People seek entertainment. Sports create the highest level of entertainment. That’s the bottom line. Why? They’re basically a live version of a soap opera...except with a a little bit more moving around. Whatever people may say about professional athletes, they are no doubt one of the top-grossing forms of entertainment out there. Pretty much everyone pays money to attend a sporting event at least once in their lifetime, but are UFC fighters underpaid?
People across the entire globe call off from their jobs or even cancel plans with family members to watch a certain event so, with that being said, the fact athletes bring in this much revenue and public attention means they, in large, part deserve to get paid their fair share. This is where things start to get tricky however because how do you determine their fair share?
Mixed martial arts is arguably the most brutal sport there is. Sure, there are plenty of other brutal sports out there, but none of them endanger one’s health as blatantly as MMA does. It takes more than talent and advanced athletic ability to make that walk to the octagon. You can’t really put into words how much mental fortitude a person needs to walk inside a cage and fight someone who is trying to rip their head off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWE79K2Ii-s
That level of intensity cannot be found in any other sport because no other sport puts one’s life at risk the way MMA does. With that in mind, why do MMA fighters, who put their lives on the line for the sake of entertainment, make less money than let’s say baseball players or basketball players? Well it’s simple.
Because in today’s society, talent pales in comparison to stardom. It’s not about how great you are at your own craft. It’s about how great you are at getting people to watch you, to some extent of course.
Of course there are fighters, like Conor McGregor or Georges St. Pierre, who make an absurd amount of money per fight. However, there are also world class fighters, like Joe Lauzon, who have been with the UFC for over 10 years and only make around $82,000 a fight. A fighter fights on average 3 times a year so if Lauzon were to fight 3 times in one year, he’d make just about $250,000 in one year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qkt9Kv6Urs8
Sure, that can be considered a lot of money compared to the average person, but if you look at what athletes in other sports make, that number looks like scraps.
One can argue Joe Lauzon isn't quite the fighter Conor or Georges is but there are many more fighters who are underpaid in the UFC whether they're at the top or bottom of their divisions. If a guy like Demetrious Johnson — who has been ranked one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world for quite a while now — can’t make a million dollars a fight, then something definitely needs to change.
In 2017, 41 percent of UFC fighters didn’t even earn $45,000 per year, which is the average household income in the US. That is outrageous for a professional athlete. Last year, UFC President Dana White reported that the UFC put up its most historic year yet in terms of revenue so money doesn’t seem to be the issue here.
Look, it’s not like there isn’t really a silver lining with any of this. The revenue seems to be at an all time high for the UFC, so the money is there. The business is only growing so financial security is ensured as well. The only thing that’s left is intent.
The intent to give a breed of professional athletes much different from others what they deserve and to help the sport grow even larger through fairness and respect. It's high time UFC open up the piggy bank a bit more.
