Dana White is pushing back on UFC fighter pay criticism after the company’s reported $7.7 billion Paramount-CBS media rights deal put new attention on what newcomers make when they first reach the Octagon.
The UFC has gone from a struggling fight promotion to the biggest MMA company in the world. White has been in charge since the Fertitta brothers bought the company in 2001, stayed through the 2016 sale to WME-IMG, and became UFC CEO after the TKO Group Holdings structure formed in 2023. Fighter pay has followed him through every version of that business.
In a video shared by Jed I. Goodman on X, White said UFC entry pay gets judged differently because the promotion is now treated like a major sports league, while boxing prospects can start far lower.
“When people talk about that, you know what they don’t compare it to?” White said. “What a guy makes when he goes into his boxing, his first boxing event.”
“The difference is because we look like, you know, we’re a league or however you want to look at us,” White said. “We’re not a one-off promoter doing a fight and some of these guys make $100 a round in boxing. And since 2001, the pay has gone like this.”
White said the Paramount deal should continue that upward trend.
“If you look at the deal that we just cut, like you said, with Paramount, imagine how it’s going to look over the next seven years,” White said. “Fighter pay has continually gone up every year and it will continue to go up as long as we continue to be successful.”
Watch the full clip below:
Dana White talks fighter pay:
'If you look at the deal we just cut with Paramount, imagine how it's going to look over the next 7 years.'pic.twitter.com/W5fHJbj9wr
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) May 26, 2026
The Paramount-CBS deal is expected to shift UFC’s U.S. broadcast future away from the pay-per-view model and put numbered events and Fight Nights under the Paramount umbrella. UFC reported $1.502 billion in 2025 revenue, according to company figures listed for the promotion, which is why the pay debate keeps getting tied to the size of the business.
White Says UFC Newcomers Still Have To Prove They Belong
White said the UFC is still evaluating new fighters when they arrive on entry-level deals.
“If you come into the UFC, you know, let’s say you sign a three-fight deal, we’re gonna find out if you even belong in the UFC,” White said. “So I should pay you $370,000 to see if you belong in the UFC?”
The interviewer then asked about the range for fighters coming off Contender Series or signing their first three-fight UFC contracts. White answered that it was “somewhere between 10 and 10 and 15 and 15,” meaning show-and-win figures in that range.
“The question becomes, you know, what do you pay somebody to come in and see if they’re good enough to be there?” White said. “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.”
White said the UFC’s structure is different from boxing because more athletes across the card make money, not only the names at the top.
“The top two people on a boxing card make all the money and the rest of the card makes nothing,” White said. “Whereas at the UFC, everybody makes money.”
White also said UFC contracts give fighters a guaranteed schedule and clear pay terms.
“I have almost a thousand guys under contract,” White said. “These guys have contracts. They’re guaranteed. They have to fight three times a year and they know exactly what they’re going to get paid.”
He added that UFC fighters have received more than their contract figures even when the company was losing money.
“Since 2001, even in the days when we were losing millions and millions, tens of millions of dollars, every fighter that ever fought for us was paid more than he was contracted to be paid,” White said.
White also pushed back on the idea that the Paramount deal should immediately change every active contract.
“We do the Paramount deal and we have almost a thousand guys under contract,” White said. “Well, what do you just rip up everybody’s contract and pay them all $40 million? Come on.”
White said the sport has changed from the early Zuffa years, when many fighters worked regular jobs while trying to compete professionally.
“When we first bought this, you know, there were guys that basically, most of these guys had jobs,” White said. “And they would train on the side and fight in the UFC. Now it’s at a level where everybody is a professional athlete.”
The dispute is not new. UFC pay has been challenged by fighters, managers, media, and rival promoters for years. Nakisa Bidarian recently framed fighter pay as a direct business argument, while the latest Forbes highest-paid athletes list included Canelo Alvarez and Jake Paul but no UFC fighters in the top 50.
White is arguing that UFC pay increases as fighters prove they belong and contracts get renegotiated. Critics argue the starting point is still too low for athletes taking damage on the biggest stage in MMA.
