Dana White Reacts To UFC 232 Fighters Being Taxed More In California
Needless to say, there’s been an all-out deluge of confusion concerning this weekend’s (Sat., December 29, 2018) UFC 232 from The Forum in Inglewood, California. It’s time Dana White reacts to one of the issues affecting fighters the most.
On December 23, word broke that headliner Jon Jones had tested positive for a minimal amount of steroid
The discrepancy caused the NSAC to not license Jones to fight, citing a lack of time to properly evaluate the situation over Christmas. So the card was moved to Los Angeles after the CSAC decided they would license Jones. It should be noted they gave him a surprise drug test, which he passed, and made him sign up for VADA testing as well.
Can’t Please Everyone
So the show will go on, but not without some more controversy. Much of it centered on the relocation of the fighters, but that was only the beginning of it. The fighters claimed they were now set to make much less money due to California having state income taxes Nevada does not. Dana White was asked about the situation at today’s UFC 232 press conference, and his response was typical White:
“Yeah listen, it’s not an easy decision to make. You gotta pull the trigger and you gotta make moves. You’re not gonna make everyone happy, you can’t make every fan, every fighter, but we gave the fans in Las Vegas to get tickets first, and the tickets are cheaper. We had over 3,000 people buy tickets here that had tickets in Vegas. We did everything we could to make it better, we did what we could do.”
The specifics of the income tax issue then came up, to which White answered rather bluntly:
“Who’s gonna pay my income tax in California?”
It Just Is What It Is
Well, no one is, but it could be argued a man with hundreds of millions of dollars won’t be feeling the change as much as a lower-level MMA fighter struggling to make a name for himself in the sport.
White passed that off by stating that the situation simply ‘is what it is’ and the alternative of canceling the event outright would have meant no one made any money:
“It is what it is. It’s either that or not fight, and nobody gets paid, and nobody does anything. It is what it is, and we had to move it. It’s costing everybody more money. It is what it is.”
Indeed it is, but that isn’t going to make any more money for fighters who are already struggling. They’ve also now been thrown into chaos during their weight cuts. White will be just fine, but these fighters are actually affected. Should the UFC make things right in this instance?
From the sound of it, the fighters probably shouldn’t be waiting around for that to happen.
