As soon as the UFC signed a massive seven year, $7.7 billion deal to move from ESPN to Paramount, questions were immediately raised about how more than doubling the promotion’s broadcast rights fees might actually benefit the fighters.
Addressing fighter pay concerns, TKO Group Holdings president and chief operating officer Mark Shapiro said it’s something they don’t take for granted at UFC or WWE (TKO serves as parent company to both).
“As it relates to fighter pay or superstar pay on the WWE side, our margins last year on adjusted EBITA (earnings before interest, taxes and amortization) [at] 33.5 percent,” Shapiro said during the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference.
“We’ve announced at the mid-point of our guidance we’re going to be roughly 39.6 percent so 40 percent and that margin is inclusive of increase in fighter and superstar pay and we take that very seriously.”
While he didn’t directly address any specific issues with fighter pay, Shapiro promised that athletes are definitely going to see more money thanks to this deal with Paramount.
He immediately pointed to the change in the bonus structure as an example of pay increases — although those are handed out arbitrarily at each event and not guaranteed — but that’s not the only changes expected for fighter pay moving forward into the future.
“Right out of the gate after our CBS/Paramount deal, Dana White doubled the performance bonuses for fighters,” Shapiro said. “We’re talking eight figures. One by one, we’ll be looking at this.
“We are focused on really all the ingredients that make our events as great as they are. That starts with fighters and superstars. But whatever increases we have — and we will have increases — they are inclusive of the margin guidance we have targeted.”
Only time will tell how much fighter pay might actually change with the UFC moving to Paramount, especially as more and more athletes complete deals that were previously negotiated before the new broadcast deal started in 2026.
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