Money may be pouring into the UFC like never before, but the debate over fighter pay refuses to tap out. UFC CEO Dana White once again defended the promotion’s pay structure during a recent interview with Rolling Stone, responding to criticism that intensified after the UFC signed a seven-year, $7.7 billion broadcast deal with Paramount.

“When people talk about [fighter pay], they don’t compare it to what a guy makes when he goes into boxing…,” White told writer Jack Crosbie. “Some of these guys make $100 [per round] in boxing. And since 2001, the pay has gone [up in the UFC]. And if you look at the deal that we just cut [with Paramount], imagine how it’s going to look over the next seven years. 

“Fighter pay has continually gone up every year, and it will continue to go up as long as we continue to be successful. If you come into the UFC… you sign a three-fight deal. We’re gonna find out if you even belong in the UFC. So, I should pay you $370,000 to see if you belong in the UFC?”

On paper, White’s argument sounds convincing. In reality, though, it raises even more questions. Beyond the UFC, TKO Group Holdings recently launched Zuffa Boxing. And one of its first major moves was signing Conor Benn for a bout against Regis Prograis. According to reports, Benn pocketed a staggering $15 million for a single fight. That immediately exposes the contradiction.

If a newly signed boxer under the Zuffa banner can command that kind of payday, why are UFC fighters still being told the promotion cannot afford to pay them more? This also debunks White’s claim that boxing purses are not the standard for fighter pay. If that were the case, Francis Ngannou’s purses from his boxing bouts would not be making headlines every few months.

Further in the interview, White himself confessed that fighters entering the promotion through Dana White’s Contender Series or any other means make somewhere between $10K/$10K and $15K/$15K, per their show money and win money structure. When asked whether that would ever increase, White claimed it already had. 

“It has increased,” White said. “The question becomes, what do you pay somebody to come in and see if they’re good enough to be there?… Guys make lots of money in the UFC, and there’s a middle class in the UFC. Meaning the guys obviously, the top two people on a boxing card make all the money, and the rest of the card makes nothing. Whereas at the UFC, everybody makes money. 

“We have [a] thousand guys under contract. So 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. And the other thing that is a fact is, since 2001, even in the days when we were losing tens of millions of dollars, every fighter that ever fought for us was paid more than he was contracted to be paid.”

For perspective, the NFL has more than a thousand active players on its rosters, yet even rookies entering the league can earn in the millions annually through fully negotiated contracts and bonuses. That figure feels worlds apart from the UFC’s low fighter pay structure. Under the NFL’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement, players receive at least 48% of the league’s designated ‘All Revenues.’ The UFC, by comparison, is widely reported to distribute only around 18% of its overall revenue to fighters.

And it’s not as if the money is not there. In 2025, the UFC reportedly generated $1.502 billion in revenue while posting an eye-popping $851 million in adjusted EBITDA. Financially, the promotion is thriving. Yet entry-level fighters are still paid relatively modest purses because, according to UFC CEO Dana White, the company wants to test whether newcomers truly belong in the organization. It almost resembles an internship program, except the performance review comes with chokes, knockouts, and long-term damage.

But even if a fighter survives that trial period and proves they belong, another question emerges: how long does it actually take before the money starts making sense?

Dana White reveals how long it takes for a fighter to make decent money in UFC

Speaking further during the interview, UFC CEO Dana White also addressed how long it typically takes for fighters to reach a financially comfortable position within the promotion.

“It depends on how many fights they have on their contract,” White said. “And then as they start to get closer to the end of the deal, they cut a new deal…” 

That renewal process rests almost entirely in the UFC’s hands. Factors such as how entertaining a fighter is, whether their style appeals to fans, how reliable they are in making fights, and even whether they have withdrawn from bouts can all influence whether the promotion extends their contract. 

If the UFC feels a fighter no longer fits the mold, the outcome is often simple—they are cut loose. The promotion recently demonstrated exactly how ruthless that system can be, parting ways with a wave of fighters despite some of them coming off victories. The last set of roster releases had #5-ranked bantamweight Ketlen Vieira, who beat Jacqueline Cavalcanti at UFC Vegas 117 two weeks ago.

“The money has gone up every single year since the day we bought this thing. We built it into a real business, into a real sport. When we first bought this, most of these guys had jobs, and they would train on the side and fight in the UFC. Now, it’s at a level where everybody is a professional athlete.”

From the looks of things, the UFC truly believes they are doing right by its fighters. But with MVP entering the fray with significantly better pay, the inflow of new talent may be diverted away from the UFC.

Jake Paul also made it to #23 on the 2026 Forbes list of The World’s Highest-Paid Athletes. The only UFC fighter who ever made the list was Conor McGregor. Whereas top-dollar boxers like Floyd Mayweather Jr., Canelo Alvarez, Mike Tyson, Tyson Fury, and Anthony Joshua have cracked the list several times.

McGregor appeared on the chart for seven years in a row from 2016 to 2022. He topped the list, a historic feat for an MMA/UFC fighter, in 2021. But even when ‘The Notorious’ made it to the top, $158M of his reported $180M earnings came from businesses and ventures outside the Octagon.

All of this puts Dana White’s claims under doubt. Yes, the UFC may have improved its pay over the last two decades. But even with a $7.7B deal, they are not in the same realm as boxing or any of the other top global sports leagues.