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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Harry Davies

UFC president Dana White told there is "more room" to increase fighter pay

MMA manager Tim Simpson thinks there is room for fighter pay to be increased in the UFC.

Simpson is the Senior Vice President of Paradigm Sports and manages some of the biggest stars in the UFC such as Conor McGregor and Israel Adesanya.

He played an integral role in Adesanya signing a new contract with the promotion last week that put him as the best-paid UFC fighter aside from McGregor.

UFC fighter pay has been a heavily debated topic in recent years, with YouTube star turned boxer Jake Paul calling out Dana White for "underpaying" his fighters.

And Simpson thinks whilst UFC fighter pay has gone up in recent years there is still room for improvement.

"Of course I think all fighters should get paid more. I'm not a financial expert, but from the numbers I'm aware of it appears there is more room to pay fighters more in my opinion," he said on ' The MMA Hour '.

UFC boss Dana White has been criticised over fighter pay (Zuffa LLC)

"You take Israel, he's happy. I'm sure other fighters are happy. [Since] I started seven years ago the base payment has gone up, it has improved, but has it improved enough I don't believe so, but change will come.

The UFC has been questioned over their revenue share with fighters, who currently get around 16-18 per cent compared to athletes in other major sports leagues getting 50 per cent.

Paul challenged White to increase fighters' base pay to $50,000 a fight, award them 50 per cent of the promotion's profits and be issued with long-term healthcare.

Some fighters have backed Paul's campaign whilst others think it could be detrimental for the UFC roster.

Fighters were stripped of their opportunity to earn money from independent sponsorships deals in 2015 when the promotion introduced Reebok as their official outfitting partner.

But Simpson said fighters can still earn good money from sponsorships and they are the "biggest point of emphasis" for his roster.

What are your thoughts on UFC fighter pay? Let us know in the comments section below

"We do well for our fighters. Almost all of our athletes have sponsorships, they're not crazy. Not everyone's making hundreds of thousands, some are," he continued.

"It's always an area of improvement, but take Leon [Edwards] has got several sponsors, enough to kind of tick over monthly. I've got some guys that get a lot of sponsors and some don't, it comes down to the brand.

"People that say 'the industry is dead you shouldn't expect sponsors', that's not true. We have success with sponsors for almost all of our roster.

"We have weekly meetings on it, we have sponsorship drives and have a whole new task management, so we certainly push hard."

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