White responds to Cowboy's pay statements: 'Cerrone is so inconsistent'

UFC president Dana White is a staunch defender of the UFC pay scale. After all, most businessmen would do the same. But a recent comment by workhorse Donald Cerrone shed some light on what he thought about his income - his exact words were "According to my pay, I don't mean s**t to the UFC". Cerrone, who make somewhere in the neighborhood of 80k/80k and won a 50k bonus, didn't seem all that impressed, obviously.

When White was asked about it on the UFC Unfiltered show, he's explained why Cerrone made what he did (transcribed by MMA Junkie):

"OK, me and Cerrone are as tight as tight can be. There’s a lot of personal stuff with me and Cerrone, too, on the positive side. But the kid made over $200,000 on a fight on free TV in the co-main event, and the gate was $900,000. I mean, how much money does Cerrone expect to make on a co-main event? The kid looks great. Never held a world title and made over 200 grand, co-main event, $900,000 gate on free TV."

He also said he talked to Cerrone, and that Cowboy wasn't being totally serious when he made his statement. Nonetheless, it's his own fault that he's at where he's at (despite going 10-1 in his last 11, I guess):

"We talked," White said. "We’ve talked, me and Cerrone. He absolutely agreed. What he said to me was, ‘I was half joking.’ I love him. He looked phenomenal, and the thing is with Cerrone is, Cerrone is so inconsistent. Cerrone will come out and look like a world beater, then come out and get stopped in the first round by a body shot."

...

"I think the thing that’s frustrating, especially for a guy like ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone, is he has the personality," White said. "Everybody loves the kid. His fighting style is (expletive) exactly what I like. It’s right up my alley. Everything I love about a fighter, ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone is. And he’s a couple fights away from having that big fight. You’ve got to win them all. Every fight is the most important, and you’ve got to work your way up and you’ve got to win those big fights.

"‘Cowboy’ – again, a guy that I love – hasn’t always taken everything so serious. You can’t be (expletive) rock climbing two days before your fight or wake boarding the day of your fight. Some of the stuff that this guy does – you want to make that serious, big money, you have to get in the right mindset. The way he looked the other night against Patrick Cote is the way you have to fight when you fight dos Anjos or Diaz or any of the big guys. When you get to that big fight, you have to win."

Cerrone defeated Cote by third-round TKO in the co-main event of UFC Ottawa. He wanted to pick up another fight at UFC 200, but that's not looking likely at this point.