It was recently announced by One Championship that the promotion has laid off approximately 20% of their staff, with some reports suggesting that the number could be even higher.
Some may think that UFC President Dana White may secretly be happy about the layoffs at One Championship, but White actually feels quite the opposite about them.
“No. I know how hard this is, believe me,” he said during the UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Volkov media scrum (via Simon Head of MMA Junkie). “You guys, most of you have known me for a very long time. Whether you like me, you hate me; you don’t agree with me, you agree with me – when I come out and tell you something is the hardest thing that I’ve ever done, this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done and there were a lot of powerful forces battling against us for this to happen. And I don’t wish that on anybody. I know everybody thinks I hate all these … I don’t hate all these other groups. All these other groups need to survive for this thing to work for everybody. People getting laid off and losing their jobs – I don’t wish that on anybody, ever.”
There is no word yet when One Championship plans on running more events, as the promotion has been in shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. The UFC has been running events after some schedule rearrangement due to the pandemic, with the next being tonight’s UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Volkov attempt.
