Reactions to UFC’s groundbreaking take care of Paramount have generated a slew of reactions.
On Monday, information broke that Paramount had plunked down a whopping $7.7 billion to develop into the unique streaming residence of the Final Combating Championship’s occasions beginning in 2026 — together with premium numbered occasions which will likely be obtainable as a part of the month-to-month subscription service.
That bit of stories alone was sufficient for combat followers to rejoice.
Nonetheless, there was numerous discuss how eliminating the antiquated pay-per-view mannequin will influence fighter pay. Historically, UFC championship and high stars obtain PPV factors as a part of their contract. Basically, it permits fighters to earn a bonus based mostly on the buyrate of a specific PPV occasion. The extra individuals who purchase it, the extra money the athlete takes residence.
With PPV basically eradicated as of 2026, does that imply fighters will lose a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars} within the course of? Whereas one UFC legend suggests that could be the case, three-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen disagrees.
“The concept fighters can be paid much less? Fighters have by no means been paid much less,” Sonnen mentioned through his YouTube channel. “And that features years the corporate made much less. In case your conclusion is that fighters will make much less now — when you’re being given the reward of now not paying for pay-per-views — then I really feel you will have vastly missed the purpose.
“There’s by no means a time in historical past, together with the years the UFC was shedding cash, the place year-over-year fighter pay didn’t go up. That wasn’t negotiated, by the best way. That was accomplished by the workplace that mentioned, ‘Hey, allocate and get extra money to those guys.’ The concept you realize what an MMA fighter makes is fake. It’s merely false.”
Dana White addresses fighter pay issues following Paramount deal … Kind of
Following Tuesday’s new episode of Dana White’s Contender Collection, the UFC CEO briefly addressed a few of the issues surrounding fighter pay, revealing that bonuses are “clearly” going up.
“Pay attention, I’m not going to have any feedback on that as a result of we’ve nonetheless received to get collectively and determine these things out,” White informed reporters on the Contender Series scrum on Tuesday. “It’s August, now we have till January to determine that stuff out. However the low-hanging fruit that’s straightforward to reply? Bonuses are clearly going up. In order that will likely be massive. Neglect concerning the tide rising with all the opposite fighters, simply the quantity that the bonuses convey to a fighter is hundreds of thousands of {dollars}.”
