The UFC is a privately held company, and as such is under no responsibility to divulge financial information. However, John S. Nash was able to piece together estimates of revenue, debt, and earnings from 2001 to the present.
It is not known how accurate these numbers are. However, the massive effect of The Ultimate Fighter in 2005 is inescapable, with revenues increasing over ten fold in a two-year period.
Nash also estimated the breakdown in revenue from different sources, and identified a major shift from a PPV reliant business, to one balanced between PPV, ticket sales, television deals, and other streams.
In a controversial section, Nash estimated the percentage of revenue paid out to fighters as perhaps 13.6% or perhaps 16.3%. These are based on a Jan 2012 interview with Lorenzo Fertitta in which he said the company had paid out $250,000,000 to fighters. That 250 million figure was then compared to the estimated gross since the company was acquired, including 2011.
The 13.6/16.3 figures were compared unflatteringly to the athlete payouts for other major sports leagues, which were estimated at for example 40% for MLB and 35% for MLS and higher still for the NFL and NBA.
Next week the discussion will turn to debt.
