Dana White reveals UFC fighter bonuses are going up with new Paramount TV deal
Fighter pay is going up, at least in one respect.
Earlier this week, the UFC inked a new TV rights deal with Paramount, raking in $7.7 billion over seven years. The deal not only makes Paramount+ the home of all UFC events starting in 2026, it also brings an end to the promotion’s Pay-Per-View model, with all events being available on Paramount+.
The UFC has lauded the deal as a huge positive for fighters, but the shift did raise questions about what this new deal will do for fighter pay. After all, one of the big incentives to being a UFC champion is the lure of PPV points, which will vanish come 2026. And while UFC CEO Dana White doesn’t have specific answers on how the UFC plans to handle that at the moment, he did reveal one major change that’s coming: a kick to the bonuses.
“Listen, I’m not going to have any comments on that because we’ve still got to get together and figure this stuff out,” White told reporters at the Contender Series scrum on Tuesday. “It’s August, we have until January to figure that stuff out. But the low-hanging fruit that’s easy to answer? Bonuses are obviously going up. So that will be big. Forget about the tide rising with all the other fighters, just the number that the bonuses bring to a fighter is millions of dollars.”
The standard bonus structure the UFC employees is $50,000 for two Performance bonuses per event, and an additional $50,000 for each participant in the Fight of the Night, thought the UFC has occasionally upped that number in special circumstances. It’s unclear what the bump to the bonuses will be at the moment.
As for the rest of it, White says they’re still working on the details for how fighter pay may change, but reiterates that this new TV deal is a win for the fighters as well.
“It’s not massive restructuring,” White said. “We’ve got a bunch of smart kids over there in the accounting department that figure out how to make this stuff work. But it’s so good for the fighters. What I love about being with one company that made such a big investment with us is they’re all in with us. The fighters are going to get tons of promotion, built by all these different unbelievable networks that these guys own. And, these are aggressive, smart guys that are going to build a big media company.”
And for the doubters? There was some concern after the new deal was announced that without the PPV incentive, the UFC may take a step back in their promotional efforts. But that’s not at all what White envisions. He’s approaching this new TV deal with renewed vigor to deliver above and beyond expectations.
“It’s always trying to go to the next level,” White said. “Obviously, this TV deal is massive, and a big deal. There’s still a lot more to it that you guys don’t know, but now it’s about — you always have to prove yourself. Always. No matter how good last year was, it doesn’t mean jack shit when you go into the next year. We have to get in there and we have to deliver. These guys are investing in the sport, in the athletes, and we’ve got to get in there and kill it. so we’ve got a lot of hard work to do over the next several months.”
