Endeavor — the parent company of the UFC — had its earnings call for 2021 on Wednesday, and Jake Paul was one individual who was eagerly anticipating it.
Paul has hit out at the UFC and Dana White over fighter pay for quite some time now, as he believes the fighters are vastly underpaid while the UFC continues to make record profits.
“Looking forward to my first Endeavor earnings call today! Going to reach out to their board members afterwards Every Wall Street analyst preview report I’ve read is questioning if the low UFC fighter pay percentages are sustainable. That tells you how unfair UFC fighter pay is”
Looking forward to my first Endeavor earnings call today!
Going to reach out to their board members afterwards
Every Wall Street analyst preview report I’ve read is questioning if the low UFC fighter pay percentages are sustainable
That tells you how unfair UFC fighter pay is
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) March 16, 2022
Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel was taking the call and when asked about fighter pay amid recent criticism from Paul and others, he refused to comment.
However, he did defend how the UFC paid its roster of fighters.
“I’m not commenting on that,” Emanuel said (via MMA Fighting). “I think we’ve done very well as it relates to the pay for the fighters.”
When the question was first raised during the call, Endeavor chief financial officer Jason Lublin also defended the UFC’s fighter pay levels by stating the overall growth of pay since 2005.
“We’ve increased fighter pay 600 percent since 2005,” Lublin said. “We’re investing in the business with performance institutes, food, recovery. We think we’ve done very, very well.
“As the revenue for the business increases, it has only benefited that business, and we’ve grown and the sport has grown and fighter pay has grown too. As I said, how much it’s gone up since 2005.”
Prior to the call, Endeavor put out a release stating that the “UFC delivered its best financial year in its 28-year history.”
Jake Paul: Change Is Coming
It didn’t take long for Paul to respond.
“Live from the UFC call: Ari Emanuel asked about fighter comp and benefits driven by the attention JAKE PAUL is bringing to it by LightShed. Ari refused to comment on the concern around percentage paid to UFC fighters versus other athletes in other leagues. Change is coming y’all”
Live from the UFC call: Ari Emanuel asked about fighter comp and benefits driven by the attention JAKE PAUL is bringing to it by LightShed
Ari refused to comment on the concern around percentage paid to UFC fighters versus other athletes in other leagues
Change is coming y’all
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) March 16, 2022
He followed it up with a video of himself listening to the earnings call.
“While some of y’all busy hating on me, I’m busy trying to better understand how UFC makes more money & margins than any other sports league in the world, to help y’all make the money you deserve”
While some of y’all busy hating on me, I’m busy trying to better understand how UFC makes more money & margins than any other sports league in the world, to help y’all make the money you deserve pic.twitter.com/q0iiR2KEqx
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) March 16, 2022
Regardless if Paul is doing this for his own publicity, he is certainly continuing to make fighter pay in the UFC a more prominent topic.
