Do boxers actually earn greater than UFC fighters? We did the homework on the good pay debate

Within the lead-up to the current Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford mega-fight, UFC CEO Dana White as soon as once more pushed again towards a long-running speaking level in fight sports activities: The declare that boxers earn dramatically greater than blended martial artists. It’s a story White has spent years disputing, and as boxing’s newest blockbuster bout captured public consideration, he used the second to restate his case.

Chatting with Amber Dixon of Vegas PBS when requested about reviews of eight- and nine-figure purses for Crawford and Alvarez, White scoffed on the notion of an enormous pay hole:

“Everyone likes to throw the fighter pay on the market, but no person does their homework. It is only a enjoyable little sound chew. Most of those guys that struggle in boxing make $100 a spherical. Some guys will struggle for a title for $15,000. So, everyone talks, however no person does their homework.”

Later, chatting with Max Kellerman on “Contained in the Ring,” White doubled down:

“There’s at all times this speak that there is such an enormous pay discrepancy between boxing and MMA, which is complete bulls***. We’ve got guys that may be thought of journeymen within the UFC that make hundreds of thousands of {dollars}. The cash’s simply unfold out amongst the fighters higher. Then you’ve the fellows that basically matter, just like the Conor McGregors, the Ronda Rouseys. Even a girl got here in and was the best paid fighter on the time. You eat what you kill right here within the UFC.”

So based mostly on White’s suggestion to do some homework, let’s dive into the numbers. I’ll be utilizing the accessible information — together with athletic commission-reported payouts and courtroom paperwork from varied lawsuits — to separate the reality from, as White put it, the bulls*** in terms of boxing and MMA pay.

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Reported payouts from state athletic commissions

Again in 2019, I compiled the entire boxer and MMA fighter payout reviews for that 12 months from the 14 state athletic commissions that disclosed to the general public, giving me a pattern dimension of a number of thousand purses. Utilizing that information, I constructed a graph displaying revenue distributions by percentile, and in addition created a weighted model that may not be skewed by the overrepresentation of bigger purses from the excessive focus of main promoters’ occasions in Nevada, California and Florida, which had been among the many 14 states that reported payouts at the moment.

Key takeaways from the 2019 information:

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• Median earnings favor boxers. The median purse in 2019 was $2,000 for boxers vs. $1,250 for MMA fighters (or $1,200 when weighted). Boxers earned extra at practically each percentile, apart from the very backside of the distribution and the highest, beginning at across the eightieth percentile (or ninetieth percentile when weighted).

• MMA’s “UFC premium” kicks in greater up. From the eightieth to ninety fifth percentile (or ninetieth to ninety fifth when weighted), UFC fighters pull forward, because of the promotion’s $10,000 minimal “to indicate.” This places each UFC fighter within the prime 20% of general MMA payouts.

• UFC fighters make up many of the greater MMA payouts. The make-up of the highest 20% of MMA payouts in 2019 consisted of 79% UFC fighters, 19% Bellator and a couple of% Combate. The PFL was not included as a result of none of their occasions in 2019 had been held in states that disclosed payouts.

• Boxers dominate the highest finish. Above the ninety fifth percentile, boxers surge forward, incomes many multiples of what prime MMA fighters make, based mostly on the launched payouts from the athletic commissions.

These payouts aren’t good — they miss extras like aspect offers, pay-per-view bonuses, or income shares. However lawsuits like Le et al. v. Zuffa, LLC (UFC antitrust case) and Golden Boy Promotions, LLC v. Alan Haymon present that for many fighters, reported figures are near actuality. Exceptions are uncommon and largely have an effect on top-card stars. For instance, within the UFC case, solely 3.8% of payouts from 2001-17 included undisclosed “letters of settlement” for additional pay, and solely 2.1% obtained any form of pay-per-view bonus.

Sadly, 2019 is the one 12 months for which complete information is out there to me. I finished updating these boxing vs. MMA comparisons as a result of many states, together with key ones like Nevada, stopped releasing fighter payouts, making such analyses far more tough and fewer efficient.

Wage share

In addition to the reported payouts, one other lens for comparability to us is wage share: What proportion of complete income goes to the athletes. Due to the Le v. Zuffa antitrust case, inner UFC paperwork that exposed this data had been made public.

In line with the UFC’s 2016 Firm Overview (see the picture above), from 2012 to 2016, the UFC paid fighters between 16-20% of firm income. This determine contains bout pay, merchandise royalties, sponsorships and different fighter prices. One other inner Zuffa presentation estimated that fighter compensation was 16% of complete firm earnings for all occasions that occurred from 2006-11.

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An knowledgeable for the plaintiffs in Le v. Zuffa, Prof. Andrew Zimbalist, additionally compiled the wage shares paid by a number of boxing promoters. Golden Boy Promotions paid out 62.2% of its income to boxers from 2014-16, High Rank paid 71% for the years 2013-16, and Leon Margule’s Warriors Boxing paid 65.4% for 2015-16. Zimbalist estimated the common for these boxing promoters at 66.6%. This traces up with public statements made by promoters like Lou DiBella, Eddie Hearn, and Richard Schaefer {that a} 70% share (or greater than 80% for bigger-named fighters) was not unusual.

Now, the UFC isn’t the one MMA promoter, and we all know from disclosure that Bellator’s wage share was round 45% of revenues throughout the Le Class Interval, whereas Strikeforce’s, earlier than they had been acquired by Zuffa, was nearer to that of main boxing promoters at roughly 63%. However the UFC’s place out there signifies that no matter wage share these different MMA promoters are paying has little affect on the general wage share being paid within the MMA business, whereas in boxing, a 60-70% share is an business customary paid by virtually all of the promoters.

Complete compensation

Wage share alone, although, doesn’t inform us every thing. For instance, it doesn’t inform us the wage ranges — how a lot particular person fighters and boxers are making (particularly these for whom reported payouts from the commissions aren’t correct), nor does it inform us what the general compensation is that is being paid out in MMA or boxing. Hopefully, we are able to attempt to make some comparisons right here.

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Due to the settlement within the Le v. Zuffa antitrust case, we all know that between Dec. 16, 2010 and June 30, 2017, the UFC paid out a complete of $556.5 million in bout compensation (so this could exclude any sponsorship or merchandise royalties). After the acquisition of Strikeforce in 2011, there have been actually solely two different promotions placing on occasions with elite-level fighters in North America throughout the Le class interval: Bellator and the World Sequence of Preventing (WSOF). WSOF’s place out there was so small — lower than $8 million in complete income from 2012-2016 — it’s arduous to incorporate them as a significant promoter. As for Bellator, although it was the second-biggest MMA promoter throughout this time and was paying its fighters round 45% of its income, this nonetheless totaled solely $49 million throughout the Le class interval.

For higher or worse, after we are speaking concerning the enterprise of MMA, particularly on the elite stage, we’re largely speaking concerning the enterprise of the UFC.

As for the key boxing promoters, I’ve solely the entire compensation for 2 of them: Golden Boy Promotions, which paid out $136 million from Jan. 1, 2014 by way of June 30, 2016, and Warriors Boxing, which paid out $20.5 million for 2015-16. In fact there are lots of greater than two promoters in boxing placing on main occasions. Throughout this time period, High Rank, TGB, Roc Nation, Queensberry, Matchroom, Important Occasion, DiBella and others had been all selling championship-caliber fights on main platforms, together with among the highest-paid names on the time reminiscent of Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Adrian Borner, Timothy Bradly, Juan Handbook Marquez and others. If these firms’ payouts had been something corresponding to Golden Boy or Warriors, then the entire quantity paid to top-level boxers was doubtless a lot greater than what was paid out by Bellator and the UFC presently. This appears doubtless contemplating the truth that the entire reported payouts from Nevada for Mayweather and Pacquiao, together with all their opponents, totaled as much as greater than what was paid out by the UFC throughout the Le class interval.

That is after all throughout the glory days of Mayweather and Pacquiao, two of the highest-paid fighters in historical past. So what about extra just lately?

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Thanks once more to the proposed settlement of the Johnson v. Zuffa antitrust case final 12 months (which the choose rejected and is now shifting ahead in a Nevada federal courtroom), we all know that from July 1, 2016 till April 13, 2023, the UFC paid out a complete of $1.022 billion in fighter occasion compensation. (Throughout this similar time, the UFC generated roughly $6.1 billion in income — equating to a fighter income share of simply 16.8% over that time-frame.)

If we do one thing so simple as examine the Forbes and Sporticos’ record of highest-paid athletes from 2017-23, we are able to see {that a} very small group of the highest-paid boxers matched the entire payout of the UFC. Throughout that point, 12 boxers made the record and had mixed purses (thus excluding any endorsement income) of roughly $1.4 billion. Among the many names on this record is UFC prime draw Conor McGregor, who earned his career-high (which Forbes estimated at $85 million) in a boxing match towards Mayweather. Even when we take away the purses from Mayweather and McGregor’s mega-fight, the opposite 10 boxers earned simply over $1 billion — matching the UFC’s complete payout to all its fighters throughout that span.

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Whereas Forbes estimates aren’t infallible — as an illustration, we now know from unsealed UFC payouts that McGregor’s figures in 2016 and 2017 had been inflated — it does align with different disclosures displaying boxers incomes huge sums. Public filings by Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury with the UK’s Firm Home reveal each have doubtless earned greater than $200 million from boxing since 2017. In the meantime, “Canelo” Alvarez’s lawsuit towards Golden Boy and DAZN disclosed that he was paid $15 million to struggle Rocky Fielding in 2018 and $35 million every for his 2019 bouts towards Daniel Jacobs and Sergey Kovalev. These payouts had been just for the published rights and did not embody Alvarez’s lower of ticket gross sales and sponsors. Apply purses like that to his different matches and never solely has “Canelo” earned a whole lot of hundreds of thousands since 2017, however we have already got three boxers whose earnings match the entire of the complete UFC roster throughout this time.

Along with the Alvarezs, Furys, Joshuas, Gervonta Davises, Deontay Wilders and the handful of different main stars who earn sufficient to make Forbes’s record, there are lots of different boxers whose purses can be considered as “excessive” in MMA. Disclosure from lawsuits involving George Kambosos Jr. and Devin Haney confirmed each had been incomes seven figures for his or her fights. A go well with involving Errol Spence prompt he earned greater than $20 million for his 2023 bout with Crawford. And authorized filings tied to Crawford’s disputes with High Rank and Middendorf Sports activities confirmed that between his 2016 bout with Viktor Postol and his 2021 struggle with Shawn Porter, Crawford earned about $32 million. “Bud” has since gone on to much more profitable matches.

These are only a few of the names for which we’ve got affirmation for his or her payouts, however there have been dozens of different boxers since 2017 (Vasiliy Lomachenko, Teofimo Lopez, Keith Thurman, Dmitry Bivol, Artur Beterbiev, David Benavidez Jr., Caleb Plant, and principally each top-10 heavyweight, for instance) who’ve earned seven-figures purses. Add these to the record and it is obvious that the entire quantity paid out by the key boxing promoters dwarfs what has been paid out by the UFC and no matter different main MMA promoters you wish to embody.

“The blokes that basically matter”

This brings us to the celebs — or “the fellows that basically matter,” as White referred to them. It’s with this group that the discrepancies between boxing and MMA are most evident. For example, throughout the Le class interval (2011 to mid-2017), the highest-paid UFC fighters had been Anderson Silva (at $31 million) and Conor McGregor (at $26 million), adopted by Jon Jones (at $19 million), Ronda Rousey (at $18 million) and Georges St-Pierre (at $15 million). Throughout that very same time interval there have been 5 boxers — Miguel Cotto, “Canelo” Alvarez, Wladimir Klitschko, and naturally Pacquiao and Mayweather — who we all know earned extra based mostly on simply the publicly reported payouts from commissions and purse bids. If we broaden this to incorporate business estimates, then round 10 different boxers are thought to have earned roughly comparable sums to Silva and McGregor throughout that span.

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Since White particularly talked about McGregor when discussing fighter pay with Dixon and Kellerman, let’s examine him to a different “man that issues” in “Canelo.” For this we are able to use precise numbers from 2014-16 to match how they had been compensated for his or her pay-per-view occasions.

As a part of Golden Boy’s lawsuit towards Al Haymon, the corporate had Gene Deetz, CPA/ABV, analyze Golden Boy’s funds from 2014 by way of mid-2016. Deetz allotted revenue and bills to every fighter based mostly on their share of the pay for the occasion. In some methods this was much like how the settlement cash was allotted for the UFC antitrust case. Utilizing this methodology, Deetz calculated that for the 5 matches Alvarez had throughout this time interval (Alfredo Angulo, Erislandy Lara, James Kirkland, Cotto and Amir Khan), he was accountable for $75,975,069 in income, for which “Canelo” was paid $48,083,627 — a income share of 63%.

Now let’s flip to McGregor. Due to an exhibit titled “Zuffa Athletic Pay by Bout Quantity, Bout Compensation” that was included as an exhibit within the UFC antitrust case, we not solely have each purse that was paid out by the UFC from 2011-16, however we are able to additionally establish which of them belong to McGregor. His payouts for the 5 pay-per-view occasions (and which generated roughly $240 million) wherein he headlined throughout that point had been:

We are able to additionally use the identical doc to find out how a lot the undercard fighters received paid with a view to provide you with the entire fighter compensation for these 5 occasions. Together with McGregor, the entire is roughly $60 million.

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McGregor’s complete earnings for these 5 occasions was $25.8 million. Utilizing Deetz’s methodology, we are able to credit score McGregor with producing roughly $103 million in income — giving McGregor a income share of 25%. This implies McGregor was paid 46% lower than “Canelo” whereas producing 36% extra income on the identical variety of occasions.

Whereas McGregor’s pay has risen since then, it nonetheless doesn’t appear corresponding to what “Canelo” and different star boxers are making. Estimates are that McGregor made just a little over $20 million — the biggest payout in UFC historical past — for his 2018 struggle towards Khabib Nurmagomedov. This was for an occasion that offered greater than 2 million pay-per-views (one other UFC report). For his 2020 struggle towards Donald Cerrone and his pair of matches with Dustin Poirier — the three of which totaled round 4.5 million pay-per-view offered — McGregor is assumed to have been paid between $16-19 million for every of these bouts. (An quantity that may additionally clarify the $32.8 million lower from the earlier 12 months in athlete prices the UFC skilled in 2022, a 12 months wherein McGregor didn’t struggle.) Whereas McGregor is making greater than any MMA fighter, I’m pretty sure that any boxer who generated the identical form of pay-per-view and gate income would see purses a number of instances greater.

This discrepancy doesn’t simply exist with McGregor. They exist for all the celebs within the UFC. For instance listed here are the funds for 2016’s Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Amir Khan match in comparison with UFC 111, which was headlined by UFC Corridor of Famer George St-Pierre defending his title towards Dan Hardy:

Spreading the cash round

Massive shock: The most important stars in boxing earn more money. Everybody has recognized that for years — the very prime of boxing playing cards command huge paydays that far exceed what even the UFC’s greatest names sometimes earn. However what’s additionally true is that the UFC tends to pay its undercard fighters greater than what you see on most boxing undercards.

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That distinction is partly structural. UFC occasions are concentrated, and the corporate itself dominates the game financially. In line with Tapology information, about 3% of all skilled MMA bouts globally are UFC fights — but the UFC controls roughly 90% of the game’s income. Boxing, against this, is fragmented throughout quite a few promoters.

For years now, Wealthy Wyatt has tracked the variety of televised boxing broadcasts yearly. His information reveals that main boxing promoters collectively run many instances extra occasions than the UFC, Bellator or the PFL. Whereas the undercards or prelims on these boxing reveals are sometimes full of lower-paid fighters, the highest of these playing cards usually function fighters making purses both comparable or superior to what we see for the highest of UFC playing cards.

As a result of there are such a lot of boxing occasions, the game naturally produces extra alternatives for high-end fighters to emerge — even when the underside half of most playing cards are full of low-paid opponents. MMA works in reverse: The UFC is the place just about all the highest fighters are concentrated, which implies if you would like the best-paid MMA athletes, you’ll virtually at all times discover them there.

That doesn’t imply the UFC doesn’t pay greater than everybody else in terms of undercards. As proven in our earlier graph, there’s a transparent “UFC premium.” Each fighter on a UFC card is paid at the very least the UFC’s minimal contract charge. Should you in contrast the median payout on a complete UFC card to the median payout on a typical boxing card, the UFC’s quantity would virtually definitely be greater.

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The UFC additionally provides discretionary bonuses like “Efficiency of the Night time” or “Combat of the Night time,” which additional unfold cash down the cardboard. These bonuses, whereas not assured, imply that extra fighters on a UFC card have a shot at boosting their earnings. This all contributes to a extra even general distribution of pay in comparison with boxing, the place many of the occasion purse goes to the main-event fighters.

However this construction comes with trade-offs. If the UFC is paying $3 million to its predominant occasion as a substitute of the $10 million you would possibly see with a boxing headliner, but additionally is paying $3 million complete to the undercard as a substitute of the $1 million in boxing, then they’re spreading the cash throughout the complete card. That raises the median payout, nevertheless it additionally reduces the general quantity paid out to the very prime. And that cash saved on the prime goes straight into the promoter’s pocket.

This pay construction additionally rewards a sure sort of fighter that White usually factors to: Lengthy-serving journeymen who rack up dozens of UFC bouts over a few years. Due to the UFC’s tiered pay system, merely staying on the roster lengthy sufficient can push a fighter’s per-fight purse into six figures — with one other six figures in potential win or efficiency bonuses. Over the course of their careers, many such fighters earn greater than some friends who had been as soon as extra highly-ranked however by no means stayed lively lengthy sufficient to succeed in these tiers. No main boxing promoter makes use of a comparable mannequin — there’s no equal “profession ladder” in boxing.

The large caveat

One caveat: The panorama could also be shifting.

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Over the previous two years, boxing has largely retreated from U.S. tv. With out profitable broadcaster rights charges, it’s unclear whether or not many promoters can proceed paying 60–70% of occasion income to fighters. The game’s richest paydays are more and more concentrated in Saudi Arabia, the place Turki Alalshikh and the Saudi authorities have funded huge purses on the very prime. However until the market adjustments, nearly all of boxers might now not discover the identical alternatives that when made boxing essentially the most profitable fight sport — whereas the UFC, even when it retains its low wage share, will be capable to supply extra … even when it is a small slice of a large pie.