When it comes to fighter pay, I really doubt that I will be the one to fix the problem or find the solution. There are much brighter women and men than me in this sphere, but maybe I can add a touch of insight. We've heard that Jones is looking for ~$10 million for this fight with Ngannou. Some folks think that is too high, some think it is undeniably fair.
You know what I think?
It doesn't matter.
What does matter, is the percentage of the pie that Jones will receive. To me, throwing out numbers is only giving us one half of the story. In order to understand if a fighter is underpaid, the first thing that needs to be understood is what the UFC is bound to make.
I think a very fair and reasonable guess for a Jones vs Ngannou heavyweight title fight would be just above 1.2 million pay-per-view buys. Last summer, Masvidal vs Usman did 1.3 million buys. This fight feels bigger, but Masvidal vs Usman also had the pandemic working in their favor.
1.2 million multiplied by $70?
In just the pay-per-view buys alone, that would be over $80 million dollars. That doesn't include revenue made at the live event (tickets, merchandise, etc.).
All of a sudden, that eight million doesn't sound like that much.
