Fighter pay goes up, at the least in a single respect.
Earlier this week, the UFC inked a brand new TV rights take care of Paramount, raking in $7.7 billion over seven years. The deal not solely makes Paramount+ the house of all UFC occasions beginning in 2026, it additionally brings an finish to the promotion’s Pay-Per-View mannequin, with all occasions being out there on Paramount+.
The UFC has lauded the deal as an enormous constructive for fighters, however the shift did increase questions on what this new deal will do for fighter pay. In spite of everything, one of many large incentives to being a UFC champion is the lure of PPV factors, which is able to vanish come 2026. And whereas UFC CEO Dana White doesn’t have particular solutions on how the UFC plans to deal with that in the meanwhile, he did reveal one main change that’s coming: a kick to the bonuses.
“Pay attention, I’m not going to have any feedback on that as a result of we’ve nonetheless acquired to get collectively and determine these things out,” White instructed reporters on the Contender Collection scrum on Tuesday. “It’s August, we’ve got till January to determine that stuff out. However the low-hanging fruit that’s simple to reply? Bonuses are clearly going up. In order that shall be large. Overlook in regards to the tide rising with all the opposite fighters, simply the quantity that the bonuses deliver to a fighter is tens of millions of {dollars}.”
The usual bonus construction the UFC workers is $50,000 for 2 Efficiency bonuses per occasion, and a further $50,000 for every participant within the Combat of the Night time, thought the UFC has sometimes upped that quantity in particular circumstances. It’s unclear what the bump to the bonuses shall be in the meanwhile.
As for the remainder of it, White says they’re nonetheless engaged on the main points for the way fighter pay might change, however reiterates that this new TV deal is a win for the fighters as effectively.
“It’s not large restructuring,” White mentioned. “We’ve acquired a bunch of sensible youngsters over there within the accounting division that work out make these things work. But it surely’s so good for the fighters. What I like about being with one firm that made such a giant funding with us is that they’re all in with us. The fighters are going to get tons of promotion, constructed by all these completely different unbelievable networks that these guys personal. And, these are aggressive, sensible guys which are going to construct a giant media firm.”
And for the doubters? There was some concern after the brand new deal was introduced that with out the PPV incentive, the UFC might take a step again of their promotional efforts. However that’s under no circumstances what White envisions. He’s approaching this new TV take care of renewed vigor to ship above and past expectations.
“It’s all the time making an attempt to go to the subsequent degree,” White mentioned. “Clearly, this TV deal is huge, and a giant deal. There’s nonetheless much more to it that you simply guys don’t know, however now it’s about — you all the time should show your self. At all times. Irrespective of how good final yr was, it doesn’t imply jack shit once you go into the subsequent yr. We now have to get in there and we’ve got to ship. These guys are investing within the sport, within the athletes, and we’ve acquired to get in there and kill it. so we’ve acquired quite a lot of arduous work to do over the subsequent a number of months.”
