White responds to Aldo over Reebok and fighter’s union
Dana White: “Even a (PED) policy as tough as this, people talk about unions and things like that? If there was a union this would have never happened.”
UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo recently ripped the Reebok Deal and called for a union. In an appearance on UFC Tonight, UFC president Dana White responded.
“The UFC isn’t making the revenue that the NFL and the NBA are,” said White as transcribed by David St. Martin for MMAFighting.com. “This is the first ever deal that we’ve had with a huge sporting apparel company like Reebok.
“The fighters aren’t being treated well? They’re getting all the money. The fighters are getting paid every time they fight. Every time they step in the cage they’re being paid by Reebok and you can still keep all your sponsors.”
“Jose Aldo is the perfect example. Reebok went after Jose Aldo aggressively and Venum was like, ‘You’re not taking Jose Aldo.’ Venum ended up keeping Jose Aldo. It paid him more money.”
“You know what’s funny? No matter what we do there’s always some negative guy out there that will have some negative thing to say about it. Even a (PED) policy as tough as this, people talk about unions and things like that? If there was a union this would have never happened.
“This would have never happened with a union. This is the best thing to do for the sport and for the athletes.”
“There’s no business upside, but a massive upside for the sport. It’s the right thing for the sport and for the athletes. If you take a kid who has a ton of potential and get him on PEDs, you destroy him mentally, physically and emotionally. This is the right move for the sport. There’s nothing like it in professional sports. It’s the toughest in all of professional sports. If you say you care about the athletes, this is what you do. I don’t think anyone expected us to do this or saw this coming. This would never have happened with a union.”
Jose Aldo fights Conor McGregor on July 11 at UFC 189 in Las Vegas, Nevada.