The UFC’s recent tweak to its accommodation and travel policy was meant to bring clarity, but it may have only made Dana White look worse in the process. According to a report by Raf Miera, the promotion will now pay only for the fighter and their head coach’s flights. For the other team members, the fighter will have to cover those costs out of pocket. While that move does put financial pressure on the athletes, several UFC fighters have clarified that it’s nothing new.

According to UFC veteran Kelvin Gastelum and Josh Thomson, the promotion not paying for a fighter’s teammates to travel has been common practice since the early days of their careers.

“I’ve been covering expenses for corners for 14 years! You are all just finding out? 🤣,” Gastelum responded to MMA on Point’s post on X.

Following Kelvin Gastelum’s post, ex-UFC lightweight Josh Thomson also reflected on how Dana White and the promotion didn’t pay for more than two flights, even when he was earning relatively low purses, and later, when he became the number one 155 lbs fighter in the UFC.

“UFC 44, 46 and 49 when I was making $2K & $2K, $4K & $4K, $8K & $8K,” Thomson wrote on X. “As the #1 ranked LW in the world and in the UFC at the time, they never paid for more than me and one corner to fly, with only one hotel room. Only main event fighters got multiple flights and rooms,” he added.

As Kelvin Gastelum and Josh Thomson shared their experiences, Joe Lauzon had already shed light on this issue years ago. In a 2016 interview, the UFC fighter explained the travel structure, noting that the promotion typically covered two flights, usually for the fighter and one cornerman. Furthermore, Lauzon also clarified that fighters often had to pay out of pocket to bring additional teammates or family members. 

So, as we can see, fighters have long been bearing the cost of flying out their teammates and family members, which adds an extra financial burden. While a top-level fighter earning decent paychecks can afford a couple of additional flights, fighters making $12K to show and $12K to win may find it much harder to cover those expenses.

And since this practice has been going on for years, it does make Dana White look worse, especially after fans showed initial backlash to the new accommodation rules. It becomes very contrasting because while fighters on $12K/$12K purses are left to handle these costs, UFC’s financial success deepens the scrutiny around Dana White.

Lastly, the new rule doesn’t only apply to flights, it also affects fighters’ hotel accommodations. As per the new rule, teams now often have to share a single room or book separate stays through platforms like Airbnb. Well, fighters can sometimes get reimbursed if they don’t use the provided hotel room, but even then, travel costs remain a major concern, especially challenging for international athletes, and we almost saw an example of that last year.  

Former champ allegedly hosted a fundraising event to fly out his teammates to UFC fight 

Former welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena was scheduled to fight then-champion Belal Muhammad at UFC 315, which took place in Canada. ‘JDM’ hails from Australia, so he had to travel a significant distance to reach North America for his first title fight. But just before leaving home, the Aussies’ plan to host a fundraising event raised eyebrows.

In Perth, Della Maddalena, his head coach Ben Vickers, and rising prospect Quillan Salkilld planned to offer fans a premium experience, with tickets priced at $150 and $250. Initially, reports suggested the event was meant to help fund ‘JDM’s team’s travel to Canada, which led fans to question the UFC for not covering such costs.

However, prominent journalist Damon Martin later clarified that the organizers had labeled the event as a fundraiser without the former champion’s knowledge. As a result, the event was canceled immediately.

That said, with travel expenses becoming a talking point again, do you think fighters will eventually find ways to manage these costs, perhaps through sponsorships? What do you think?