As the UFC enters a new era with Paramount, Daniel Cormier assures fighters have already seen an increase in pay.
The UFC signed a $7.7 billion broadcast deal with Paramount, meaning the pay-per-view model will end in 2026. The UFC’s 13 annual pay-per-view events, plus 30 additional Fight Night events, will stream on Paramount+.
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Former UFC dual-champion Cormier gave some insight on his time as an active fighter during the promotion’s peak pay-per-view era, and how the buys have drastically changed.
“They’re already getting more money – that’s the difference,” Cormier said in an interview with Josh Thomson. “People always talk about, ‘What’s the UFC going to do for a fighter?’ I know guys now, ‘Well pay-per-view’s going away, what are they going to do?’ I know guys now that are making more money than they did even when they were making pay-per-view, because pay-per-views just maybe weren’t selling as much as they used to. Whenever we were fighting and I was fighting Jon Jones and (Anthony) ‘Rumble’ Johnson, and having Nick Diaz, Nate Diaz on my card, I was making a boatload of money in pay-per-view. That’s not the reality of the world today.”
Cormier thinks that with the UFC scrapping pay-per-views, fighters will make even more money now that there isn’t an expectation to sell.
“Today, a big pay-per-view number was 600,000, 500,000 – pay-per-views just didn’t sell as much,” Cormier added. “People are stealing it on streams, they’re doing all of these things to where the numbers just weren’t (great). I know guys now that said, ‘Hey, can I restructure with the idea that pay-per-view is gone?’ The UFC’s like, ‘Yes,’ and now it’s like guaranteed money. They’re doing that. And the guy from the very beginning is going to do better, and the guy all the way to the top of the card is going to do better. They’re giving these guys more money.”
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The Paramount deal kicks off on Jan. 24 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas where Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett will battle for the vacant lightweight title in the UFC 324 main event.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Daniel Cormier says UFC fighter pay has already been increasing
