The 20 Highest-Paid UFC Fighters of All Time...

Ginja_Ninja said:
I would say you are right on that because operating costs most of these sports would not compare to a full time league like the UFC.

From what I see, in 30 years the UFC has built a entire league that is number 2 in combat sports fighter pay. Not bad
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Along with ad revenues, gates, concessions, ESPN app partnership, PPV revenue....we can go back and forth all day but the main issue with fighters not getting paid more in the UFC comes down to corporate greed & control. A major problem in the world that goes unregulated in a multitude of industries.
 
tgv976 said:
Along with ad revenues, gates, concessions, ESPN app partnership, PPV revenue....we can go back and forth all day but the main issue with fighters not getting paid more in the UFC comes down to corporate greed & control. A major problem in the world that goes unregulated in a multitude of industries.
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From what I see the fighters are getting paid. They are the second highest paid combat sport in only a 30 year history. Might even be number one if we shift our focus to their bottom level pay instead of their top level pay. You can call it cooperate greed, sure. That is what is need to build an actual corporation, something most other combat sports are not doing.
 
Ginja_Ninja said:
From what I see the fighters are getting paid. They are the second highest paid combat sport in only a 30 year history. Might even be number one if we shift our focus to their bottom level pay instead of their top level pay. You can call it cooperate greed, sure. That is what is need to build an actual corporation, something most other combat sports are not doing.
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You make it sound like there are so many combat sports to be compared to. And if Pro Wrestling counts as a combat sport (which I dont see why it doesnt, it is literally a cousin of MMA and the UFC's sister company is the WWE), it does pay better than MMA. That would make it third.

I have no idea what you mean by "bottom pay". If this is one of those "guys at boxing only make money at the top", then this wouldnt apply. Guys at the "bottom" of MMA make nothing also. 0 = 0.

Other combat sports do have promotions "like" the UFC. They are just not as successful as the UFC. Has nothing to do with being corporate.

The fact is almost every sports league in the world pays their athletes better relative to how much revenue they generate. There is no excuse for the UFC.

Companies that are way behind the UFC and companies that utterly dwarf the UFC both pay their athletes better.
 
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tgv976 said:
Just for comparison here are the top 16 highest boxing payouts for 1 fight:

16. Anthony Joshua $25M vs Andy Ruiz
15. Jake Paul $30M vs Tommy Fury
14. Mike Tyson $30M vs Holyfield 2
13. Canello $35M vs Kovalev
12. Evander Holyfield $35M vs Tyson 2
11. Jake Paul $40M vs Tyson
10. Canello $45M vs GGG 3
9. Joshua $50M vs Ngannou
8. De la Hoya $52M vs Mayweather
7. Fury $60M vs Wilder 3
6. Mayweather $80M vs Canello
5. Fury $100M vs Usyk
4. McGregor $130M vs Mayweather
3. Pacman $150M vs Mayweather
2. Mayweather $250M vs Pacman
1. Mayweather $280M vs McGregor

So Mayweather in one fight on two occasions earned more than the entire top 20 UFC fighters ever.
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Jake Paul $30M vs Tommy Fury? That cant be true, and i think Joshua got a crazy amount for the Ruiz Jr. rematch.
 
Lmao this list was made by a retired football player who doesn't have a fuck what he's talking about.
 
Alex P making more than Izzy is comical since Izzy has been in the company longer and the whole reason Alex got recruited into the UFC
 
oski said:
as of right now:
20. Dan Henderson – £6,630,000
19. Islam Makhachev – £6,899,760
18. Vitor Belfort – £7,020,000
17. Dustin Poirier – £7,098,000
16. Mark Hunt – £7,644,000
15. Daniel Cormier – £7,956,000
14. Donald Cerrone – £8,268,000
13. Georges St-Pierre – £8,541,000
12. Junior Dos Santos – £8,580,00011
11. Michael Bisping – £8,658,00
10. Andrei Arlovski – £8,736,00
9. Israel Adesanya – £8,970,000
8. Alex Pereira – £9,750,000
7. Brock Lesnar – £10,369,100
6. Anderson Silva – £10,530,000
5. Stipe Miocic – £10,608,000
4. Alistair Overeem – £11,232,390
3. Jon Jones – £13,416,000
2. Khabib Nurmagomedov – £17,862,000
1. Conor McGregor – £30,654,000


Dana White: "This isn't a career, this is an opportunity."
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Assuming this is purse, from which the team has to be paid...

Man, $8 million in career earnings for an entire career in a gruelling occupation is kinda rough.
 
Brandino said:
That is exactly why they pay under the table. The disclosed salaries are always significantly lower then the real salaries for the main stars.

I'm really sure the IRS visits the UFC in Dubai and Saudi Arabia and inspects the money transactions to ensure taxation is paid.
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The UFC is going to commit tax fraud by paying fighters more under the table, hence lowering their own (the UFC's) expenses and increasing their tax obligation? Especially as part of a publicly traded company?

That sounds very very stupid.
 
Doctor Grudge said:
You make it sound like there are so many combat sports to be compared to. And if Pro Wrestling counts as a combat sport (which I dont see why it doesnt, it is literally a cousin of MMA and the UFC's sister company is the WWE), it does pay better than MMA. That would make it third.

I have no idea what you mean by "bottom pay". If this is one of those "guys at boxing only make money at the top", then this wouldnt apply. Guys at the "bottom" of MMA make nothing also. 0 = 0.

Other combat sports do have promotions "like" the UFC. They are just not as successful as the UFC. Has nothing to do with being corporate.

The fact is almost every sports league in the world pays their athletes better relative to how much revenue they generate. There is no excuse for the UFC.

Companies that are way behind the UFC and companies that utterly dwarf the UFC both pay their athletes better.
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Well that's just it, there is. The majority of combat sports however, you have to pay to compete in. WWE pays a better yearly salary but they are not beating out mma stars on a single events pay.

Yeah, talking about the bottom of the pay scale. UFC entry is around 10\10k.

Most other major sports organizations are over, or closing in on, 100 years history. They have built the sport, the brand, the infrastructure and in most cases had one or several player strikes to get to where they are.

I'm not trying to say we are in the perfect spot but were getting there. They've become number 2 in 30 years.
Next step should be to go back and work on getting a union going again.
 
Ginja_Ninja said:
Well that's just it, there is. The majority of combat sports however, you have to pay to compete in. WWE pays a better yearly salary but they are not beating out mma stars on a single events pay.
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Correct, so that means that WWE essentially are a paid better. Both sides have to cover expenses, but WWE wrestlers get a salary, which is better than a purse. Wrestlers get paid even if they are injured. Wrestlers do not need to have a fight camp which is expensive.

WWE wrestler make more money from merchandising and royalties than a UFC fighter does. Wrestlers get 6 figures just from the 2K games which are annually released, that's as much as a UFC fighter's purse (if they're on top).

Wrestlers also have more places "high level" places to work. There are more viable wrestling orgs than there are MMA orgs in the world.
Ginja_Ninja said:
Yeah, talking about the bottom of the pay scale. UFC entry is around 10\10k.

Most other major sports organizations are over, or closing in on, 100 years history. They have built the sport, the brand, the infrastructure and in most cases had one or several player strikes to get to where they are.

I'm not trying to say we are in the perfect spot but were getting there. They've become number 2 in 30 years.
Next step should be to go back and work on getting a union going again.
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We said the bottom of MMA, not the bottom of the UFC. The bottom of the UFC is not the bottom of MMA. Joining the UFC is already an accomplishment in MMA.

Fighters at the local scenes with no pedigree or established record get like 50 bucks. Even local champs like LFA guys only get a few hundred.
 
Doctor Grudge said:
Correct, so that means that WWE essentially are a paid better. Both sides have to cover expenses, but WWE wrestlers get a salary, which is better than a purse. Wrestlers get paid even if they are injured. Wrestlers do not need to have a fight camp which is expensive.

WWE wrestler make more money from merchandising and royalties than a UFC fighter does. Wrestlers get 6 figures just from the 2K games which are annually released, that's as much as a UFC fighter's purse (if they're on top).

Wrestlers also have more places "high level" places to work. There are more viable wrestling orgs than there are MMA orgs in the world.

We said the bottom of MMA, not the bottom of the UFC. The bottom of the UFC is not the bottom of MMA. Joining the UFC is already an accomplishment in MMA.

Fighters at the local scenes with no pedigree or established record get like 50 bucks. Even local champs like LFA guys only get a few hundred.
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This is where comparing to pro wrestling gets tough. I don't think a model of having mma fighters as salary employees would work as well. (Just going by google) Top wrestler salary last year was Lesnar at $12 mil. I would say Alex pulled close to that last year and any champion who is fighting 2-3 times a year should be in the same range as wwe counterparts. WWE would definitely win out on merchandising.

True enough, local mma there are just as many hundred dollar fighters. I was only thinking the organization but the point remains. Why do we only compare to the top .1% of boxers? Why only boxing?

They are not at the top of the very professional sports world yet but for mma to make it as far as it has on that list, all while building a sport that was illegal in lots of areas... that's pretty decent for a 30 year history.
 
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