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Some numbers for the biz nerds -
People say we don't know what fighters make but that's not completely true. Using what's been unsealed we can put together not just a general picture but also fill in some specifics. For the heck of it lets look at 2015 1/
People say we don't know what fighters make but that's not completely true. Using what's been unsealed we can put together not just a general picture but also fill in some specifics. For the heck of it lets look at 2015 1/
We know that in 2015 fighters made $113m or 16% of total revenue. We also know that this was really $99m when talking about actual fighter bout comp & not things like merch royalties, Reebok & USADA 2/ https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2020/2/3/20922496/ufc-lawsuit-docs-reveal-more-details-ufc-business-structure-fighter-pay-class-action-business-news
We also know that the top 20 fighters in 2015 made 42% of all fighter comp. The previous year it was 28%. So we are talking about the top 20 making $47m in 2015 vs $20m in 2014. 3/ https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2019/9/16/20866655/court-filings-reveal-more-info-on-how-much-top-ufc-fighters-are-paid
If we deduct the "other costs" the fighter comp for non-top 20 fighters is 52m in 2015 & 43m in 2014. That $9m difference is partly explained by an increase in the min from 8k to 10k in 2015.4/
Now previously I'd calculated that the mean average reported purse in the UFC was around $56k. With 946 purses paid out in 2015, if we look at just the bottom 900 purses (the non top 20) we get an average of about 58k for them 5/ https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2016/9/29/13040024/ufc-fighter-pay-union-association
Since we know there's only a "3.79% chance of a fighter’s bout payment including an “LOA” ( Letter of Agreement) and a 2.10% chance of it including a pay-per-view bonus", that suggests non top 20 get very little in the way of discretionary (locker room) bonuses.Maybe $2k/avg 6/
7/ for the top 20 while the names have been redacted we can deduce some names. Since the UFC listed Silva, Jones, McGregor, Rousey, and Cormier as the biggest starts in this period it seems like a good idea to focus on them first.7/
Since we know Rousey made at least $4.5 million at UFC 193 I think it's safe to assume to she was the top earner with $8.54m total in 2015. (Also doesn't hurt that there were rumors that she was the top earner that year.) 8/
We also know that McGregor earned at least $200k at the Boston Fight night and $500k to show plus $2.11m discretionary bonus & $50 Performance bonus for UFC 189. In addition information shared amongst members of the media suggested he earned around $4m for UFC 194. 9/
If Conor made close to $7m total in 2015 that would leave $11m total for the other 3 members of the top 5. Based on what I know about top fighters contracts I'm inclined to assume both Anderson Silva & Jones Jones are two of the names with each earning $3-4m on their 1 fight. 10/
That would leave a spot open with the likely suspects Daniel Cormier for his 3 title fight (although 1 as champion) and 2 title defenses by both Weidman & Lawler. (Being a defending champ is important because it usual mean a PPV bonus) 11/
Now talk to enough fighters and managers and you start to get a sense of who's getting the big LOAs contract with PPV points. And it's the GSPs, McGregor, Joneses, Silvas. I don't think it would have been Weidman, DC or Lawler in 2015. 12/
Also I don't think it would have been Holm or Werdum because neither of them were defending a title (and we know Holm was unable to get PPV points for a title fight unless she was defending) 13/
So with just the standard PPV bonuses Lawler would be looking at around $2.5m total pay in 2015 & Weidman $3m. DC would have only earned PPV points for his defense against Gus but I lean towards him earning more from discretionary bonuses based on the fights he was in. 14/
Either way, while there's a lot of conjecture here I think I'm in the ballpark if only for the fact the numbers can't be much higher or low. It's all accounted for by the UFC. 15/
