"Nobody's written more checks than Dana White" - Chael Sonnen completely shuts down fighter pay arguments against the UFC

Chael Sonnen jumped to the defense of Dana White and the UFC's business model amid ongoing discussions about fighter pay.

The hot-button issue of fighter pay has once again been brought to the forefront of conversations among the MMA community amid White's recent back-and-forth with Jake Paul. However, Sonnen believes White is being unjustly criticized and portrayed as "evil."

During an episode of his YouTube show, Sonnen explained why his former employer is actually fairer than how he's perceived. 'The American Gangster' argued:

"People have been coming after the 'evil, awful' Dana [White] for the way that Dana pays people. Now, they don't ever add the fact that nobody has written more checks than Dana White. I'm not even talking about the number, the total dollar amount, I'm talking about more. I'm talking about 22 people, 22 athletes get paid every single Saturday. Nobody knows what 22 times 52 is, for 52 weeks of the year... But there is nobody in combat sports that writes that many checks."

Sonnen added that "no business in the world is paying 600% more now than they did 15 years ago" other than the UFC.

Check out Chael Sonnen's unique take on Dana White and fighter pay:

The former MMA star also pointed out why the UFC can't provide a 50-50 revenue split with the athletes, as is practiced by boxing promotions. Sonnen mentioned that the UFC has significantly more employees than a boxing promotion like Bob Arum's Top Ranked.

Moreover, Sonnen is of the opinion that fighters aren't the most valuable employees of the UFC. He believes that that distinction belongs to the production staff, as well as the company's public relations and marketing teams.

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Fighters take Jake Paul's side in fighter pay debate against Dana White

Jake Paul has been backed in his argument with UFC president Dana White over fighter pay by former MMA stars Tim Sylvia and Jake Shields.

Sylvia, a former UFC heavyweight champion, admitted that Paul won him over when the latter challenged White to implement changes for the benefit of fighters. 'The Maine-iac' revealed that the UFC refused to pay for his arm surgery for an injury he had suffered in the octagon.

Meanwhile, Shields merely said that as much as he'd "love to hate" Paul, he agrees with 'The Problem Child's' sentiments.