Dana White and the UFC have always worked, both publicly and privately, to keep fighter salaries out of the public eye.
While the UFC CEO’s policy was to not reveal a fighter’s pay unless they had misrepresented it to the public, White is well aware that athletes would regularly disclose their earnings to one another. That bit of information comes according to a 2017 deposition for the UFC antitrust lawsuit that was recently unsealed by federal judge Richard Boulware.
“All the fighters know what other fighters are making,” White said. “They all talk. They all know. Even guys who say they don’t want their number out there, they tell” (h/t MMA Fighting).
As expected, it occasionally led to flare-ups among fighters with one example coming to White’s mind regarding a professional wrestler who had signed with the promotion before having any professional fights under his belt.
“It just happened recently again, too,” White said in the deposition. “We had some guy that was — that was paid a certain amount of money and never — oh, the professional wrestler that we brought in. Not Brock [Lesnar], the other one.”
“CM Punk?” the attorney asked.
“Oh, yeah,” White replied. “People went crazy when they saw what he got paid. … Even the women.”
Punk’s disclosed payout for his promotional debut at UFC 203 against Mickey Gall was $500,000, however, he was actually paid more than double that figure. Per a report from Bloody Elbow and newly unsealed UFC lawsuit documents, Punk was paid a whopping $1,042,736. The information was made public as part of the class action lawsuit being brought against the promotion by more than 1,200 fighters who have in the past or currently work with the UFC.
The host of UFC veterans suing the promotion for antitrust violations has made fighter pay, and the UFC’s public and private communication about it, a key part of its case by arguing that the promotion conspired to lower fighter pay as part of a scheme to monopolize the market for top-tier MMA fighters.
Was Dana White Justified in Giving CM Punk a Bigger Piece of the Pie?
According to a copy of CM Punk’s contract which was unsealed in the lawsuit, the former AEW star who recently returned to WWE after nearly a decade, jumped straight toward the top of the UFC’s disclosed pay scale with any additional money owed to him being paid through a separate letter of agreement.
Multiple fighters vented their frustration over the pro wrestler’s top-shelf payout.
“CM Punk made $500k on his entry fight while the rest of us pay to fight?” wrote then-UFC bantamweight Cat Zingano. “Y’all should be ashamed UFC.”
“Nothing against CM Punk make half million for his MMA debut,” wrote former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos. “But I think champs should be [making] that too, people who dedicated [an] entire life.”
One thing that cannot be disputed is the fact that CM Punk’s presence at UFC 203 bolstered the event, leading to a reported 450,000 buys and generating $26,995,500 in revenue for the promotion.