The question of fighter pay has been in the headlines more and more as the years go on, and many mma fighters are trying to get into boxing for the larger paydays. Almost everyone thinks mma fighters deserve better pay, that almost doesn’t include UFC President- Dana White.
White appeared on “The Pivot Podcast” and discussed fighter pay, he made it clear he doesn’t think UFC fighters are underpaid at all, so fighter pay in UFC isn’t likely to change. But when boxing seemingly paying better than the UFC was brought up, Dana let lose.
“Do you make enough money? Do you? I want to meet that guy that goes, ‘Oh, I’m good. I make plenty of money. I don’t need another dime.’ You’re never going to meet that guy. It’s never going to happen. Everybody wants more money. And one of the big problems with boxing too, is that all those f****** guys are overpaid, and every time they put on a fight, it’s a going-out-of-business sale. We’re just trying to get as much f****** money as we can from you guys, and then we’re out of here. We’ll see you in three years.
Dana did address thought that many people don’t realize, disclosed fighter purses aren’t all the fighters make. there are undisclosed bonuses and High level fighters often take a percentage of the PPV purse which can equal millions.
“What we did it we built a business model where, if you’re the champion, you share in the pay-per-view revenue,” White said. “If you’re the guy headlining the card, or there’s been some special occasions where we know you’re bringing in the money, too, and you’re a big draw so you, too, get to share in the pay-per-view revenue. You eat what you kill.
But not everyone made this kind of money, while non champions like Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz managed to negotiate PPV percentages, former interim champ Colby Covington still doesn’t share in PPV revenue after headlining 3 major PPV cards. Neither did Donald Cerrone when he faced Conor McGregor or Shane Carwin when he faced Brock Lesnar or Mir in title shots.
Those guys fights generated millions and definitely could have had life changing paydays. Definitely a bad look for the UFC. Daniel Cormier when first challenging Jon Jones for the ufc belt didn’t get points in his loss either, BUT she was given an undisclosed bonus of $1 million. Something he’s still grateful for today, but if he had gotten a PPV share that would have been millions.
If you’re wondering what kind of share fighters get, that’s undisclosed BUT back in Randy Couture’s days as champion he revealed he got $3 per buy over 330,000 buys. But PPVs we’re half as expensive back then, so it stands to reason today’s going rate should be at least $5 per sell, or more for certain mega stars.