Schaub's math is simply straight out whack, as are most of the "estimates" that shoddy articles like the ESPN article regarding fighter pay espouse. There's not a functional active business on the planet that can operate on 10% labor cost. Maybe you could make that argument if the UFC was a hedge fund or something (passive business), but an active business with employees and contractors? Not fiscally possible.
Just doing a napkin calculation, let's take UFC 190. Only 1 title fight.
1M PPV's @ $60 = $60M. 50% goes to the cable distributor. 50% to the UFC. That leaves $30M.
Rousey cleared $3M-$5M for that fight. So, by herself she's taking 10-20% of the UFC's PPV revenue.
Toss in that the UFC is actually paying all the fighters on the card varying amounts, the production staff for broadcast, all the staff to build and tear down the venue, the staff to transport equipment to and from the venue, staff to co-ordinate fight night, staff to manage and produce the media and marketing events, the staff back at the UFC HQ necessary to manage the marketing, production and merchandising ends, support staff to handle legal clearances, visa's, tax submissions, staff to co-ordinate with PPV providers and broadcasters, etc, etc, etc.
And that's with only ONE title holder on the card versus a card like UFC 194 where you'll have 2 current title holders (Aldo, Weidman), 1 interim title holder (McGregor) and a challenger (Rockhold), all of whom except Rockhold will have guaranteed PPV percentages. Their percentages don't go down just because they have more title holders on the card. They still get their $1-$3+ per buy above 100K or whatever their contract threshold is.
In other words, 10% for all the UFC's employees is so far out of the realm of reason that it's patently absurd.
Fertitta said point blank during an interview that the UFC's labor costs are comparable to other major sports which would put it at closer to 45-50%. I doubt it's quite that high, but 30-45% is well within the realm of reason. Hell, even your local restaurant will run 30-35% labor cost.
Now, the only really valid point that Schaub made in his discussion is that the changes the UFC are making doesn't make a difference to him because he won't be around to benefit from most of the sacrifices of the current fighters.
Just like the previous generation of fighters didn't benefit from the current state of the UFC, this generation won't benefit nearly as much as the next generation of fighters.
That doesn't mean that the UFC is evil, it means that the UFC and the fighters have different objectives. The UFC is looking to both grow their business and earn profits just as every other business on the planet.
The fighters are looking to maximize their earnings and for the most part don't care about the future of the sport as a whole if it conflicts with their retirement savings. That's perfectly understandable as the fighters need to look out for themselves.
It's called differing objectives and motives. This happens in every business when you have profit and growth pitted against worker earnings. The only question is where that balance will eventually settle.
