The UFC signed a seven year, $7.7 billion deal to move to Paramount in 2026, which is roughly double what ESPN was paying the promotion under its previous seven year deal.
Now the fighters are going to benefit from that tremendous increase in revenue — at least where post-fight bonuses are concerned.
UFC CEO Dana White told Sports Business Journal that the bonuses are doubling from $50,000 to $100,000 starting with UFC 324 on Saturday night. That means the UFC plans to hand out at least $400,000 in bonuses per
event with two Performance of the Night awards and a Fight of the Night award handed out after each show.
There is also going to be a brand new bonus where any fighter who finishes their opponent via knockout or submission but didn’t get selected for a Performance of the Night or takes part in Fight of the Night still gets an extra $25,000.
White had promised that the post-fight bonuses would increase as part of the move to Paramount after the David Ellison run company paid $1.1 billion per year to put every UFC event on Paramount+ at no additional cost to subscribers. In the UFC’s previous deal with ESPN, the numbered events such as UFC 324 sat behind an additional pay-per-view wall with costs hitting $79.99 per event.
White also added that he expects fighter pay to also increase as part of the new broadcast deal with Paramount but the UFC doesn’t disclose those figures publicly outside of the new state athletic commissions that still reveal that information.
The news comes as a welcome surprise after White claimed he didn’t know what the post-fight bonuses would be when asked about that number during the UFC 324 pre-fight press conference on Thursday.
“I don’t have that number right now,” White told reporters.
Now less than 48 hours later, White has settled on $100,000 being paid out for each post-fight bonus.
While the UFC has increased bonuses from time-to-time for certain events — such as handing out $300,000 bonuses at the historic UFC 300 event — the standard $50,000 bonus has been in place for several years.
