What benefits do UFC fighters get?

[Kdup]

I'm an Accounting Manager (CPA) for a mid-size tech company. I'll just say my total compensation (salary + bonus) is north of $100K a year, which is more than what most UFC fighters are going to make fighting for the organization.

It really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things though. I make more than most of their fighters (though likely work more hours), have significantly better benefits than they do (I basically have everything they have, plus more) and do it with almost no personal risk of injury or long term impacts of my job.

There's two things they have that I will never have in my line of work:
1. Fame/popularity
2. The ability to make a gigantic more amount of money, pending how good they are at their job.

They have a much, much, much higher ceiling in current earning capacity. I also have a considerably higher floor.

You really are a god!

 

[Fioretti]

I'm an Accounting Manager (CPA) for a mid-size tech company. I'll just say my total compensation (salary + bonus) is north of $100K a year, which is more than what most UFC fighters are going to make fighting for the organization.

It really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things though. I make more than most of their fighters (though likely work more hours), have significantly better benefits than they do (I basically have everything they have, plus more) and do it with almost no personal risk of injury or long term impacts of my job.

There's two things they have that I will never have in my line of work:
1. Fame/popularity
2. The ability to make a gigantic more amount of money, pending how good they are at their job.

They have a much, much, much higher ceiling in current earning capacity. I also have a considerably higher floor.

Ok.

There is also a significant amount of fighters who make what you make in a year, in a single fight, and every fighter has the opportunity to earn half of your salary from putting on a great performance in just one fight .

There are many who are also at $75k show/win who could match your year in 15-25 minutes or less. There are always pros and cons to having different pay and bonus structures. You're essentially comparing two opposite fields of work. Many people prefer performance based occupations because of the potential. You obviously prefer something with very little risk and more stability.

There are countless jobs around the world that offer potentially limitless income with little to no benefits, and no chance of sponsorship, fame, or anything of the sort. I personally have always preferred commission/performance-based employment. Doing your job better than your peers should be rewarded with better compensation. You (I think) said earlier that you can perform poorly at your job and still make the same money AND keep your employment. That's not necessarily a positive thing. It's all about perspective and preference.

If I make my boss/company $3M in a single day, and you made them $0-15k - why in the holy fuck should you get paid the same amount of money as I do?

 

[PokerGod23]

Ok.

There is also a significant amount of fighters who make what you make in a year, in a single fight, and every fighter has the opportunity to earn half of your salary from putting on a great performance in just one fight .

There are many who are also at $75k show/win who could match your year in 15-25 minutes or less. There are always pros and cons to having different pay and bonus structures. You're essentially comparing two opposite fields of work. Many people prefer performance based occupations because of the potential. You obviously prefer something with very little risk and more stability.

There are countless jobs around the world that offer potentially limitless income with little to no benefits, and no chance of sponsorship, fame, or anything of the sort. I personally have always preferred commission/performance-based employment. Doing your job better than your peers should be rewarded with better compensation. You (I think) said earlier that you can perform poorly at your job and still make the same money AND keep your employment. That's not necessarily a positive thing. It's all about perspective and preference.

If I make my boss/company $3M in a single day, and you made them $0-15k - why in the holy fuck should you get paid the same amount of money as I do?

Sure.

I'm not disputing that they have the ability to make more. In fact, I stated that very clearly, when I said they have a higher earning ceiling.

What I disputed was, simply, that there's almost no benefit they have that I don't have from an employer perspective. Its fame/popularity/notoriety. That's it. Stuff like healthcare, pensions, retirement savings, workers compensation, paid expenses, etc... We are either on par, or mine are significantly better.

The guys who get paid more do so because a) they're making more money for their employer and/or b) they're assuming more risk than I am. Nobody is more aware of that than I am.

If we want to go all the way with the compensation thing... we would of course also need to factor in the idea of how long they'll work and what kind of income they'll have vs what I have.

Short of me screwing up intentionally, or some significant lifetime event (which would also apply to an MMA fighter), my earning capacity will most likely only INCREASE as I age. I'll make more at 40 than 30. I'll make more at 50 than 40. With a UFC fighter... the opposite is largely true. They'll plateau at earning power relatively young (likely in their mid 30s, and that's if they're really good) and that income will likely sharply decline after they're out of the sport. Depending on what education, skills, knowledge they have, that decline could be gigantic. If they're used to making $200K a year fighting 2-3 times a year, how many jobs exist for ex-UFC fighters that will pay them that to do just about anything? Not many.

My entire argument wasn't to make you or anybody else think that not being a UFC fighter is better than being one. The exercise was about a list of "benefits" that were listed that UFC fighters have, and the question of "does your employer give you those". And my answer was, primarily, yes, he does. And he gives those to me for significantly less personal and physical risk, as well as, mostly, higher compensation, regardless of whether that's short term or long term.

Is it a positive thing to be non-performance based? I don't know. That's individualistic. If you suck at what you do, I'd say its a huge positive thing. If you don't have the desire to be better, work harder, and succeed, which generally speaking, most human beings don't, then I'd say its a huge positive thing.

There's no one size-fits-all mentality.

 

[HydraCap3]

They get to fight for a living and not work a real job.

 

[Tugboat]

Steroids in their supplements, and they don’t even have to ask.

 

[rjmbrd]

There is also a significant amount of fighters who make what you make in a year, in a single fight, and every fighter has the opportunity to earn half of your salary from putting on a great performance in just one fight .

There are many who are also at $75k show/win

Bullshit.

There are 500 fighters on the roster.

What is the average yearly purse accrued for the group?

The guy you are responding is not an outlier in his compensation for his job. The people consistently earning 75k/show in the UFC are unequivocally in the minority.

 

[Joshua Judd]

Random people coming up to you asking for pictures while you’re out in public.

 

[campbecc]

Yes, the UFC covers 100% of fight related medical and I also believe injuries that happen during training, but double check me.

The level of medical care fighters receive is leagues above other organizations another reasons many fighters are reluctant to leave the UFC for other organizations

Many fighters consider USADA a benefit

The UFC also built the PI which acts as a hi-tech Rehan center that helps fighter recover from injuries.

The UFC has team of chefs and nutritionists that helps fighters with their meals.

Thru also have a team of experts that help the fighters cut weight safely.

most (if not all) commissions require any organization to cover injuries in a fight. I could have sworn they started providing health insurance in general a few years back, of course that would have been in the Zuffa era so maybe they did and WME stopped?

 

[Fioretti]

Bullshit.

There are 500 fighters on the roster.

What is the average yearly purse accrued for the group?

The guy you are responding is not an outlier in his compensation for his job. The people consistently earning 75k/show in the UFC are unequivocally in the minority.

You're mostly right, but you're missing one key factor. My comment was that guys making $75k show/win can make his yearly salary (or more) in 25 minutes or less. If those fighters fight 3 times in a year, they're making 3x his annual salary in less than an hour and a half of competition, if they were in main event 5 rounders. It would be in less than 1 hour even if they had 3 decisions in non title or non main event fights.

Let's use fighters who get $30k show/win instead? 3 wins in a year is $180k. 3 losses is $90k.

Do you know what the US national average household income is? $61.9k. That's including all of the 1%ers, dual incomes, etc. A "shitty" $30k show/win UFC contract will gross just under 50% more than the national average with 3 losses. Not including any bonuses, sponsorships, or anything else.

Weird

 

[Fioretti]

Sure.

I'm not disputing that they have the ability to make more. In fact, I stated that very clearly, when I said they have a higher earning ceiling.

What I disputed was, simply, that there's almost no benefit they have that I don't have from an employer perspective. Its fame/popularity/notoriety. That's it. Stuff like healthcare, pensions, retirement savings, workers compensation, paid expenses, etc... We are either on par, or mine are significantly better.

The guys who get paid more do so because a) they're making more money for their employer and/or b) they're assuming more risk than I am. Nobody is more aware of that than I am.

If we want to go all the way with the compensation thing... we would of course also need to factor in the idea of how long they'll work and what kind of income they'll have vs what I have.

Short of me screwing up intentionally, or some significant lifetime event (which would also apply to an MMA fighter), my earning capacity will most likely only INCREASE as I age. I'll make more at 40 than 30. I'll make more at 50 than 40. With a UFC fighter... the opposite is largely true. They'll plateau at earning power relatively young (likely in their mid 30s, and that's if they're really good) and that income will likely sharply decline after they're out of the sport. Depending on what education, skills, knowledge they have, that decline could be gigantic. If they're used to making $200K a year fighting 2-3 times a year, how many jobs exist for ex-UFC fighters that will pay them that to do just about anything? Not many.

My entire argument wasn't to make you or anybody else think that not being a UFC fighter is better than being one. The exercise was about a list of "benefits" that were listed that UFC fighters have, and the question of "does your employer give you those". And my answer was, primarily, yes, he does. And he gives those to me for significantly less personal and physical risk, as well as, mostly, higher compensation, regardless of whether that's short term or long term.

Is it a positive thing to be non-performance based? I don't know. That's individualistic. If you suck at what you do, I'd say its a huge positive thing. If you don't have the desire to be better, work harder, and succeed, which generally speaking, most human beings don't, then I'd say its a huge positive thing.

There's no one size-fits-all mentality.

Good post, well said.

It's a different business model with a different pay structure. Hard to compare the benefits package of two jobs like this. I didn't catch the post you were responding to before, and it makes more sense now why you were listing off your benefits. Initially it appeared as though you were implying that fighters should have the same benes as a CPA or something along those lines.

 

[rjmbrd]

You're mostly right, but you're missing one key factor. My comment was that guys making $75k show/win can make his yearly salary (or more) in 25 minutes or less. If those fighters fight 3 times in a year, they're making 3x his annual salary in less than an hour and a half of competition, if they were in main event 5 rounders. It would be in less than 1 hour even if they had 3 decisions in non title or non main event fights.

Let's use fighters who get $30k show/win instead? 3 wins in a year is $180k. 3 losses is $90k.

Do you know what the US national average household income is? $61.9k. That's including all of the 1%ers, dual incomes, etc. A "shitty" $30k show/win UFC contract will gross just under 50% more than the national average with 3 losses. Not including any bonuses, sponsorships, or anything else.

Weird

What is the average guaranteed purse of the ~500 contracted UFC fighters, and what is the average number of bouts per year?

(pro tip: it isn't 3 fights, and its not 30k)

 

[Fioretti]

What is the average guaranteed purse of the ~500 contracted UFC fighters, and what is the average number of bouts per year?

(pro tip: it isn't 3 fights, and its not 30k)

According to this article:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.th...yle/sports/highest-paid-ufc-fighters-15093778

The average fighter pay is $138k.

187 fighters made more than $100k

 

[Lethal_Striker]

They get all of the free neck tattoos that they want, just ask Cody Garbrandt.

 

[Fioretti]

What is the average guaranteed purse of the ~500 contracted UFC fighters, and what is the average number of bouts per year?

(pro tip: it isn't 3 fights, and its not 30k)

Here's a more recent article:

https://thesportsdaily.com/2019/12/30/2019-ufc-fighter-salaries-complete-list-fox11/

The previous one was numbers from 2018, this one is from 2019, and actually gives a breakdown of the entire roster's salary.

36% of the roster made $100k+

37% of the roster made less than $45k

This is salary only, no bonuses or sponsor money. Not as bad as you thought, eh?

 

[SeattleFightFan]

According to this article:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.th...yle/sports/highest-paid-ufc-fighters-15093778

The average fighter pay is $138k.

187 fighters made more than $100k

In 2018 the median average is half that:

https://thesportsdaily.com/2019/01/13/2018-ufc-fighter-salaries-complete-list-fox11/

1 Conor McGregor $ 3,030,000
285 Julio Arce* $ 68,500
570 Molly McCann* $ 11,500​

And to quote the article you posted, even the median average is "well ahead of the $45,000 yearly salary of the average U.S. full-time worker."

Since you brought up mean salary I thought you'd appreciate this angle. That the median average is half the mean average is pretty telling. I suppose your article says the same thing when it says "...the top 20 or so fighters earn the lion's share of the cash in the UFC circuit...."

....but of course all of this is totally outside the scope of this OP.

 

[ProperLad]

ngl if I was in the UFC and I got that Id be pretty hyped. Reebok does have some comfy shit

 

[avenue94]

You're mostly right, but you're missing one key factor. My comment was that guys making $75k show/win can make his yearly salary (or more) in 25 minutes or less. If those fighters fight 3 times in a year, they're making 3x his annual salary in less than an hour and a half of competition, if they were in main event 5 rounders. It would be in less than 1 hour even if they had 3 decisions in non title or non main event fights.

Let's use fighters who get $30k show/win instead? 3 wins in a year is $180k. 3 losses is $90k.

Do you know what the US national average household income is? $61.9k. That's including all of the 1%ers, dual incomes, etc. A "shitty" $30k show/win UFC contract will gross just under 50% more than the national average with 3 losses. Not including any bonuses, sponsorships, or anything else.

Weird

Those fighters will make more the average income but you're missing some things.
-Fighters aren't just paid for those 15/25 minutes, they're paid for the couple months of training before essentially.
-Average worker isn't giving 20 percent to manager, 20 percent to their camp, etc., training expenses (a lot of fighters aren't smart enough to leverage the tax system to their benefit)

TLDR: 30k show/win is not that great for money and probably wouldn't pull in more net income than your average worker.

 

[Fioretti]

In 2018 the median average is half that:

https://thesportsdaily.com/2019/01/13/2018-ufc-fighter-salaries-complete-list-fox11/

1 Conor McGregor $ 3,030,000
285 Julio Arce* $ 68,500
570 Molly McCann* $ 11,500​

And to quote the article you posted, even the median average is "well ahead of the $45,000 yearly salary of the average U.S. full-time worker."

Since you brought up mean salary I thought you'd appreciate this angle. That the median average is half the mean average is pretty telling. I suppose your article says the same thing when it says "...the top 20 or so fighters earn the lion's share of the cash in the UFC circuit...."

....but of course all of this is totally outside the scope of this OP.

I mean, it's not MY article, man. It was the first thing that popped up on google. I posted a much more in-depth and relevant article shortly after that, which shows each individual fighter's disclosed salary. It also shows 36% of the roster made $100k+

 

[Black Paladin]

Bonus incentives are written into your contract. The POTN bonus isn't part of that contract and is additional. Does your job give out 50k bonuses? I'd say that's substantial. Cars seems to be another popular gift the UFC gives out to fighters.

As one famous musician put it (can't remember which): "How about you pay me right, and I'll buy my OWN fuckin' Caddy?"

Something of the sort.

 

[Fioretti]

Those fighters will make more the average income but you're missing some things.
-Fighters aren't just paid for those 15/25 minutes, they're paid for the couple months of training before essentially.
-Average worker isn't giving 20 percent to manager, 20 percent to their camp, etc., training expenses (a lot of fighters aren't smart enough to leverage the tax system to their benefit)

TLDR: 30k show/win is not that great for money and probably wouldn't pull in more net income than your average worker.

Good points, but again, 36% are making more than six figures in disclosed pay. Manager and camp expenses are write-offs, they reduce your total taxable income.

A fighter making 30k show/win, who fights 2-3 times a year is absolutley making more than the average worker who grosses $45k. They're grossing double in three losses, and would quadruple that $45k with 3 wins. There's no question they would net more than the average worker.

One thing that I haven't mentioned yet is the fact that the 37% of the roster making less than $45k also includes any fighters with $45k or less show/win who only fought once and lost. This includes anybody unable to fight due to injury, suspension, or getting cut.

63% of the roster is grossing more than the average American worker in disclosed pay only. It's not like the majority these fighters are going hungry or need public housing. Some may, of course, and that very well may be why they CHOSE to be fighters.