Eh, its a weird situation.
You can't really compare pay from other sports organizations to that of the UFC.
The UFC has done a tremendous job on creating its brand. No casual fan really sees it as MMA but instead as the UFC / Ultimate Fighting.
While the fighters do put some butts in the seats, its more of the fact that these people are going to a UFC event and not to see some garbage like Machida vs Dolloway.
Having a mega star like LeBron leaving the NBA to go elsewhere would leave a MUCH bigger dent than if someone like Weidman or Cain Velasquez left the UFC and went to Bellator. At the very best, it'll only give Bellator maybe a few hundred thousand more viewers and really not impact the UFC all that much.
The UFC puts most of the effort into promotion, marketing, advertising, merchandise, and keeping the brand what it is. Its only when they go the freakshow route with guys like Brock, Kimbo or CM Punk when these guys can totally eclipse the UFC as a brand and do good for themselves. 99% of the fighters in the UFC are not capable of doing that.
The casual fan gives zero fucks about boxing itself and pays to see Mayweather/Pacquiao. They do not care about the next contender fighting on the undercard. Hell, they probably wont even watch it. They are solely paying to see one of those two fight.
How many people actually gave a shit that Junior Dos Santos was fighting Miocic this past Saturday? If anything, the casual fan tuned in to watch the UFC due to all their promotion during FOX broadcasts and what not.. Not to see those two specific fighters.
All those promotions that were supposedly killed off by UFC's monopoly is a bit absurd. They failed cause they were terrible promotions. They overpaid for guys who couldnt even draw like Fedor and lost TV deals on their own. Aside from Strikeforce which had a great formula and put on great shows that didn't rely on a single person. Which is why they eventually got bought out for their great stable of fighters and fight library.
That being said, the pay is still shit. The UFC doesn't have to pay the top guys in the amount that Mayweather gets paid (who does all the promoting and stuff himself) but they really need to raise the bar. They're never going to attract elite talent with the garbage pay theyre giving out now.
While the low tier fighters DO deserve what theyre getting paid now considering they barely even move the needle on their own, the UFC should show some sentiment and at least raise their salaries to a decent standard for them to live on and not look like total unprofessionals working at a Starbucks as a second job. I'm thinking more in the 15K/15K - 20K/20K range for newbies unless it was some highly touted fighter coming in.
Its already fucked up enough that the UFC is taking away their sponsors and giving them shitty tiered payout via their bullshit ranking system (which takes fighters out just cause they had a spat with Dana himself). Just give them enough money to be able to be a fighter full time. Basically raising the bar from 8K/8K to 20K/20K for the 572 fighters on the roster ( wouldnt even be for all of them! ) it would only be 13 million extra out of their 500 million revenue they made this year. Which I'm sure is nothing to them.
Also the top guys who actually bring in PPV buys themselves (GSP, Silva, Rousey, Jones) should be compensated a bit better. These are the only guys who could actually make casuals watch and should be rewarded for that. Hell its fucking 4 fighters out of 500+. I'm not even talking about the other champions who no one cares about.
Good luck getting 70%+ of the income the UFC generates though. That's just absurd when UFC does pretty much all the work.
