Dana White announces major UFC protocol change which stunned fans after landing $7.7billion TV rights deal

The Irish Sun

11 hours ago

'NEW THING' Dana White announces major UFC protocol change which stunned fans after landing $7.7billion TV rights deal
DANA WHITE has confirmed a major change to UFC protocol following the promotion's last pay-per-view event.
Mixed martial arts' premier promotion held its eighth PPV event, UFC 319, this past weekend.
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The UFC held its eighth pay-per-view card of the year - UFC 319 - last weekend
Credit: MEGA
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Brazilian Carlos Prates learned he'd bagged a £37,000 bonus for his KO of Geoff Neal inside the octagon
Credit: The Mega Agency
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Brit Lerone Murphy also learned he'd bagged for his KO of Aaron Pico in a similar fashion
Credit: REUTERS
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UFC supremo Dana White has revealed fighters will now be told of their bonuses inside the cage
Credit: Getty
Carlos Prates and Brit Lerone Murphy stole the show with their consecutive spinning back elbow knockouts of Geoff Neal and Aaron Pico respectively.
Both men, unsurprisingly, received £37,000 ($50,000) bonuses for their viral knockouts.
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But what surprised MMA fans is that UFC commentator Joe Rogan told both men inside the octagon that they'd received a bonus.
UFC protocol for the last few decades has been to inform fighters of their bonuses after the event has finished.
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And White has revealed that informing fighters of their bonus-winning finishes inside the cage will be a "new thing" going forward.
He said: "Those two fights were like, yeah, holy s**t.
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"And I knew nothing before had beat it and if anything else else was crazier than those, I'd have paid the money.
"I'd have just said, 'Alright.' When s**t like that happens again, yes, that will be a new thing that will happen moving forward.
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'I mean, if those fights were the second fights on the entire night, I would have said the same thing.
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'Somebody would had to been decapitated to [beat that], you know what I mean?
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"I don't know what would have been bigger than what happened in those fights.'
UFC 319 was the promotion's first PPV event since the announcement of their whopping £5.7BILLION ($7.7B) North American broadcast deal with Paramount.
From January 2026, all 43 of the promotion's yearly cards - including numbered events - will be available on the network's streaming platform, Paramount+.
The deal has seen the UFC abandon the PPV model for the first time in its near 32-year history.
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When s**t like that happens again, yes, that will be a new thing that will happen moving forward."
Dana White on the UFC's new bonus protocol
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The UFC recently inked a £5.7billion ($7.7B) broadcast deal with the Paramount Network
Credit: GETTY
Upon the announcement of the seven-year-long agreement, White said: "This historic deal with Paramount and CBS is incredible for UFC fans and our athletes.
"For the first time ever, fans in the US will have access to all UFC content without a Pay-Per-View Model, making it more affordable to view the greatest fights on a massive platform.
"This deal puts the UFC among the biggest sports in the world.
"The exposure provided by the Paramount and CBS networks under this new structure is a huge win for our athletes and anyone who watches and loves this sport."