How Much Do UFC Referees and Judges Make Per Event? Salary Revealed by MMA Insider

UFC 300 is just around the corner and the preparation for the grand night of the MMA world is par for the course. The fighters, analysts, and even Dana White are ready to provide. However, are the judging commission/ UFC judges ready to provide a fair trial to the gladiators inside the Octagon?

UFC has been struggling with judging and refereeing in their promotion for quite some time. The recent Chris Curtis and Brendan Allen fight is the prime example of a judging mishap that raised eyebrows among the UFC heavyweights. Nonetheless, is there any particular reason for such mishaps? Does money have anything to do with it? Let us find out.

How much cheddar do the UFC judges and UFC referees make at their outing?

Debates and speculation have sufficed over the ͏amount of money ͏j͏udges ma͏k͏e in professional fighting eve͏nts. Consider͏i͏ng that they are t͏he ult͏i͏ma͏te authori͏t͏y that influences the͏͏ event,͏ ͏the questio͏n͏ abou͏t their payment holds utmost importance. However, over time, the relevance and͏ p͏op͏u͏larity of these jud͏ges ͏have͏ been tarnished by serious mishaps.

So how much do the UFC judges get paid by their commission? Well, long thing short UFC judges are not actually appointed by the UFC. Instead, the promotions pay an enormous amount of money to the judging commission for the judges. So, by this logic, the judges must be making a fortune, right? Well, the real number might surprise you a bit. According to official data from the California Commission, Judges make approximately $1600 per UFC event. In contrast, the referees make around $1900 per event.

The date was shared by prominent MMA journalist Aaron Bronsteter through a tweet on X refuting UFC star, Gilbert Burns‘s claims where he quoted that the UFC Judges are paid way less for the events. Bronsteter further detailed that the judges are paid handsomely for specific events and for UFC Vegas, they make around $1200-$2300.

Nonetheless, judges make quite an amount at the UFC event. However, what did the UFC star, Gilbert Burns, state that forced the MMA journalist to step in to clear the doubts? Let’s find out.

Gilbert Burns’s analogy for the lack of motivation for the judges

The welterweight fighter recently had a conversation with the hosts from the “Showmethemoney” podcast. During the conversation, Burns was asked about his opinion on the lack of motivation from the UFC judges. ‘Durinho’ stated that the judges are paid a meager amount of money per event, which gives them little motivation for the work.

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“They make $300 for the event in the Apex and $500 for the pay-per-view. You got me thinking, like, how come they’re going to ask the judge to do a great job if the commission’s not paying enough for this guy, right? It’s not even the UFC. The UFC threw a lot of money into the commission. The Commission comes with the job, but the judges aren’t making enough money. Like, for sure, they get the job done. Don’t get me wrong, but they have to be compensated just as the fighter, just as anyone. But the commission has to step up.” said Gilbert Burns.

Burns’s analogy has been debunked by Aaron Bronsteter, however, still the amount the judges make per event is much less than what they actually should be getting. What’s your take on the payment disparity? State your thoughts in the comments below.

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