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UFC president Dana White recently gave the Nelk Boys’ Kyle Foregeard $250,000 cash for his birthday, and the MMA community did not receive the news well.
The Nelk Boys and White have become friends over the years. The group frequently attends UFC events while White has appeared on their “Full Send” podcast. The UFC president and the group spend time together outside of work as well.
On July 11, Foregeard shared a video on social media of himself opening a present from White who he was with at a restaurant. And what Foregeard unwrapped was a plastic bag full of cash.
With White laughing in the background, Foregeard said: “Holy s***. Holy f***. Back to Tootsies? That’s f*****, bro.”
“Happy birthday,” White responded, and the two embraced. Watch the video below via the embedded tweet:
This isn’t the first time White and a member of the Nelk Boys have exchanged gifts. For example, SteveWillDoIt gave White a “$300,000 custom howler head Maybach van” in December.
Reactions to White’s Gift Poured in Through Twitter
Reactions came pouring in from the MMA community, with many pointing to the issue of low fighter pay and post-career benefits.
MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz wrote in Portuguese, (and translated through Twitter): “Kill yourself in training every day to fight 3x a year (with luck) in the UFC and see the “boss” give a youtuber 250 thousand dollars as a birthday present.
“Zero benefits, fewer and fewer sources of income… I’ll never understand how an MMA fighter doesn’t get angry with scenes like that.”
“One of the biggest victories the UFC has achieved is convincing a massive swathe of fans that the people who are central to the very existence of the product – the fighters – are somehow the least responsible for the product’s success,” CBS Sports’ Luke Thomas tweeted.
“In that view, the fighters are akin to assembly line workers who are marginally relevant, which is why you see hostility to their entreaties for more money,” he continued.
“Of course, this is absolutely the least accurate way to view it, but that it is prevalent seems incontestable.”
Verdict MMA’s Ben Davis wrote: “POV: you’re a UFC fighter watching Dana give $250k to a random YouTuber,” sharing a photo as well:
MMA insider John Nash wrote: “Fighters should be proud that they get to finance that gift.”
Someone else responded: “I would’ve liked it a lot better if he gifted it to a fighter who is struggling to make ends meet and might have CTE.”
Some Also Defended White’s Gift-Giving
Not everyone was up in arms about White’s six-figure cash gift.
One user on Twitter tweeted: “I know a lot of people are jealous but look at this beet red jolly f*cking guy! Who can’t relate to the feeling of knowing you’re giving someone you love a badass gift? I liked the whole thing.”
“If you’re looking for joy I’ll remind you this man made it possible for fighters to make a living in a sport that was once illegal & fringe,” they continued. “Countless MMA related industries, gear, gyms, fighters, commentators, TV shows (the list goes on) all make a living (mainly) thanks to him.”
Another Twitter user wrote: “Everybody is hating on this move, he’s worth half a billion dollars and he gave a friend a big gift, with ufc fighters its business and he still gives undisclosed bonuses and always has, he’s taken care of fighters behind the scenes, definitely more than 250k.”
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