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UFC president Dana White has now completely shut down all talk of long-term healthcare benefits for fighters. Having backtracked on his words earlier, White was once again asked about it at the UFC 263 post-fight presser.
While Dana White claimed to be working towards overall safety for fighters, he found the idea of lifetime healthcare completely absurd. Providing a definite answer, Dana White told media in the post-fight conference at UFC 263:
"We’re working on stuff like that all the time. We’re working on this brain stuff. . We’ve been spending millions and millions of dollars on brain studies for years. And now, all the psychedelic stuff is happening. So, we’re trying to figure out… a lot of guys are interested in that from — we think a lot of guys are interested. So, we’re looking into that. We’re always looking into making things better, safer, and whatever for the fighters. I don’t know about healthcare forever. Does anybody have a job where they have healthcare forever when they leave? I mean, that’s pretty f—ng crazy. I don’t think anybody does it."
Although Dana White referred to it as 'part of the gig,' several injuries sustained by fighters reveal their true magnitude after retirement.
Dana White had previously hinted at long-term healthcare benefits
Fighters had high hopes from Dana White when he promised long-term healthcare benefits in an impromptu Q&A session on Instagram. During the session, a fan commented on White's post, he wrote:
"Will the UFC ever offer their fighters full-time health benefits so they can have them after their careers are over and possibly deal with life-altering issues from fighting[?]"
Dana White replied to this with a short and promising one-word statement: "Soon."
However, Dana White later claimed there was a misunderstanding as he had replied to the wrong comment. Taking a complete U-turn, White told UFC Arabia’s Farah Hannoun:
"I responded to the wrong guy when I said ‘Soon.’ That was wrong, actually. I actually noticed that later when I said ‘Soon,’ but it was on the wrong post. I wasn’t talking to that guy. It was somebody else."
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