UFC is one of the few sports organizations where female athletes are promoted at a comparable level as the men — and deservedly so. Since 2013’s UFC 157 main event between Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche, it’s been relatively common to see female fighters headline highly anticipated UFC cards.
Yet, there apparently remains a huge pay gap between the top male and female fighters. And as a whole, UFC hasn’t increased the fighter wage share despite UFC’s massive growth the past decade.
It’s so bad that flyweight division fighter Paige VanZant says that she makes more money with sponsored Instagram posts than she does by fighting in UFC.
VanZant, who has 2.2 million followers on Instagram and makes numerous sponsored posts, told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani:
“With endorsements I make way more money sitting at home, posting pictures on Instagram than I do fighting. With endorsement deals and everything I pull in from social media, I would actually be at a loss just taking a fight and focusing on that. If I were to stop everything I do outside of fighting and just fight, I would be at a loss financially, by a longshot.”
She added that during her contract negotiation, she was told that she couldn’t be paid more than a “female champion” rather than her value across all of UFC (men and women).
UFC doesn’t publicly disclose a list of money leaders for any particular year, but some projections have just one female fighter (Ronda Rousey, who is no longer active in UFC) among the top 20 in net worth.
On the other hand, UFC head Dana White’s net worth is estimated to be $500 million.
VanZant last fought in January where she defeated Rachael Ostovich but suffered a fractured arm.