14 Key Details About The Class Action Lawsuit Against UFC

2. The Fighter's Portion Of The Pot Is Small - And That's The Biggest Issue

If you're a UFC fan, you probably already knew this, but the suit spells it out: the company brings in roughly $500 million per year. The fighter's percentage?

UFC Fighters are paid approximately 10 17% of total UFC revenues generated from bouts.

That's as a whole. In comparison, the suit alleges,

103. Athletes in sports such as boxing and the €œBig 4,€ i.e ., football, baseball, basketball and hockey in the United States, generally earn more than 50% of league revenue, a significantly higher percentage of revenues than those paid to UFC Fighters.104.Boxers Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao take the number one and two spots, respectively, on the €œForbes 100 highest paid athletes list,€ earning upwards of $40 million in guaranteed purse for a single bout, before inclusion of PPV profits. Mayweather€™s compensation has reportedly topped $90 million for a single bout for an event that draws comparable PPV purchase rates to high profile UFC events.

Now, there are about 500 fighters in the UFC. The majority of them are not making huge money, so this is the point that is really going to be the big issue for them. Smaller names don't get big sponsorship deals, and video games barely care if they exist - that's for the top ten, top fifteen guys. Guys who are 2-2 and unranked? What matters to them is, why aren't fighters getting a bigger cut of revenue? And is the UFC illegally manipulating the market by stifling competition in order to keep the fighter's cut low?