As UFC’s $8,000,000,000 Spurt Gets Exposed Amid WWE Sale, Dana White Might Be Left Red Faced With Distressing Fighter Pay Figures

The world’s biggest MMA promotion, UFC, has been in the news at times for underpaying some of its fighters. The promotion pays way less to some fighters compared to other sports organizations. This issue has now caught the attention of the media as the UFC’s parent company Endeavor is getting ready to acquire WWE for $9.3 billion. The company has grown tremendously over the past seven years, with its value current value at  $12.1 billion. However, this factor hasn’t made the payment of the fighters any better. When questioned about the same, UFC President Dana White claims that fighters are paid way less in other MMA organizations.

Fighters like Conor McGregor and Jon Jones had indeed made a fortune out of the sport. Nonetheless, the case is entirely different when it comes to the fighters of the lower strata or surging fighters. Compared to other MMA promotions like Bellator MMA, ONE Championship, PFL, etc., there is no doubt that the UFC pays more. Nonetheless, the amount they pay the fighters is small amount when compared with the event revenues of the organization.

UFC under scrutiny for not paying the fighters well

With Endeavor’s acquisition of sports entertainment company WWE, the WWE-UFC brand will now be worth a combined $21 billion, which adds $8 billion to UFC’s current worth.

The less fighter’s pay became a topic of concern when the paycheck received by each fighter is calculated as a percentage of revenue in connection with UFC’s operations. It is termed “event revenues”. The “wage share” received by each fighter when compared with other sports, such as the National Basketball Association is way less and seems unfair. After heated debates, the NBA currently splits all basketball-related income, or BRE, in a window of 49–51 percent with the basketball players.

 As reported by Forbes, When it comes to UFC, from 2011 to 2014, 90–94% of the promotion’s revenue was collected from the events each year. According to the anti-trust lawsuit, UFC generates its revenue from “Ticket Sales/Site Fees, PPV/Broadcast Sales/Fees (including ‘Web Buys’ and ‘Other’), event-specific Merchandise, and event-specific Sponsorships.

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The lawsuit furnished six and a half years of hard data. It showed the event revenue of the company and how much the organization paid to the fighters. The results were nearly stable for a growing promotion. The annual wage share came in at about 19–20%.

Dana White is not ready to increase the pay

 The boxing star, Jake Paul, has already talked about the issue. He has stated how the organization pays less to the fighters, who are the backbone of the organization.

This is one of the reasons why the former heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou, left the organisation. However, the UFC president, Dana White, is not ready to pay the fighters more. He believes that it would ruin the sport.

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