Moving UFC 232 from Nevada to California means fighters are going to have to pay a pretty big increase in income tax.
When issues with a Jon Jones drug test led the UFC to move their UFC 232 event from Nevada to California on less than a week of notice, things were thrown into chaos. Tickets don’t go on sale until three days before the event. Some fighters found out about the move by reading the news on the internet instead of being properly informed by the promotion. And there’s the obvious logistical issues for fighters and fans.
But one thing had flown under the radar for the most part, until UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes pointed it out on social media – fighting in California as opposed to Nevada means the fighters will have to pay more income tax.
Well… wasn’t expecting to pay California state taxes this Holiday season. #UFC232
— Amanda Nunes (@Amanda_Leoa) December 24, 2018
MMA Fighting’s Dave Doyle explains the exact numbers:
Meanwhile, UFC 232 fighters are losing, depending on their income bracket, somewhere between 9.25-13 percent of their purses due to the card being moved from no-tax Nevada to high-tax California.
— Dave Doyle (@davedoylemma) December 24, 2018
That’s a significant amount of money, especially for the fighters with the biggest purses on the card. Nunes will compete in the co-main event, taking on Cris Cyborg for the women’s featherweight title and hoping to become the third simultaneous two-division champion in the history of the UFC.