"Build yourself into a star, and you won't be talking about money fights. ... Become a star. Don't worry about Conor McGregor or fighting on Conor McGregor's card. Become a star yourself."
Those were UFC president Dana White's words in January, per Ben Fowlkes of MMAjunkie.
It would probably be inaccurate to suggest that a critical mass of UFC fighters read this and took it as a sign that a reckoning was at hand.
But it is probably accurate to point to this as another example of the widening rift between UFC fighters and the bosses who control them, particularly White.