Court documents reveal UFC CEO Dana White’s reaction to CM Punk salary backlash

Unsealed court documents from the UFC antitrust lawsuit have revealed Dana White’s reaction to the CM Punk salary backlash.

White and the UFC normally try to keep fighter’s salaries close to the vest, but that hasn’t stopped athlete pay from coming to forefront of discussions on a number of occasions.

With the UFC antitrust lawsuit filed by former fighters in full effect, more and more court documents are becoming available to the public. In a newly released 2017 deposition, recently unsealed by federal judge Richard Boulware, UFC CEO Dana White was recorded making the following comments.

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

“It just happened recently again, too,” the UFC CEO 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,” Dana White replied. “People went crazy when they saw what he got paid… Even the women.”

The former WWE champion, CM Punk, whose real name is Phil Brooks, made a flat payout of $500,000 for his Octagon debut against Mickey Gall at UFC 203 in September of 2016. Punk ultimately lost that bout by first round submission, succumbing to a rear-naked choke.

The revelation of Punk’s UFC earnings did not sit well with a number of MMA veterans, as fighters such as Cat Zingano and Rafael dos Anjos took to social media to voice their disgust.

“CM Punk made $500k on his entry fight while the rest of us pay to fight?” former UFC title challenger Zingano wrote.

“Nothing against CM Punk make half million for his MMA debut, but I think champs should be [making] that too, people who dedicated [their] entire life.” – RDA said.

According to an expert report released in the antitrust lawsuit, that half-million take-home was likely an underreporting of Punk’s actual earnings. The report indicated the former WWE champion actually took home $1,042,736 for his loss to Gall, the likely result of his pay-per-view split and other bonuses.

What do you think of Dana White’s reaction to the CM Punk salary backlash?