Controversy surrounding fighter pay in the UFC has been an omnipresent topic for many years but lately the promotion has taken more than a few very public hits over how much athletes are earning, especially with names like Ronda Rousey and Jon Jones lashing out over grievances with the promotion.
As she plotted her comeback, Rousey revealed she first approached the UFC with the idea to fight Gina Carano, but the two sides weren’t able to come to an agreement and she eventually signed with Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions with her return airing on Netflix. As for Jones, he complained that the UFC refused to budge over a $15 million offer to have him fight at the upcoming White House card after he was reportedly offered $30 million for a heavyweight title bout against Tom Aspinall.
But despite all the public outcry about how the UFC is conducting business these days, Matt Brown isn’t buying that the biggest combat sports promotion in the world is suddenly feeling threatened.
“I would start with saying no, we are not at a breaking point,” Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “The UFC is still the powerhouse. Look, people like me and you might sit and talk about how yeah maybe it’s not the best fighting the best, it’s Jon Jones versus [Tom] Aspinall or whatever best versus best would, because the UFC has all the best I can think of. It’s not [Francis] Ngannou versus Jones. 99.9-percent of people have no idea who the best even is. Most people don’t even care [and] are never going to talk about Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones is old news now. They got new stars to replace him.
“Could it get to a breaking point is the question and when people like Jon Jones stand up and say ‘I’m not going to fight for $15 million’ — that’s when I think the ball can roll a little bit, but it’s more like nudging the ball that even rolling.”
Brown definitely understands Jones’ complaint that he was being offered $15 million — the same figure Zuffa Boxing is reportedly paying Conor Benn, who isn’t nearly on the same level of popularity or accomplishment as the former two-division UFC champion.
But Brown believes at this stage of the game, the UFC is effectively too big to fail and the organization is never going to sweat missing out on one particular fight because there’s dozens more ready to take its place.
“I’m on Jon Jones’ side on this,” Brown said. “There’s been enough things I’ve not been on Jon Jones’ side about but I think from his point of view, he’s look at it like you’re paying Conor Benn $15 million, who’s a mid-boxer right now. He might be a great champion of the future, but he hasn’t had those title shots, and he hasn’t even had those opportunities yet. He has one good win on his record over [Chris] Eubanks, I think that’s probably his best win. Jon Jones is like ‘bitch, I’ve got 15 title defenses, I’m greatest f*cking champion in UFC history, bitch. Why am I getting the same amount as this guy?’ Everybody knows who Jon Jones is versus Conor Benn.
“I get where Jon is coming from on that situation. But again when you say breaking point, I don’t think it’s at a breaking point and I think the UFC or TKO [Group Holdings] or Endeavor, however you want to phrase it, they’re like ‘we’re putting out cards and people are going to watch them because we’re the UFC’ and I think that’s true.”
With 325 million subscribers, Netflix getting involved in MMA with the upcoming Rousey vs. Carano card is definitely big business and there’s a good chance that event crushes every UFC show in 2026 — including the upcoming card at the White House.
That said, Brown knows the UFC machine is going to just keep rolling along, and he’s not sure anybody is capable of slowing that down, especially without making a truly significant investment in the sport that goes beyond these big marquee events.
“They are the powerhouse,” Brown said about the UFC. “They’re the f*cking top of the world. Everybody else is fighting for scraps way at the bottom. There’s not even a f*cking close second. Now Netflix they can invest the money and potentially do things to potentially make a dent at some point. There’s a lot of potentials there, right?
“This is a f*cking monster. I don’t think just putting on fights with big names is going to sway people from wanting to see the best and when the UFC says these are the best, people believe them. Me and you may not be on the same page. Me and you might sit here and say ‘that’s not the best, it’s not Jones [versus] Ngannou.’ Are you going to tell me when you go to the bar and you watch the fights and the UFC puts out the promo and everybody’s watching the pre-fight promo and they’re like these motherf*ckers are the best. Don’t tell me that Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett aren’t the best two to be fighting for an interim title. I’ve got to see this, these are the best two!”
The only real concern that the UFC might face in the future really does come down to how much the promotion is willing to pay the superstars and champions commanding the biggest audiences.
This past weekend at UFC London, Dana White admitted he sat down with Nate Diaz for a meeting recently but the two sides didn’t strike a deal because Diaz eventually signed onto the Rousey vs. Carano card where he’s facing Mike Perry. White said he believed Diaz received an offer “he couldn’t refuse” with veteran UFC color commentator Joe Rogan later stated he heard it was more than $10 million for the fight.
The UFC could obviously afford to pay Diaz over $10 million but instead allowed him to sign with MVP instead. Could that come back to bite the UFC?
Brown is skeptical at best on that subject, especially when it comes to events featuring aging superstars signed for one big event rather than actually building something for the future.
“It’s nowhere near a breaking point,” Brown said. “The thing is the UFC, they already did the gimmick fights. I don’t think we’re going to get that maybe ever again. They did the CM Punk thing. They brought up women’s MMA with Ronda, it’s not really a gimmick. They did the Brock Lesnar thing, they did all this stuff. They built the UFC up to the ginormous brand that it is now, they sold it off and now it’s such a ginormous brand that they can go around and say ‘we are the premiere promotion with the best fighters in the world’ and they’re not going to say this part out loud but ‘we have a lock on the best fighters in the world with our exclusive contracts.’ They’re not going anywhere. We have all best fighters in the world and they’re not lying about it. They have the best fighters in the world and they put on the best fights in the world.
“To be able to compete with that if you’re an MVP or Netflix whatever and you want to compete with that and again, I question whether that’s actually their motive because that’s such a f*cking battle, we’re nowhere near a breaking point … I have a hard time believing it will ever happen unless the UFC completely f*cks up. The only way it would possibly happen would be the lawsuit coming in with injunctive relief and opening up the market and changing the contracts. That’s literally the only way that there’s any chance of anyone getting anywhere near the UFC and even then, it’s probably still not going to happen.”
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