UFC’s Parent Company Endeavor’s CFO Makes Faulty Fighter Pay Comparison With Golf: “Right Comparison Is to Other Individual Sports”

UFC fighter pay has been an issue of debate for a while. Many have questioned UFC President Dana White upon this several times. Thus, UFC’s parent company, Endeavor’s CFO, Jason Lublin, recently commented on the same.

Endeavor executives recently revealed the company’s sports properties saw a five percent increase year over year. Their sports properties include the UFC. It was also revealed that every PPV event in the first quarter of the year sold out its venues.

Thus, with a huge profit margin, Lublin tackled the pressing fighter’s pay issue. He spoke about the issue in comparison to the pay athletes receive in other major sports leagues, like the NFL and NBA.

He said (h/t MMA Fighting), “We agree there has been a lot of comparisons drawn to team sports such as the NFL and NBA, and we actually don’t think that is the right comparison to the UFC. We think the right comparison is to other individual sports, such as the PGA tour, F1, NASCAR, and ATP.”

“If you look at those athletes and what they’re paid as a relative percentage of revenue for those leagues, it’s right in line where the UFC is with their athlete compensation.”

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When compared to the NBA and NFL, there is a vast difference in the revenue UFC fighters receive. While NFL and NBA pay out around 50% of revenue to their athletes, the UFC pays around 16%-20% of the revenue to their athletes.

Is UFC fighter pay on par with other individual sports?

While Lublin claimed that UFC pay was on a similar level with other individual sports, that might not be the case. In late 2021, PGA Tour commissioner, Jay Manahan, revealed in a statement that 55% of the tour’s money would go into prize money paid to the players.

An article by ‘Bleacher Report‘, gave a prize breakdown for the top finishers in the Players Championship 2022. As per their report, the winner got a whopping $3.6 million. This is the fattest paycheck in professional golf history. The total prize money of the top 10 finishers thus touched $20 million.

Thus, Lubin comparing UFC’s pay to that of the PGA tour might not be right. In addition to this, the ATP tennis tour generally has a payout of about 20% to 30% of the revenue.

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Prior to Lubin, Endeavor CEO, Ari Emanuel, was asked a similar question. Emanuel, however, chose to not answer the question.

What do you think about UFC’s fighter pay? Let us know in the comments.