Author: Anton Tabuena

UFC is still immensely profitable, and broke financial records. Again.

Year over year, the UFC has boasted about breaking their financial records, and 2021 was no different. Endeavor Group Holdings held their Q4 2021 earnings conference call on Wednesday, and it’s where they announced that the UFC continued that trend and had their best year ever.

“UFC posted its best financial year in its 28-year history,” the Endeavor CEO and UFC owner Ari Emanuel revealed. “All Pay-Per-View events sold out, sponsorship hit record revenue highs and international rights deals saw significant increases.”

Endeavor CFO Jason Lublin says “UFC revenue was up 30% year-over-year,” citing 14 new international media rights deals, along with “significant growth” in sponsorship, which includes lucrative deals with Crypto.com and DraftKings.

They also announced that Endeavor’s “Owned Sports Properties” segment’s revenue is up 16% and generated $1.1 billion. They remained highly profitable, showing that their adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) is up 17%, making an impressive $537.6 million for the year. They also noted that EBITDA margins are also up to 48.5%.

They didn’t reveal more specific figures for the UFC, but Moody’s previously estimated that UFC made up around 90% of the total business for Endeavor’s “Owned Sports Properties” in 2020.

Lublin also notes that the Russia-Ukraine war won’t be affecting Endeavor and the UFC much, saying “we expect less than a 2% impact on adjusted EBITDA on a consolidated basis.”

The numbers they announced are very close to the UFC’s previously revealed targets of having 50% EBITDA margin. To achieve that, they planned to maintain fighters’ revenue share at just 17% for years.

That low revenue share was brought up during the Q&A portion of the call, with Emanuel defending the UFC’s controversial low fighter pay. Here’s how the exchange went:

Brandon Ross: “Could give your perspective on why the overall splits have ended up where they are, and what your outlook is there, whether we should expect the relative share that fighters are getting a revenue pool to go up in time or stay kind of where it is?

Ari Emanuel, Endeavor CEO: “We’ve increased fighter pay. I want to make sure I’m right, about 400%?”

Jason Lublin, Endeavor CFO: “600%”

Emanuel: “600% since 2005. So — and we’re investing in the business with Performance Institute, food, recovery. So we have done — and now participation in Dapper Labs and NFTs in the kits. So we think we’ve done very, very well.

And as the revenue for the business increases has only benefited that business. And we’ve grown, and the sport has grown, and fighter pay has grown too, as I said, how much it’s gone up since 2005.”

Ross: “I think the pushback that’s out there, though, is that your overall revenue base at UFC has grown much more than that 600%, I believe, and what the overall relative share should be?”

Emanuel: “Well, I’m not commenting on that. I think we’ve done very well as it relates to the pay for the fighters.”

Emanuel has already used this “fighter pay is up 600% since 2005” defense in the past. As alluded to in the Q&A, the issue is that since 2005, UFC’s revenue and profits have grown over 1700% and 6200%, respectively.

We already discussed his claim in-depth when he first said it, but this line still holds true: “While fighters are definitely making more than they did in 2005, so are the promoters. In fact, the gap between the fighters and the promotion has only increased over the last 15 years.”

Dana White isn’t interested in booking Jake Paul vs Conor McGregor.

Dana White sat down with Logan Paul, and it’s where he responded to Jake Paul’s callouts. The UFC President believes that Paul shouldn’t fight Conor McGregor because he is too big for him.

“Well, he shouldn’t even be fighting Conor McGregor,” White said on Impaulsive with Logan Paul (via MMA Fighting). “These guys [the Pauls] are f—ng huge. [Logan] is huge, his brother [Jake] is huge. What’s your brother, 6-foot-1, 210 [pounds]? Conor McGregor is 145, 155 pounds. … There’s weight classes for a reason.

“Do you think [Jake] could make ‘70?” White continued, asking Logan Paul directly.

“I don’t think so,” Logan Paul replied.

“Yeah, exactly,” White said. “And it’s a stretch for Conor to fight at 170. He fought Nate [Diaz] at ‘70, that isn’t his f—ng weight class, not even close.”

It’s pretty obvious that Paul is indeed bigger and has made a lot of money by beating smaller MMA stars in boxing. That being said, Dana White was also being a bit disingenuous by comparing current walking weight to actual weight divisions. He even included 145 lbs, which McGregor struggled to cut down to seven years ago, and will never be able to make again.

McGregor has fought at 170 lbs thrice. If we’d also make a pretty pointless comparison using his current walking weight instead, the Irish star has actually been bragging about bulking up to “190 lbs of granite” and looking almost unrecognizable during his off season recovery.

Paul, who fights at 190 lbs in boxing, says White is only making “excuses” and claimed that he can cut down to 175 lbs to fight McGregor.

It’s unclear if Paul can actually cut that much weight, especially with his lack of experience at it, but for what it’s worth, a lot of UFC welterweights also walk around over 200 lbs.

Paul is bigger than McGregor but at the end of the day, money talks, which is why White likely still has a “never say never” approach now.

“I’m never completely closed off to anything,” White said about Paul. “I used to say that about things, but I don’t say that anymore, because you never know. You never know what could happen.”

The fight is unlikely to happen, as Paul can demand a lot more money in boxing that UFC will likely want to give. If by any chance UFC gets a deal that’s more than favorable to them though, you can expect that Paul suddenly isn’t too “huge” anymore.

The UFC’s COO tried to defend their controversial low fighter pay.

The UFC has been immensely successful and lucrative, with the organization repeatedly boasting about breaking all their financial records year after year. One of the biggest criticisms about the MMA world leader though has been that fighter pay hasn’t kept up with the growth, and the athletes still get a very small share of the revenue.

UFC COO Lawrence Epstein tried to defend the company, saying some of the criticism has been “completely disingenuous.” He spoke to Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal about it, and here are snippets from his post called “UFC battles narrative on fighter pay.”

Critics claim that UFC only shares 16% of its revenue with fighters when determining their split for an event. UFC COO Lawrence Epstein disputed that figure, when interviewed this month, but declined to provide specifics.

…

On top of saying that fighter pay is growing, Epstein said UFC is investing heavily in growing its brand globally — for example, building several performance institutes and working to get the sport legalized in more countries. It also handles its own production, unlike major stick-and-ball sports.

“Some of the stuff is completely disingenuous,” Epstein said of the criticism over fighter pay. He believes three primary factors have led to the current situation: Paul’s focus on the issue; fighters going public with contract negotiations to gain public backing they can leverage in the talks; and broader societal shifts in America where workers are demanding higher salaries.

“With Jake Paul, he profits from the attention economy where the more attention you get, the more money you get,” Epstein said.

…

UFC said it helps fighters land endorsements, citing nearly two dozen fighters who are aligned with Monster Energy, three aligned with Modelo, two with Guaranteed Rate and one apiece with Crypto.com and Dapper Labs. It also shares revenue from NFT sales 50/50 with fighters.

UFC says it provides fighters a marketing platform that, if capitalized on, can lead to major wealth like that amassed by superstar Conor McGregor or, to a lesser extent, Ronda Rousey.

Let’s go over some of his arguments, which they have already repeated in past attempts to defend fighter pay.

• Perhaps the biggest issue is how Epstein — and the actual article — frames this as a “narrative,” but in reality, “critics” did not make those claims about the revenue share. The UFC themselves did. UFC released those revenue share figures as part of the antitrust lawsuit, and it also showed how they had a target goal to maintain fighter pay at 17% of the revenue for years.
• Is fighter pay only an issue due to other companies’ workers recently demanding higher salaries, and Jake Paul’s trolling? It is more than fair to question Paul’s motivations, but will they contest the actual points and issues he’s raised? Are we also going to blame it on that and just ignore the very long history of documented low fighter pay and wage share, that again — UFC themselves reported?
• “Fighter pay is growing” is the same defense UFC has used for years. Yes, technically fighter pay has risen, but they conveniently leave out how the promotion’s profits have significantly grown even more. We’ve already discussed this in-depth before, but this line still holds true: “While fighters are definitely making more than they did in 2005, so are the promoters. In fact, the gap between the fighters and the promotion has only increased over the last 15 years.”
• Speaking of “disingenuous,” saying that UFC “handles its own production” implies that the promotion has costs so great, and banks on readers not knowing that a lot of those monetary figures have actually already been released. We already have a good idea of what their expenses are per event and per year, and as they’ve released and repeatedly bragged about, UFC’s profits are still immense despite all of that.
• UFC saying they provide “a marketing platform” and helped around 30 fighters “land endorsements” ignore how they’ve previously banned outside sponsorships for every other fighter. That move has actually been very lucrative for the UFC, as now almost all sponsorships go directly to them, while fighters do not get a cut.
• It’s also worth pointing out that while they brought up McGregor and Rousey’s “major wealth,” they’re arguably the two most underpaid fighters ever, if you consider the amount of money they brought in for the UFC. They only got a small slice of the pie, which is why even boxers that draw far less PPVs routinely get paid more. Both superstars did earn millions from their UFC careers, but they were worth exponentially more to the promotion.

Francis Ngannou will be out for nine months.

Francis Ngannou, who defended his title at UFC 270 despite reportedly having a completely torn MCL and damaged ACL, will be continuing with his plan to get knee surgery. According to ESPN the procedure has been set for March 18, with the timeframe for recovery being around nine months.

The UFC heavyweight champion has long been dissatisfied with the promotion, and the timing of this surgery and recovery could work for his goal to get free of his current contract. Should he fail to book another fight within the year — which will be the likely scenario if he sits out for nine months — he could be a free agent by 2023.

While that timeframe looks to be in line with their original plans, Ngannou’s manager, Marquel Martin of CAA, says they’re still looking forward to trying to negotiate with the UFC during this time period.

“I appreciated and supported the UFC’s dinner invitation to Francis,” Martin told ESPN. “I believe Francis and Dana needed to get together in that kind of setting. We’re all looking forward now to sitting down with the UFC in a professional capacity to map out the next chapter in Francis’s journey.”

While the relationship seemed irreparable at certain points that got ugly, Dana White has also been optimistic. The UFC President says they’re likely to meet soon and he’s “hopeful and confident” that they get a deal done and have Ngannou remain with the UFC.

Would Dana White ever agree to something like this?

For years, Jake Paul has been trying to call out Conor McGregor for a boxing fight, but now he says he’s willing to fight him in MMA too.

The most recent exchange between the two started with the YouTuber turned boxer critiquing McGregor’s technique and claiming he’d knock him out in either boxing or MMA.

“This is embarrassing,” Paul wrote about McGregor’s latest training video. “Your chin wide open with no head movement.”

“I would KO Conor in boxing or MMA. Right hand of God.”

Although it’s unlikely that Dana White will ever agree, Paul then made another “offer” and purse bet, saying he’s willing to donate his entire purse if he loses to McGregor.

“Dana – Since you like me now, how about a 1 fight UFC deal to fight Conor,” Paul tweeted. “If I win, you agree to my UFC fighter pay and healthcare proposal. If I lose I donate my entire purse to all UFC fighters who make less than $50K a fight and never mention UFC again. Deal?”

Paul, ever the troll, used the audio from McGregor’s video response in a montage of him supposedly “training MMA.”

Paul, 25, is currently 5-0 in boxing. He has two wins over former UFC champion Tyron Woodley, and one against former UFC contender Ben Askren.

McGregor, 33, is currently recovering from his leg break after his second straight loss to Dustin Poirier. He is targeting a 2022 return, and says he’ll be medically cleared to start boxing sparring by April.

Greg Hardy’s contract has expired after his third straight loss.

Not many wanted to be in the Greg Hardy business after his high profile domestic violence arrest, but the disgraced NFL veteran was accepted by the UFC with open arms in 2018. He had two fights on Dana White’s Contender Series and 10 official bouts with the promotion, but it looks like his four-year run has come to an end.

Hardy recently lost to Sergey Spivak at UFC 272 earlier in March, which marked his third straight knockout loss. That was the final fight on his UFC contract, and if his recent statement is any indication, it seems like his time with the promotion is over.

“What a run,” Hardy wrote on Instagram. “ya boy is far from done just got some fine tuning to do. Thank you to all my fans and haters. I appreciate you all. Mostly i appreciate my coaches, family, and the @ufc for giving me the opportunity to shine bright”

If the UFC is indeed not interested in re-signing the controversial 33-year-old, he will end his much criticized stint going 4-5 (1 NC) with the promotion. Apart from the final three knockout losses on his record, Hardy also had a disqualification loss for an illegal strike, and a No Contest for illegally using an inhaler in between rounds.