How UFC Fighters Feel About It Becoming a $4 Billion Sport

An overhead view of the Octagon as T.J. Dillashaw reacts after knocking out Renan Barao in the fifth round to win the UFC bantamweight championship during the UFC 173 event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 24, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

With its sale for at least $4 billion this year, the UFC completed its ascendancy to one of the biggest organizations in all of sports. (It’s worth remembering it was purchased for just $2 million in 2001.) With the massive infusion of money, however, has come controversy. The sport’s biggest star, Conor McGregor, is demanding an ownership stake. So far, the UFC has shown no interest in granting it to him. Indeed, McGregor’s agent has suggested he might switch over to the WWE.

Other fighters are eagerly watching how this plays out. After all, if McGregor can get equity, maybe they can too. But if the sport’s biggest earner falls short, it doesn’t bode well for negotiation time for those with far less leverage.

At this time of excitement but also uncertainty, it seems worth revisiting Brett Okamoto’s ambitious article for ESPN, which tracks the reactions to the UFC’s massive purchase by various figures throughout the organization—including fighters of various experience levels and multiple managers. (All insisted on anonymity, though he provides enough information on the fighters so it’s possible for hardcore fans to speculate on their identities.)

UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor of Ireland celebrates after defeating Eddie Alvarez in their UFC lightweight championship fight during the UFC 205 event at Madison Square Garden on November 12, 2016 in New York City. (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

In general, there’s a great deal of pride in the growth of mixed martial arts and the money that it now commands (one manager declared, “I think it just shows how healthy this sport is.”). Yet there’s also pessimism about most of the people in the sport actually sharing in the gains. Another manager puts it this way:

“Somebody just spent $4 billion. So, if you expect them to come in and say, ‘We just spent $4 billion based on the numbers these guys have had on the books, now the first thing we’re going to do is raise the numbers for our athletes and dwindle our profits?’ The chances of that happening are slim to none.”

A veteran fighter effectively summed up the dilemma ownership now faces:

“Now it’s going to be interesting, because there are going to be two sides of this thing. They’re going to try to build fighters as big as possible, which they have the means to do that with access to so much media, but then they’re also, as the owner, going to try to keep the fighter pay to a minimum.”

To read the full article on a sport (and business) in a time of transformation, click here.