Boxing vs MMA/UFC Payments!

[oscar9992]

It's crazy how much more money boxers make compared to MMA/UFC fighters.

Even without May & Pac who made $180 & $120 millions respectivaly, Fury & Joshua were going to get paid $75-100 Millions each if they fought eachother for Undisputed HW Championship in Saudi Arabia.

MMA fighters, even UFC champions make peanuts compared to boxers, especially well known & hyped boxers. Pay difference is huge!

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

It’s sad. Many MMA legends who built the sport from the ground up have ended up broke. The sport remains in the dark ages, it’s how boxing was decades even centuries ago when fighters were being robbed and exploited left, right and centre, so fought until they had nothing left physically and ended up with nothing left financially regardless.

Dana White is worse than Don King IMO. At least King actually made his fighters millions before he robbed them, Dana only makes them thousands and is still robbing them.

I don’t get how any MMA fan can support Dana White. He’s a grade A scumbag.

[Ray*]

Honestly Dana white is like a slave owner of the 21st century, more people need to call them out on it. I know a lot of the fighters are "Happy" in the beginning but when you look at the percentage that they end up with after contributing to what is massive sales then it is a joke what they go home with in the end. I mean Kamaru Usman v Jorge M 1 sold 1.3M PPV buys, and both of them didn't even touch 3ms put together. Imagine if any current active boxer (Not named Pac) currently sells 1.3m PPV? not only would they make at least 3ms but they would be talking about being the cash cow of boxing, i mean they sell 350K now and boxing fans are gassing about it, but UFC consistently sell TWCE as much as that and the main guys only take home a fraction of it due to the contract that they are signed to. And when someone like Jon jones speaks up everyone always try to back white and call Jones "Scared" in the media.

Now you had Francis Ngannou asking questions this week after seeing what Paul was taking in against Mayweather, i can see a lot more of their fighters putting their foot down, it's just that they control so much of the media, that it is rather difficult for the fighters to be seen in a positive light, i remember when Jorge Masdival spoke up, he was going to get shelved, not being able to fight anywhere else, recently GSP couldn't take on De la Hoya because he is still in a slave contract with the UFC, where everything is controlled.

[TMLT87]

Its not as simple as that, boxings talent pool is 10-20 times bigger and that huge money is concentrated into the top 1%, if that. The UFCs roster is super bloated now, like 700+ fighters actively signed, thats a not insignificant percentage of the entire pro MMA talent pool. The average fighter probably has a better statistical chance of making a decent living in MMA based on that, but they wont ever get Floyd money.

The uncomfortable reality is that fighters having more say and making crazy money would probably be detrimental to the product from a fans perspective. If the UFC had to pay seven or eight figures in fight purses instead of six to get every halfway big fight made, you wouldnt be seeing as many big fights, and you certainly wouldnt be getting cards like this weekends one or that one 5-6 weeks ago very often either. Once the UFC monopoly breaks (which it will at some point, probably within the next 20 years) the sport will go the same way boxing has with lots of politics, waiting years for fights, champions everywhere etc etc.

[dan_cov]

While I do agree very few fighters in boxing are making millions.

Unless you're an elite fighter/serious draw with the backing in boxing chances are you're fighting more regularly and probably not making a great deal more than the UFC fighters fighting on Prelims and such.

A lot of journeymen and solid enough boxers are fighting 10-12 times a year, building up prospects and by the time they pay everyone they are barely making what you would from a f/t job working in a Supermarket.

[elfag]

The pay difference is even more crazy when you consider the popularity is atleast equal or in favor of UFC being more popular with casuals. I remember 12 years ago when i had a retail stint seeing action figures of UFC fighters in the stores toy section. They prob havent had that for boxing since atleast the 70s or 80s.

This is the difference between an open market with competing promoters in boxing vs a near monopoly with UFC atleast in the american + international market. Sure there are some regional / national MMA companies but UFC is the one with the most money except its controlled by one for profit corporation. Worse than even american sports leagues which the league itself is non profit / break even and only the teams are for profit.


Some of MMA top stars are making the same as Terrence crawford gets to beat on the uber driver bob arum found for him.

[elfag]

Its not as simple as that, boxings talent pool is 10-20 times bigger and that huge money is concentrated into the top 1%, if that. The UFCs roster is super bloated now, like 700+ fighters actively signed, thats a not insignificant percentage of the entire pro MMA talent pool. The average fighter probably has a better statistical chance of making a decent living in MMA based on that, but they wont ever get Floyd money.

The uncomfortable reality is that fighters having more say and making crazy money would probably be detrimental to the product from a fans perspective. If the UFC had to pay seven or eight figures in fight purses instead of six to get every halfway big fight made, you wouldnt be seeing as many big fights, and you certainly wouldnt be getting cards like this weekends one or that one 5-6 weeks ago very often either. Once the UFC monopoly breaks (which it will at some point, probably within the next 20 years) the sport will go the same way boxing has with lots of politics, waiting years for fights, champions everywhere etc etc.

Compare their undercard fights though. Look at like the guys who are 3rd - 5th fight from the main event in both boxing and UFC PPV and the boxers are still taking more than UFC.

[Science]

Most MMA fighters have to have 2nd jobs, alot of them "teach" at wrestling, jiu jitsu schools.

I remember looking at the pay for a UFC event a few years ago and KNOWN fighters were getting like 20-30k for fights!