White says he will pay fighters who lost UFC 223 bouts
UFC president Dana White confirmed all fighters — minus Artem Lobov, presumably — who lost UFC 223 bouts will be paid their regular purses, but not their win bonuses.
Dana White has confirmed that the UFC will take care of all the fighters not competing at UFC 223 after all.
The company president said at the UFC’s 25th Anniversary press conference on Friday that athletes who lost bouts as a result of the Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Max Holloway cancellation and Conor McGregor’s rampage at Barclays Center on Thursday will get paid their show money.
Presumably, the fighters who will receive their show money are: Michael Chiesa, who suffered cuts on his face from broken glass on the UFC bus that McGregor and his friends attacked, as well as opponent Anthony Pettis; Ray Borg, who also suffered an injury on the bus, as well as opponent Brandon Moreno; Paul Felder, who was scheduled to face Al Iaquinta before “Ragin” stepped up in the main event vs. Nurmagomedov; and Alex Caceres, whose opponent, Artem Lobov, was pulled from the card for his involvement in the McGregor chaos.
It is also presumed that Lobov will not be getting any sort of show money following his removal from UFC 223. The UFC released a statement Thursday night saying everyone involved in the McGregor incident, including McGregor and Lobov, will not be welcome at UFC 223 on Saturday night.
“All the guys that ended up not getting fights are gonna get paid. They’ll all get paid for not getting fights,” White said. “Just their show. We don’t have that much money.
“And we’ll turn them around and get them fights again real quick.”
McGregor made a surprise appearance in Brooklyn, New York directly following UFC 223 media day. He and a group of friends attacked a bus red-corner fighters were on, waiting to return to the host hotel. The Irish superstar smashed the front window with a dolly and was taken into custody that night.
McGregor was released on bail Friday afternoon.
On Friday morning, headliner Holloway was pulled from the pay-per-view main event due to concerns with his weight cut. Iaquinta stepped up in his place, but only Nurmagomedov can win the official UFC lightweight title, because Iaquinta weighed in at 155.2 pounds — just over championship weight.
UFC 223 will proceed Saturday with nine fights.