Dana White isn’t worried too much about fighter pay concerns, but definitely doesn’t want to hear anything about UFC fighters making less money than WNBA players.
As part of a recent collective bargaining agreement reached with the league, WNBA players are now guaranteed at least $270,000 per year, which was a massive increase from the previous minimum at $66,000. Meanwhile at UFC, many fighters join the promotional roster getting paid $12,000 to fight with another $12,000 paid out with a win.
While UFC contracts typically in increase with each bout on a standard deal, a fighter elevating from $12,000 to $14,000 and then $16,000 over three fights would only be guaranteed to make at best $84,000 in that year. But White scoffs at the idea that the UFC should guarantee minimum salaries for newcomers who are still proving they belong in the promotion in the first place.
“Fighter pay has gone up every year, and it will continue to go up as long as we continue to be successful,” White told Rolling Stone. “But to compare it to the WNBA, that’s ridiculous.
“First of all, if you come into the UFC, let’s say you sign a three-fight deal, we’re going to find out if you even belong in the UFC. I should pay you $370,000 to see if you belong in the UFC?”
White has repeatedly stated fighter pay would go up in 2026, which is when the UFC’s new seven year, $7.7 billion deal with Paramount kicked off.
Some fighters have already complained they haven’t seen much change since that broadcast deal kicked in while others have praised the UFC for offering new bonuses including a standard $25,000 payout for a finish. The UFC also increased the post-fight bonuses handed out for Performance of the Night and Fight of the Night, which went from $50,000 to $100,000.
While the finish bonus is guaranteed for a knockout or submission, the other post-fight bonuses are arbitrary and UFC executives ultimately pick and choose who receives those awards.
Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions recently staged its first-ever MMA card that aired on Netflix and the minimum salary for the event was $40,000 paid as a flat fee without the standard show/win model. It seems unlikely the UFC will adopt a similar strategy moving forward, especially when it comes to minimum salaries for fighters just getting started with the organization.
“[Minimums] have increased,” White said about the UFC. “The question becomes what do you pay somebody to come in and see if they’re good enough to be there. What we’ve built and what we’ve done has been very successful and guys make lots of money in the UFC and there’s a middle class in the UFC.
“Meaning the guys obviously the top two people on a boxing card make all the money and the rest of the card makes nothing. Where as at the UFC, everybody makes money. And I have almost 1,000 guys under contract so these guys they have to fight three times a year and they know exactly what they’re going to get paid and the other thing that is a fact, since 2001 even in the days we were losing tens of millions of dollars, every fighter that ever fought for us was paid more than he was contracted to be paid.”
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