Comparisons are often made between mixed martial arts and boxing. Both sports are thriving because they are putting on exciting fights the public wants and are on a variety of different platforms.
UFC President Dana White doesn't feel that boxing and MMA are thriving at the same level. White recently told Yahoo Sports that he felt the sport of boxing is a 'mess' and isn't too sure if 'it can be fixed' without going into detail on what the issues are.
In a recent conversation with DAZN News, former WBC junior middleweight champion and current commentator for DAZN Boxing, Sergio Mora, took umbrage with White's comments. While complimentary of how White runs the UFC, he suggests that he take a look at how he treats his fighters before sticking his nose into boxing's business.
"Dana White works for the opposite side of the field, so he's supposed to say things like that about boxing," Mora told DAZN News. "Boxing usually doesn't say negative stuff about the UFC because, usually, they compliment the UFC. I know I do. The UFC does a tremendous job of promoting. They do a tremendous job of packing arenas all over the world.
"They have a niche. It's a young, hyper WWE and mixed martial arts (crowd). It's great, and it works for them as a demographic. We are on a different demographic so it's apples and oranges. You can't point at our business and say what we're doing wrong when you're not paying your fighters anywhere near what we're making. Why would he criticize our business model when it's his fighters that are struggling?"
The pay discrepancy between top fighters in the UFC and Boxing is vast aside from Conor McGregor. For McGregor to finally start earning giant paydays, it took him to transition to the sweet science when he faced Floyd Mayweather Jr. in August 2017. McGregor lost by 10th-round TKO but is estimated to have earned around $100 million. In his two fights inside the Octagon against Khabib Nurmagomedov and Donald Cerrone, respectively, McGregor's made tens of millions of dollars. That fact isn't lost on Mora.
"It took one of their greatest stars to come and fight one of our greatest stars for him to finally make the biggest money of his career," Mora said. "Now everyone wants to do it, but that's not the case because you're not as popular as McGregor. Until he fixes his model and starts paying his fighters championship level money, the A-side money, seven-figure type of stuff, then maybe he can look at our business model and say it isn't working. Right now, undercard fighters are making more than their main events."
Despite the criticism, Mora wants everyone to know that he knows White's actions are nothing more than just business, but he's always going to defend his fellow fighters even though it's the opposite side of the street.
"That's not a knock on Dana White or his business because we know it's a billion-dollar business, and it's popular around the world," Mora said. "I'm just talking about the fighters."