Dana White believes he has a number of fairly reasonable responses to Donald Cerrone’s recent statement that his current UFC contract shows he “don’t mean (expletive)” to the company.

Cerrone (30-7 MMA, 17-4 UFC), who stopped Patrick Cote (23-10 MMA, 10-10 UFC) by third-round TKO at UFC Fight Night 89 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, this past Saturday, said at the event’s post-fight news conference he is unhappy with his pay, despite the fact he received a Zuffa record 17th fight-night bonus on top of his contracted salary.

The Ontario Athletic Commission did not release fighter purses for the event, but according to White, who discussed Cerrone’s comments on the debut episode of the “UFC Unfiltered” podcast, the UFC compensated “Cowboy” more than fairly with respect to the size of the event and the revenue it generated.

“Cerrone at the press conference comes out and says, ‘I don’t know if the UFC loves me if you look at my paycheck,'”White told podcast hosts Matt Serra and Jim Norton. “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.”

White said he addressed the issue with the fighter, and Cerrone apparently saw his point and backtracked on his comments, saying they were only meant to be partially serious.

“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.”

Although Cerrone has been part of the UFC roster for more than five years and has made 20 octagon appearances (with 31 Zuffa fights overall including his WEC career), the former lightweight title challenger and current welterweight received just $79,000 in “show” money in his most recently disclosed payout, a championship fight loss to Rafael dos Anjos at UFC on FOX 17 in December.

Cerrone would have received double that amount if he had beaten dos Anjos. Moreover, White said his earnings would have gone to a new level had he won the title fight. The reason he hasn’t reached that level is his own doing in the eyes of the UFC boss. Cerrone has failed to get over the hump and win arguably the biggest fights of his career against the likes of dos Anjos, Nate Diaz and Anthony Pettis.

“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.”

Fighter pay has always been a hot topic in the sport. It’s gained more notoriety as time has gone on, though, especially with the likes of UFC featherweight champ Conor McGregor making a disclosed seven-figure salary for his UFC 196 bout with Diaz and former UFC women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey landing third on Forbes’ list of the world’s highest-paid female athletes.

Not every fighter is going to achieve that level of success and financial prosperity, White said. And while Cerrone is a huge fan favorite and has already frequented the octagon almost as many times as any fighter in UFC history, White said it’s possible Cerrone might just not have what it takes to become an all-timer earner.

“I love the kid. I love him. Professionally and personally, I love ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone,” White said. “Everyone once in a while, this day in age, every fighter on earth, especially when you look at the money that Conor and Ronda and some of these people are making out there, it gets crazy. Everybody wants to make a million dollars. Everybody wants to make a million dollars, but some people get there and some people don’t.”

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 89, check out the UFC Events section of the site.