Ex-UFC star, Matt Brown, during his appearance on The Fighter vs. The Writer, said, “I’ve never heard of a business in my life where the employees — if you want to call us employees or even subcontractors — where they’re going to say, ‘I shouldn’t be paid more, they’re paying me a perfect amount of money.’ That is so unbelievable to me.” This possibly let the UFC CEO Dana White breathe a sigh of relief. Why? Because Brown blamed the fighters for the low pay issue? Bizarre, right?

“They’re running a business, and they run it very f*cking well. They’ve done an amazing job building their business. I think 99 percent of people in their shoes would be doing very similar to what they’re doing… If anybody is to blame for fighter pay, it’s the fighters — and I’m one of them, at least formerly,” Brown said. Now, he did make it clear that he would do what he had to do behind closed doors to fight for better pay. In public, he believes, it will downright backfire if you pick a fight with the promotion for better pay.  But the world of mixed martial arts still lashes out at White with allegations of low fighter pay.

Recently, a budding UFC analyst, who goes on Instagram as Jordan Does UFC, shared some details about the MMA promotion’s revenue in the past two years. He revealed that the company earned a significantly higher number in 2024 than it did in 2023. But how much extra did the TKO Group generate in revenues? The UFC analyst said, “TKO announced in 2023, the UFC earned $1.292 billion, and in 2024, they managed to hit $1.4 billion. It is rumor that only 14.5% of this money was paid out to the UFC fighters.” That’s a little over $200 million dispensed via paychecks and bonuses to the fighters.

However, Jordan Does UFC couldn’t really confirm the exact amount that the UFC earned in profit, although he claimed that a handful of articles pointed the numbers to be around 50%. But the TKO Group isn’t backing down. After all, the company has planned to earn a lot more in 2025. The analyst continued, “TKO is forecasting that in the year 2025, the UFC will see a significant increase in revenue. Now, the company, TKO, expected the UFC’s revenue this year to be between $2.9 and $3 billion.”

Well, back in 2024, the UFC head honcho excited the fighting community to a greater extent with a wholesome promise for 2025. Let’s take a look at what White had to say about his plans for the future. 

Dana White reveals his plans for 2025

At the post-fight press conference for UFC Tampa, the last UFC event in 2024, the UFC head honcho made a strong stance regarding the fight promotion’s future in 2025. Of course, he promised some big and entertaining fights. White said, “I foresee big fights. I have something in my hands that will drive them [the media] crazy. You will all be running from one place to another. I’m preparing something you’ll never see coming for 2025. It began to take shape last night. Yes, fun things are coming.”

And that was true indeed. We witnessed a battle between Islam Makhachev and Renato Moicano at UFC 311, and the event generated a revenue of around $10 million from the gates. The gate revenue for UFC 312 was more than $7.6 million. But UFC 313 broke all boundaries with Alex Pereira vs. Magomed Ankalaev. The PPV revenue was around $63 million, and the gates were for $10 million. And UFC 314 got $11.5 million in gates. 

The amounts are indeed nowhere near the targeted $3 billion yet. But there are a few more interesting matchups reportedly planned for the future. And one of those matchups is Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall. All we need to do as fans is wait and watch the story unfold. And as far as fighter pay is concerned, Matt Brown has already cleared that out. 

What are your thoughts on the UFC’s success in 2024? Do you think the fight promotion should have paid the fighters a bit more, given its monetary success in the financial year? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.