The first UFC fight week of the Paramount era is upon us, yet many questions still surround the business aspects of the UFC’s new broadcast deal and its departure from a pay-per-view event format.
The shift from pay-per-view seemingly creates a dip in incentive for specific superstar fighters and champions who earned income based on how well their events did. That dynamic has been one of the bigger mysteries amid the transition, and former two-time UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz admits he’s also in the dark about how incentives like pay-per-view points translate under the new deal.
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Speaking on Monday’s edition of “The Ariel Helwani Show,” Cruz revealed that if it weren’t for pay-per-view points, he wouldn’t have had the biggest payday of his legendary 28-fight career.
“I have no idea how [the UFC] is going to do it, but I do know pay-per-view was the only reason I was able to have at least one fight worth $1 million,” Cruz told Uncrowned. “One, and only because of pay-per-view only. I wouldn’t have got that if it wasn’t for pay-per-view, and I wouldn’t have got that unless I was co-main event with Ronda Rousey [at UFC 207], which is a big earner. I wouldn’t have got that unless I was on a card with like a [Conor] McGregor.
“As a co-main event, I had the opportunity to make a million dollars on that pay-per-view. But on the bigger scheme of things, worldwide, internationally, it’s still a pay-per-view system. So they’re not off pay-per-view — they’re just off pay-per-view in the United States. Everywhere else in the world doesn’t get Paramount.”
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Financially, the Paramount deal is massive for the UFC, which went from a five-year, $1.5 billion ESPN broadcast deal to the seven-year, $7.7 billion deal with Paramount. Fighter exposure is also expected to expand further organically, thanks to Paramount and CBS covering more than just sports. As recently as the 2026 Golden Globes, the ripple effects of the Paramount deal were felt, with UFC strawweight champion Mackenzie Dern and featherweight Brian Ortega appearing on-stage for a promo.
Cruz, 40, believes one deal was needed to reach the other, with ESPN serving as a proper stepping stone for the UFC — at least in the United States. Outside the promotion’s home country, the future UFC Hall of Famer isn’t sure there will be a significant deviation under the new Paramount era.
“I don’t think it’s as big of a shift as everybody’s making it,” Cruz said. “This is why: I think it is [a big shift] in the United States because of TV deals and the TV deal to Paramount. I don’t know how many eyes are actually on Paramount other than, now that they bought everything, all the eyes are going to go to it. But I think ESPN might have had more eyes in the first place, so that might have helped out the athletes a little bit more in the beginning to be on a natural chain of ESPN. But I think Paramount is going to take over so many things that it’s going to get bigger than that at some point, and that’s the plan.
“It’s going to end up helping out the fighters.”
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Cruz fought in title bouts in six of his 10 UFC fights before retiring last year. Although only four of those bouts headlined pay-per-view events, his championship status made him a regular earner of six-figure paydays, according to disclosed payout records.
Theoretically, fighters should all be in line for a boost in pay purely based on Paramount’s vast price tag. Whether that pay increase actually plays out in reality remains to be seen, but Cruz sees the overall partnership as a major win for the promotion and its future earning potential.
“Paramount is killing it, and I think it’s a genius business model because they still get to bring in pay-per-view [overseas], now they get to bring in Paramount in the United States, and the UFC’s just a smart business,” Cruz said. “They just understand business. That’s the thing about it.
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“How it does for fighters, how it does for promoters, no idea. I literally have no idea.”
UFC 324 will be the first event on Paramount, taking place Saturday inside Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.
