Dana White has vowed that UFC fighter pay will go up in the wake of the new broadcast deal with Paramount+ set to transform the sport and said to be worth more than $7bn.
Earlier this week came the stunning announcement that the UFC will have a new broadcaster from 2026, having signed with Paramount+ in a seven-year deal with an average annual value of $1.1bn, after its current contract with ESPN comes to an end.
In a significant break from the pay-per-view model that has helped the promotion become one of the most valuable and popular sports entities in the world, the UFC is embracing streaming and fans will pay a monthly subscription for content rather than increasingly costly one-off purchases for PPVs.
After the announcement was made on Monday (11 August), a lot of the fallout focused on increased exposure for fighters and how the move would impact the sport as a whole but UFC president White was quiet on what it might mean for fighters’ finances.
However, he has now broken cover and, in a press conference following Week 1 of the latest Dana White’s Contender Series, revealed a massive pay change that should excite his fighters.
“The low-hanging fruit that’s easy to answer? Bonuses are obviously going up,” White explained.
“That’ll be big, and forget about the tide rising with all the other fighters, just the number that the bonuses bring to a fighter, it’s millions of dollars.”
The UFC has been known to issue $50,000 post-fight performance bonuses to select fighters who put on standout showings in the Octagon and White’s words suggest there could be an increase in these sorts of payments.
“This is going to be incredible for the fighters. We’ve talked about how this is good for the fans and good for the sport, but the fighters are also big beneficiaries here,” White went on to explain to Front Office Sports.
“We’ve looked to increase fighter pay whenever we could, even back in the beginning when we were losing money, and certainly will be doing so again.”
At the moment, UFC fighters are generally paid on show-and-win contracts (e.g. $15,000 to fight, another $15,000 if they win), at least until they start climbing the ranks and managing to negotiate a bit more.
That pay increases over time but another factor is PPV points; if points are in their contract, athletes can earn more money if they are on the main card of a PPV and that event achieves a certain number of buys. The fact PPVs will no longer exist once the Paramount deal kicks in suggests there will need to be other ways to reward fighters for competing at big events.
The UFC signed with ESPN in 2018 and began a partnership in 2019, but their contract expires this year. It was thought by some that the promotion could end up on Netflix, given the streaming platform is the main global broadcaster of WWE – the professional wrestling behemoth that is essentially the UFC’s sister company under ownership group TKO – and ironically, WWE just signed a broadcast deal for ESPN to show certain events going forward.
Instead, the UFC is embracing streaming, although Monday’s announcement stated that CBS, a cable network in the US, will show certain fights.
The statement also said that 2026 is set to feature 13 numbered events (previously pay-per-view events, for example UFC 317, 318, 319) and 30 Fight Night events. TNT Sports is currently the UFC’s UK broadcaster and is available through discovery+, and it is understood that the Paramount deal will not affect UK viewers.
“The historic deal for Paramount and CBS fans is incredible for UFC fans and our athletes,” White explained at the time. “For the first time ever, fans in the US will have access to all UFC content without a pay-per-view model, making it more affordable and accessible to view the greatest fights on a massive platform.
“This deal puts UFC amongst the biggest sports in the world. The exposure provided by the Paramount and CBS networks under this new structure is a huge win for our athletes and anyone who watches and loves this sport.”
