Ronda Rousey digs at UFC over contracts as she leaks minimum pay for Jake Paul event

Ronda Rousey has taken yet another jab at the UFC ahead of her upcoming super fight with Gina Carano.

The MMA icon has been an outspoken critic of her ‘barely recognisable’ former employer since announcing her comeback with Jake Paul‘s Most Valuable Promotions (MVP).

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At the launch press conference for the May 16 Netflix event last month, Rousey blasted the UFC for its ‘poverty-level’ fighter pay.

And when she took to the stage in New York on Wednesday, the UFC’s finances were once again under the microscope as she revealed that MVP’s base pay is four times higher than MMA’s premier promotion.

“I think it’s really important that we raise the ceiling, but also raise the floor,” said Rousey, who is co-promoting the event alongside MVP.

“One thing that I’m really proud of on this card is that the absolute minimum anybody will walk away with, even if they don’t have a big, long record, and even if they lose, it’s $40,000,”

“If you fight 3 times a year, that is much more than a living wage.

“That’s something the UFC cannot say… And I hope that after this event, we can continue to raise that ceiling higher and higher until it is on par with the highest-level boxers.”

UFC fighter pay issue laid bare

Despite increasing profit margins, the UFC’s entry rate for new signings has remained at $10,000 to show and $10,000 to win since 2015.

On average, the UFC pays its fighters roughly 20% of the revenue, as opposed to boxing, where around 60% goes to the pugilists.

In 2024, the UFC settled an antitrust lawsuit for $375million, where 1,067 fighters were compensated for being underpaid from 2010 to 2017.

Another lawsuit has since been brought against the promotion by a group of fighters who fought after 2017.

“It used to be that the UFC was the best place that you could come in combat sports to make a living and be paid fairly. Now, it’s one of the worst places to go,” Rousey said at the start of the promotional campaign for her comeback.

“It’s why so many of their top athletes are going to find pay elsewhere. It’s why their champions, like Valentina [Shevchenko], are selling pictures of their t***** on OnlyFans.

“These people, a lot of them at the ground level, they can’t even support their families and are living at poverty-level fighting full-time.

“This company just got $7.7 billion! There is no reason why they can’t afford to pay their athletes at least a living wage.

“Not even that, to at least be able to match what these athletes are making in other sports.

“Why would they expect to get the best athletes and aspiring kids who want to be something into MMA? Why not go into football, boxing, or anything else?

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“They are bleeding talent because of their short-term greed. They are thinking about the next quarter.

“They are thinking about the shareholders. They are not thinking about their responsibility to be stewards of the sport.”

MVP main card fighters Rousey, Carano, Francis Ngannou, Philipe Lins, Mike Perry and Nate Diaz are all projected to earn career-best paydays.

For the top end of the bracket, athletes are reportedly looking at eight-figure purses.