News * UFC doubled it's profits in 2022. Fighter pay up 26 % since 2005 !

[RicardinhoPT]

Ebitda is overrated af especially when the goal of the ufc is for 100% of the global market share

Can you name me any big companies in any field that pay talent lower to make profit? It doesnt happen

Can you name me any sport that pays their stars less than the nba but has more popularity? Populatity and athlete pay is 100% correlated

They can get 100% market share with these ebitda margins, it's not rocket science, they're the market leader and determine what happens in the market and there is no serious competition. A bigger market share is a way to get a higher ebitda, not the other way around

EVERY stock listed company tries to pay the least amount of money to their employees. It's always a trade-off, what's the least amount that you can pay them to keep them happy while making you more money. The UFC still pays way more than any other company in the market and therefore gets away with more.

Tennis is a good example, it's a popular sport worldwide and only the top100 players make a decent living

 

[kflo]

UFC as a solo entity is very profitable and can afford to pay all their fighters more. Its WME who is holding so much toxic debt and running UFC dry to repay those other bad holdings which is the problem.

It's fine to say "fighters should be paid more", but unless you're an accountant or can crunch some numbers you really need to get the big picture. Had the Ferttitas held the UFC pay would be up much more.

WME is clinging onto the UFC for dear life, and if they don't maintain the profit, they will go bankrupt from everything else. So you're asking them to shoot their last golden goose among a bunch of rotten eggs. Which is why we won't see shit happen until they are forced to sell the UFC to a profitable company in a healthy position. Even still they will have to recoup costs for the purchase.

How can anyone blame wme when it was the fertittas who sold the business with these economics?

 

[kflo]

UFC as a solo entity is very profitable and can afford to pay all their fighters more. Its WME who is holding so much toxic debt and running UFC dry to repay those other bad holdings which is the problem.

It's fine to say "fighters should be paid more", but unless you're an accountant or can crunch some numbers you really need to get the big picture. Had the Ferttitas held the UFC pay would be up much more.

WME is clinging onto the UFC for dear life, and if they don't maintain the profit, they will go bankrupt from everything else. So you're asking them to shoot their last golden goose among a bunch of rotten eggs. Which is why we won't see shit happen until they are forced to sell the UFC to a profitable company in a healthy position. Even still they will have to recoup costs for the purchase.

Have you read their financial statements? What you’re saying isn’t true.

 

[kflo]

Ebitda is overrated af especially when the goal of the ufc is for 100% of the global market share

Can you name me any big companies in any field that pay talent lower to make profit? It doesnt happen

Can you name me any sport that pays their stars less than the nba but has more popularity? Populatity and athlete pay is 100% correlated

Not sure what you’re talking about. Pay talent lower? Lower than what?

 

[Pray4methx]

Profit and revenue are two different things

 

[tastaylvr]

Not sure what you’re talking about. Pay talent lower? Lower than what?

What big company derives their profit from reduced salaries? Thats the point

A company making money from underpaying their staff is a shit company and has unsustainable business model

Talent pay shouldnt even be an issue or a discussion for such a big company

 

[Small Town Andrew]

More fighters should become stars and the UFC will pay them more. Some of these fight nights are so terrible the guys are getting overpaid for the quality of entertainment they are putting out

 

[Post 2 Decision]

What big company derives their profit from reduced salaries? Thats the point

A company making money from underpaying their staff is a shit company and has unsustainable business model

Talent pay shouldnt even be an issue or a discussion for such a big company

Massive companies pay slave wages all the time bro

 

[brownsmith76]

If Dana White's primary goal is money, then he's going to try to enlarge the company profits and get away with as much as he can.

It's common sense that a greedy boss will underpay workers.

The part I don't fully understand is when sherdoggers defend UFC greed when the fighters are the ones who bleed, sweat, and cry for our entertainment.

 

[Sasha]

Send me a memo, I'll add fighter pay to the weekly strikes over here
That's what we do

 

[acannxr]

total fighter pay would have been around $178.8 million last year. That would be just 17.5% of their total revenue.

And keep in mind, the UFC likes to include money they spend on fighters as part of fighters' revenue, like USADA testing for instance.

 

[kflo]

What big company derives their profit from reduced salaries? Thats the point

A company making money from underpaying their staff is a shit company and has unsustainable business model

Talent pay shouldnt even be an issue or a discussion for such a big company

They didn’t reduce salaries. So again. Not sure…

 

[Rationality]

Using total fighter pay since 2005 is a worse than meaningless statistic.

 

[Rationality]

If you mean my calculations, they are correct. Another poster put up a screenshot of an inflation calculator and inflation is up 36% since 2005.

If you mean calculations of 26% in 17 yrs, another poster pointed out that they allegedly got 26% increase annually, although I can't say whether or not that's true.

Inflation is actually up that much just in the last 16 months. Government numbers are massaged to make the incumbents look better. Or don't you buy gas and groceries?

 

[CC27]

WME invested billions in a 50% ebitda company, there is no way they're changing that unless the law demands it. I can't believe people still don't understand that by now...

No true, people in here think Dana can just do whatever he wants, he can bet Jake Paul about giving fighters 50%.

people in here actually believe shit like this.

 

[Phisher]

Fighters are too dumb to form a union.

Has shit to do with being "dumb." It's like Tim Kennedy said recently, they're scared of retribution.

If the UFC finds out who's signed up for a union or association, they'll punish them. The primary antagonists on the roster for collective bargaining were Leslie Smith and Kajan Johnson, and they got rid of them both within a year of when they started talking about unionization. Notice that no active UFC fighter has talked openly about collective action since then since.

 

[CC27]

Hard to blame the owners. That is there job to maximize profits while still putting out a product that the consumer and media partners expect.

Like in most sports eventually the time will come that the athletes will band together and do something about it. Since it's kind of a niche sport there really isn't much outside pressure and probably never will be. NFL it wasn't until 1956 and football was around for decades before that and it really wasn't until the late 70's to mid 80's that the Union really accomplished big things for the athletes. Even in the 70's most players still had jobs in the off season. MLB was like the late 50's to mid 60's when they formed. MLB was around for decades before that also. For the UFC we are what about 15 years in of them even making money with this sport to have anything to share. I'm sure the UFC fighter's time will come and I'm sure the owners expect it.

Will it? Tim Kennedy said they got 5% to sign up for the union. Every fighter sees how much UFC is making, what their tv deals and sponsors are bringing in. SHit another sponsor just signed up for a 9 figure deal yesterday.

Nothing is changing unless the law makes them change cause the fighters aint doing shit to change anything. Whats gonna make them change that hasnt already happened?

Thats why personally I dont care about fighter pay issue, dont care one bit, if the fighters wont do anything to push for change why should I give a shit?

 

[chinarice]

Dana already implied on video he underpays guys so it's silly that people defend the pay

 

[RicardinhoPT]

No true, people in here think Dana can just do whatever he wants, he can bet Jake Paul about giving fighters 50%.

people in here actually believe shit like this.

Exactly, people don't understand hoe big corporations work. If Dana would propose that, he'd be fired and replaced within a day

 

[FIghtxIQ]

You clearly don't understand how corporate financing worth. A stock listed company's goal isn't to pay off its debt, it's too maximize the profit for their shareholders. Even while making profits, they will keep the debt to invest in future growth


Ebitda is 100% the most important factor when buying a company. I'd also like to see any proof that low pay has any correlation with popularity, makes no sense at all

That's part of it, but they also are focusing on their debt. You really think they aren't? They focus on both. They would lose the company if they only focused on the shareholders. They already have done pay outs for their shareholders and will continue to do so. Of course the debt will still be around, most companies have debt because they always get investors. As long as everyone gets paid it will keep running and everyone will be happy. Lots of NBA/NFL teams have a lot of debt and lots of major companies as well. Most don't profit at all until like a decade after but the valuation keeps going up.