The UFC antitrust lawsuit unveils more fighter payouts.
More revelations have been made as a result of the ongoing UFC antitrust lawsuit. New fighter salaries have been revealed, including the three biggest stars in the sport's history: Conor McGregor, Ronda Rousey and Jon Jones.
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This development stems from Judge Boulware's push for the unsealing of all records related to the UFC antitrust lawsuit, aiming for transparency with minimal redaction.
Diligent journalists at Bloody Elbow managed to obtain access to select unsealed documents, including an "Internal Zuffa Bout Compensation" report authored by Roger D. Blair. This particular document contained comprehensive fighter compensation details, encompassing both disclosed and undisclosed payments, in addition to insights into side letters (An agreement that exists separately from the main contract)and discretionary bonuses (locker room bonuses).
The report refrained from specifying the fighters' names, but it did provide information about the number of fights each fighter had participated in within the UFC at that particular time, along with the count of fighters who received such a payout. Because of this, Bloody Elbow was able to decipher who the fighters were, including Conor McGregor, Ronda Rousey, and Jon Jones.
Here are the payouts for each fighter (via Bloody Elbow):
How Much Did The UFC Pay Conor McGregor?
| Compensation | Opponent | Opponent Compensation |
|---|---|---|
$3,285,000 (with $2.11M discretionary bonus) | Chad Mendes | --- |
$4,476,662 or $4,536,932 | Jose Aldo | $2,377,699 |
$5,576,315 | Nate Diaz 1 | $2,838,158 |
$5,615,490 | Nate Diaz 2 | $4,315,490 |
$6,812,374 | Eddie Alvarez | --- |
How Much Did The UFC Pay Ronda Rousey?
| Compensation | Opponent |
|---|---|
$574,720 | Liz Carmouche |
$1,817,907 | Miesha Tate |
$870,969 | Sara McMann |
$1,063,688 | Alexis Davis |
$1,458,282 | Cat Zingano |
$2,642,204 | Bethe Correia |
$4,476,662 or $4,536,932 | Holly Holm |
$4,879,766 | Amanda Nunes |
How Much Did The UFC Pay Jon Jones?
| Compensation | Opponent | Opponent Compensation |
|---|---|---|
$2,278,553 | Rashad Evans | --- |
$1,566,196 | Vitor Belfort | --- |
$2.75M | Chael Sonnen | $1.05M |
$1,173,560 | Alexander Gustafsson | --- |
$1,237,880 | Glover Teixeira | --- |
$3,637,500 | Daniel Cormier 1 | $1.14M |
$2,677,530 | Ovince St. Preux | --- |
Whilst recent fights are still undisclosed, it's startling to see the biggest stars in the sport not even cracking the eight-figure mark for compensation. McGregor and Rousey in particular are almost solely responsible for the UFC's exponential growth, yet their compensation is modest compared to the UFC's return on investment (ROI).
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In the biggest fight in the sport's history, McGregor alleged that he'd be making "around the $50 million mark" for fighting Khabib Nurmagomedov. This was an estimation based on PPV sales, of which McGregor reckoned UFC 229 would sell 3-3.5 million. MMA Fighting's Dave Meltzer would later estimate the PPV sales being closer to 2.4 million. Regardless of the PPV sales, both McGregor and Nurmagomedov's base salary was reported to be below $4 million for the biggest event in UFC history.
So despite the PPV-points (which are a negotiated benefit),there is still a lot of room for the UFC's most prominent athletes to further reap the rewards of their success.As the UFC antitrust lawsuit appears to move towards trial in early 2024, we can anticipate further developments and potential adjustments by the UFC that could influence the sport of MMA, ultimately benefiting both the athletes and the fans.
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