100%.... This is a growing sport & marketing/expansion cost, not to mention customer acquisition to transition a fan into a new sport I can only imagine.... You're talking about an entire organization that was purchased for $1.8 Million in the 21st century.
The valuation of the company means very little as it sold at a valuation of close to 50x forward earnings... This was not cheap & the Fertittas needed to invest 20x their investment ($40M) in-order to simply keep the sport alive and get it to the mainstream.
From there, they needed to continue to re-invest without the platforms the other major sports organizations has. The cost to break through their barriers is exactly that, a cost.
You could not have possibly put 50% of revenue into the fighters pocket or the company would go bust... Dana & the Fertittas made millions a year, sure, but if we're going to look at it practically, they created enormous compensation & an entire industry that never existed prior to them. Additionally, they were not taking anywhere CLOSE to 30% of revenue for compensation (the difference between fighter pay of UFC and the big 4) & anyone who doesn't understand this isn't in a position to speak about this from knowledge.
Fighter compensation was far higher than executive compensation & the UFC/Zuffa had as many staff members working for the company as they did fighters. They had an entire floor of lawyers in their old office specifically designated to put out fires & create them where needed to move things forward.
The exponential growth in fighter pay is obvious for those looking. Everyone wants to make more & the bottom end of fighters has gone up far above inflation & the top tier the same. Compensation will continue to grow as exposure increases at this level & the fighters that do extremely well will be able to utilize their brand/image in many other avenues.
If you look at the businesses alone created by fighters from from their own gyms, spices, whisky & podcast (of which Zuffa/WME/UFC receives nothing of) the opportunities they have created is truly endless.
These lawsuits simply help keep the law industry alive, more often than not simply stealing value from both sides through the mask of a degree.. I'm not saying all lawyers are bad, or even most. There's some incredible lawyers who do amazing thing.. For the most part though, it is one of, if not the largest "value stealing" industries to ever exist... I guess that's why they make for great politicians