Text messages from a Brazilian lawsuit exchanged between a UFC fighter’s management and the promotion’s matchmaker are shining some light into exactly how the UFC pay scale works for new signees.
It’s a testament to how little we really know about UFC pay that the initial rate a fighter gets when they sign isn’t even properly understood by MMA managers themselves. In this exchange between UFC matchmaker Mick Maynard and MMA manager Marcelo Brigadeiro, Maynard corrects Brigadeiro on the subject when he tries to get his client, UFC women’s flyweight Taila Santos, more money.
Since 2015, the entry rate for signing with the UFC is $10k/$10k, which means a fighter gets $10,000 to show up and make weight and $10,000 more if they win. But around 2020, commission pay disclosures showed that some new fighters were getting $12k/$12k … but not those that appeared on Dana White’s Contender Series, who were still getting $10k/$10k.
That always seemed strange, considering Contender Series is supposed to be where the hottest prospects and potential future champions go through. Why are they making up to $4,000 less per fight compared to fighters showing up on the prelims of UFC Apex cards?
“A new deal would be appreciated,” Brigadeiro wrote to Maynard on WhatsApp. “Taila is on the DWCS deal and makes less money than usual.”
“The DWCS is not less than normal at all,” Maynard replied. “It’s exactly what people get when they newly sign. Where do you get your information?”
“It starts with 10+10, any other deal goes with 12+12,” Brigadeiro wrote.
“That’s not correct,” Maynard sent back. “It 12/12 if someone signs late notice. I will give her 4 fight new deal starting at 20/20 up by 3s. But to confirm your info is wrong.”
This message exchange was from August 2020 but $10k/$10k still represents the UFC’s entry pay nearly six years later. As mentioned before, $10k/$10k has been the standard since 2015, when it was bumped up from $8k/$8k. That was instituted in 2013 … before that you had guys making $6k/$6k, and in 2011 there were guys fighting for $4k/$4k.
If the UFC had continued to increase their base pay for the past ten years like they did between 2011 and 2016, new fighters would be making $20k/$20k, which … is still crazy low considering how much money the UFC makes, but would at least put UFC fighters ahead of a full-time McDonalds fry cook (before expenses). Do you want to be a f**king fighter?!
