that we brought in. Not Brock [Lesnar], the other one.”

“CM Punk?” the attorney asked.

“Oh, yeah,” White replied. “People went crazy when they saw what he got paid. … Even the women.”