5 UFC champions who clashed with Dana White over their pay

#2. Jens Pulver – former UFC lightweight champion

Jens Pulver left the UFC following a spat with the promotion over his pay

The UFC’s inaugural lightweight champion, Jens Pulver, won his title back in 2001 by defeating Caol Uno and defended it successfully on two occasions. A bonafide legend, why ‘Lil Evil’ is not part of the UFC Hall of Fame is a question mark.

However, one explanation could be the spat he had with UFC President Dana White that resulted in his initial departure from the promotion in 2002.

According to a lengthy interview with his manager Monte Cox, Pulver wasn’t exactly the highest-paid fighter during his first tenure with the UFC. ‘Lil Evil’ had signed a deal with the promotion before they made it onto pay-per-view, and according to Cox, his contract’s base pay guaranteed him less than $10k per fight.

Worse still, Pulver’s opponents were apparently all making more money than him, despite ‘Lil Evil’ being the titleholder in the UFC lightweight division.

Guess who is taking over the @UFC Twitch channel tonight?! Come hang out with me while I break down a ton of my fights! This is one livestream that you definitely don't want to miss! Check it out at https://t.co/m3mGXwh3I3 - Going live at 8PM ET! pic.twitter.com/Ea7C9qPpBz

— Jens Pulver (@jens_pulver) June 12, 2020

And so when Pulver reached the end of his contract, Cox avoided any contact with the promotion, allowing an extension clause to expire. Then, when the UFC contacted him about Pulver’s next title defense, Cox immediately demanded a new contract.

The UFC then refused – and when they found out that the extension clause was no longer active, White was reportedly livid, warning Pulver and his manager that they’d never do business in the sport again.

Pulver subsequently relinquished the UFC lightweight title and headed to Japan – and didn’t return until 2006. Essentially, both parties lost out here, as the UFC lost the best lightweight in the sport, and while Pulver made more money elsewhere, his profile never became as big as it could’ve been had the UFC been willing to pay him a little more.

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#1. Tito Ortiz – former UFC light heavyweight champion

Tito Ortiz had multiple high-profile clashes with Dana White, usually over his pay

Perhaps the greatest example of a UFC champion who clashed with Dana White over his paycheck remains former UFC light heavyweight kingpin Tito Ortiz.

When Zuffa bought the UFC in 2001 – installing White as its President in the process – Ortiz was undoubtedly the promotion’s poster boy. ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ was already considered one of the most dominant fighters in the sport, having held the UFC light heavyweight title for a while, but he was also one of the most charismatic.

To add to that, White had previously acted as Ortiz’s manager during his negotiations with the UFC’s previous owners. If anything, it seemed like a relationship made in heaven.

But despite Ortiz being pushed heavily by the UFC’s new owners, the relationship quickly turned sour. Ortiz made three successful title defenses under the Zuffa banner, but when it came to the fourth – a clash with former training partner Chuck Liddell – ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ balked.

He demanded more money than the UFC were willing to offer to fight his former friend and quickly ended up on the outs with the promotion, to the point that they made a fight between Liddell and Randy Couture to crown an interim champion instead.

And despite eventually returning to the fold – and fighting Liddell – the relationship between Ortiz and White never truly recovered, with further spats over money taking place in the years that followed and a boxing match between the two even planned at one point.

The years don’t seem to have mellowed Ortiz when it comes to the subject of fighter pay, either. While he’s reportedly buried the hatchet with White at this point, 2018 saw him state that his first fight with Liddell saw both men paid $150k – while the UFC made around $40m.