How much Venum pays UFC fighters – Crunching the numbers

One of the more controversial parts of the UFC is its relationship between sponsorships and fighter pay. For many years after its creation, fighters were allowed to wear sponsors on their clothing whilst fighting. In 2015, this all changed when Reebok became the main (and only) sponsor of UFC fight wear.

This was not good news for fighters, as the likes of Ryan Bader explained how it earned him less money per fight. Six years on, the UFC signed a new contract with Venum who are their current fight wear sponsors. In this article, we shall go through how much Venum pays UFC fighters, as well as whether it is a better deal than the Reebok one.

Does Venum pay UFC fighters more than Reebok?

Venum does pay UFC fighters more than Reebok did. However, this number is very small. For instance, UFC champions were paid $40,000 to fight whilst wearing Reebok. Under Venum, they are paid $42,000. This is only a slight difference and marks an increase of five percent in pay.

Similarly, newcomers to the UFC are paid $4000 for their first three fights, as opposed to the previous $3500 they’d receive under Reebok. This is over a 10 percent increase which is probably a welcome pay bump amongst lower level fighters.

Aside from the two ends of the spectrum, fighters in the middle of the UFC sponsor-pay bracket are also paid more by Venum. As mentioned, this increase may be deemed insignificant by some, whereas it may be welcomed more by others. Whatever your take on things, it’s fair to say that under Venum, UFC fighters earn slightly more than they did under Reebok. In general, most fighters are paid $1000 better off under Venum compared to Reebok.

UFC fighters also get a cut of merchandise sales

Although the bulk of sponsorship money may come from fighting, there is another way. This way is through merchandise sales which has been a business model that dates back to Reebok (with Venum continuing this method).

Basically, if the UFC sells a t-shirt that has the face or name of a fighter, the fighter will get a percentage of the sales. This makes sense but honestly, your average fighter probably won’t make much from this deal. Although someone like Conor McGregor may make some money from this structure due to his popularity – the reality is that most fighters just aren’t that popular to get lots of money through selling merchandise to the public.

Check The Price Of Venum UFC Fight Wear On Amazon

How much is the UFCs deal with Venum?

The UFC are paid $70 million by Venum to feature their brand on their clothes. This includes shorts, t-shirts, and MMA gloves. This figure is apparently quite a bit less than the Reebok deal, although there is a good reason for this. The main reason that the Reebok deal paid the UFC more was that it was on a six-year deal. In comparison, the Venum deal is merely a three-year deal. Whether the Venum contract is expanded after its tenure is yet to be seen.

The likelihood is that if both parties are happy with each other’s performances then the UFC could increase the contract length with Venum. Nonetheless, after seeing what happened with Reebok this may not be the case anyway.

Why did the UFC go with Venum over Reebok?

Despite parting ways with Reebok, this was strictly business. In short, the UFC and Reebok fulfilled their six-year contract and when it ended, neither party could come to an agreement. Perhaps one of the reasons why the two split was because the Reebok deal was often seen in a negative light. The reason for this is that it introduced a new era into the UFC, whereby fighters could no longer negotiate their own, separate sponsorship deals. In short, it signified a change where fighters were now less independent, whether they liked it or not.

The other possible reason for the UFC partnering with Venum was because Venum were more in line with the UFC’s image. Founded in 2006, Venum has long has always been based on making martial arts gear. Even before they joined forces with the UFC, Venum was known for making boxing gloves, mouthguards, and other fighting products.

In comparison, whilst Reebok are also a sports brand, they’re seen as less specialist compared to Venum. In brief, Reebok has more of a broad image compared to Venum who aren’t as general in comparison.

Venum still pays less than the pre-Reebok era…possibly

Despite Venum paying more than Reebok – it’s still not a huge increase as far as most are concerned. Back in 2017, popular MMA fighter Ryan Bader claimed he lost a large chunk of money due to the new Reebok deal. According to Bader, he earned roughly $35,000-80,000 per fight in sponsorship money when he was able to negotiate his own sponsors.

This would mean that under the new structure involving Reebok, he would have lost between $20,000-65,000 for every fight in the UFC. Over the course of a career, this could easily turn into hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost income. Now, if we apply Bader’s experience to Venum, it’s fair to assume that the average UFC fighter would still miss out on a substantial amount of income.

Conclusion

Whilst Venum pays more than Reebok did to UFC fighters, it’s probably still quite a way off the amount that sponsors paid in the earlier days of the UFC. Arguably, as the UFC now has more global viewers than ever, there’s also a point to be made that these days, fighters could earn even more than they previously did. This can be seen by the UFC’S valuation rising over the years as well, so you may think the two are correlated.

It is perhaps this reason as to why some fighters have previously prioritized fighting over at Bellator where they can potentially earn more money. In summary, Venum pays fighters more than Reebok. However, this amount is only a slight increase.