Many people don’t understand how fighter pay works.
Let’s say fighter X gets 100000 for the event, 50000 win bonus, 10000 from Reebok, 20000 from other personal sponsors he promotes on social media etc ... so a nice 180000 pay for a fight! Great right? Well not as great as it seems.
To deal with the UFC, contracts, sponsors, financials, accounting, expenses, promotion, media, other opportunities, etc, a professional uses a management agency, which usually works on a fixed fee plus a 10-20% commission ... so let’s be conservative and say 5000 fixed and 15% which is 27000 ... so 32000 to them.
A team (coach, trainer, nutritionist, physio, etc) can be huge or tiny depending on the investment the fighter can make. Let’s say fighter X has a small team working for him on a casual basis, it’s still a few thousands in professional fees plus 10% at least to the head coach and gym, so let’s say 8000 plus 18000 ... so 26000 to them.
Some special nutrition, supplementation, perhaps preparatory travel to different training ... at least another couple of thousands on that, possibly much more.
So 32000 + 26000 + 2000 = 60000 in expenses.
Let’s not forget taxes and a minimum pension fund: depending on where fighter X lives those can vary, but if he’s lucky it’s still at least another 40000 all up.
So 180000 - 60000 - 40000 = 80000 is the real “take home” income.
Now 80000 might still seem good, especially because fighting three times per year would mean 240000 annual take home income.
But ... how many fighters consistently fight three times per year? And how many remain at that earning level (180000 per fight) consistently for more than a few years?
Last but not least they are earning that in their 20s and 30s, when there is a greater chance of “living it up” without thinking that there will be another 50 years of life after fighting hopefully, years where they might earn almost nothing compared to the UFC period.
So it’s not a very financially rewarding career for the vast majority, even once they reach UFC level. I would say most fighters outside the top ten of each weight class are absolutely not very economically comfortable, especially in the long term. Having said that, there are fighters who have little education and would probably be working very low income jobs, so of course in that case they’re earning much more than they could ever dream to elsewhere.