Jorge Masvidal has a lot of questions on his mind.
The UFC welterweight star and “BMF” champion on Saturday opened up on his displeasure regarding the promotion’s revenue split with its athletes. In an interview on ESPN’s “SportsCenter”, Masvidal (35-13 MMA, 12-6 UFC) discussed his stance and his unsuccessful negotiations with the UFC for his next bout.
“Basically, it’s not that I’m asking for more money, it’s that I’m asking for a bigger revenue share of what we bring in,” Masvidal said. “I’ve got a lot of questions, and one of them is NBA, NHL, baseball, they make, I think, 50 percent with the players of what the organization brings in.
“Football, I think it’s 47 percent. Mine is like 18 percent. So I have these questions in my mind: Is it to put the cage up costs so much? The setup? What is it so much?”
In past reports, it’s been estimated that UFC fighters earn about 20 percent of the company’s revenue, which, as Masvidal pointed out, is much lower compared to other major sports.
UFC president Dana White has noted the financial strain the coronavirus pandemic has brought on the company as a reason why it’s not prudent to ask for more money in recent cases with UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and now Masvidal.
The UFC can’t host fights with crowds due to COVID-19, thus missing out on live gate revenue and other sales that come with a crowd. Masvidal says that has nothing to do with the fighters.
“To me, it doesn’t make any sense,” Masvidal said. “The guy across the cage, his intent is always to try to take my head off and none of us – no fighter ever – has gotten money off the gate or the hot dog sale or the piña coladas that they sell. We don’t get any of that, so that is not our concern.
“The fighters that don’t know, that are not educated, might say different things, but we don’t get a percentage of the gate, a percentage of the T-shirts, none of that. So what does it matter for us? Why do I have to do my job at a less rate? Now, if they were giving us 50 percent share or 40 percent or any of that stuff, it be a different ball game. Yeah, we can come to different terms like the NBA or other sports because of the things at hand – the quarantine and not being able to do large gatherings and not being able to have them. But we don’t even have that. We’re not even near that ball park.
“Most of us would be happy if it was 30 percent coming back, but it’s not even that. It’s less than 20 percent. I have these questions, and I want them answered.”
As far as the championship bout with Kamaru Usman or a potential date for his return, Masvidal said there’s a chance he does fight at the end of 2020.
“Me and the UFC have been talking since the end of December about the next couple of fights,” Masvidal said. “Numerous ideas got tossed around, several times back and forth. I said yes to everybody they offered me. I said, ‘Yes, I will compete and fight against anybody you want.’
“When it came to the numbers and a couple times we had differences, a couple other fights just fell through. On this current fight, they’re just not wanting to play ball at all. They want me to take less money than I did on my last fight (with Nate Diaz at UFC 244), even though I’m fighting for a world championship. A lot of things just don’t add up.”
Jorge Masvidal questions UFC's revenue share with fighters: 'A lot of things just don't add up'
