When UFC welterweight Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson revealed that he was not getting paid for UFC Nashville, the backlash was as harsh as it was inevitable.
Thompson’s opponent for the fight, Michel Pereira, missed weight, and Thompson refused to fight an opponent who would be overweight heading into the Octagon.
Dana White Slams Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson Over UFC Nashville Pay
At the recent Contender series press conference, UFC president Dana White blasted Thompson for trying to get paid despite pulling out of the card.
“There’s a much bigger story behind the scenes. And no, you don’t just show up and say, ‘Yeah, I’m not gonna fight – I want a quarter of a million dollars.’ Not the way it works.”
In the event that a fighter misses weight, the UFC typically offers a portion of that fighter’s purse to their opponent. Thompson not only refused to fight Pereira, but declined the offer of another fight on the same card.
“So how that works is, guys don’t just get paid to not fight. It’s not how that works. Guys have been paid. We’ve taken care of guys.
Hey, listen, if you come in, and you’re making short money, we take care of you. You come in and you don’t fight, first of all, you decided not to fight.
The guy was three pounds overweight, whatever it was, you get a piece of his purse if you take the fight. But if you deter you decide you don’t want to take the fight. We also offered him another fight.”
Now, White claims that he is working “behind the scenes” with “Wonderboy” and his camp to ensure that everybody is happy.
Given that the UFC is about to go to court in a class-action lawsuit over the issue of fighter pay, it might be in White’s best interests to keep a major star like Stephen Thompson happy.
“If you don’t turn around quickly, then we try to figure out what did it cost for your camp? We’ll reimburse you. You know, there’s a lot of different ways that this gets worked out.
You don’t just go, ‘Yeah, this guy’s three pounds over, I’m not gonna fight, and no I won’t take another fight two weeks later, and pay me my show money.’ Not how it works.
You don’t fight, you don’t get paid necessarily in the contract. But we always make sure that we take care of everybody, and we’re working it out with ‘Wonderboy’ right now.
It’s all being worked out behind the scenes, and this should all be worked out by Saturday.”
