It’s expected that the UFC’s most dominant current champions would have unrivaled paydays. But Jake Paul confidently claimed that Ronda Rousey’s payout for Most Valuable Promotions’ inaugural MMA card on May 16 would surpass whatever Dana White is paying one of the promotion’s marquee champions.
In an interview with Jorge Masvidal, ‘The Problem Child’ revealed that while he did not know the exact figures, his promotion, MVP, would pay the lowest earning fighter on the card more than UFC’s standard lowest pay, which is around $12K to show and $12K to win.
“I don’t [know the lowest number], but definitely more than the UFC by a lot,” Paul said in Masvidal’s Death Row MMA podcast. “Here’s what I can say. I know how much Ronda Rousey is making for this event, and it’s a lot more than what Ilia Topuria makes for fighting.”
When it comes to the Georgian-Spaniard champ’s fight purse, it was revealed on the PBD Podcast that Ilia Topuria earned over $2 million for defending the 145 lbs title vs Max Holloway at UFC 308. After that, the 29-year-old faced Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 and reportedly earned $3.5 million for winning the 155 lbs belt, marking a considerable jump. Those numbers are definitely impressive for a UFC champion, but they also resemble the figures Ronda Rousey earned in UFC days back in 2016.
According to reports, Ronda Rousey earned $3 million for her final UFC fight against Amanda Nunes at UFC 207, making it one of the highest disclosed purses at the time alongside stars like Conor McGregor and Brock Lesnar. So, Ilia Topuria’s earnings remained within the standard range that Dana White’s promotion has historically paid its champions, including Rousey.
With ‘Rowdy’ set to return, MVP could be paying her a substantially larger amount than what she earned in her final UFC outing. However, Jake Paul has not revealed the exact figure behind Ronda Rousey’s comeback payday, leaving the comparison largely unclear.
But ‘Rowdy’ herself has given us a hint of MVP’s pay structure. “I think it’s really important that we raise the ceiling, but also that we raise the floor,” Rousey said during her NYC Press Conference last month. “And one thing that I’m really proud of in this fight is the absolute minimum that anybody will walk away with, even if they don’t have a big, long record, and even if they lose, is $40,000.”
That said, Rousey is not the only athlete MVP appears willing to spend heavily on.
Paul also addressed the rumors surrounding Nate Diaz reportedly being offered a multi-million dollar deal to fight Mike Perry under the promotion’s banner.
Jake Paul clears the air on paying ex-UFC vet Nate Diaz $10M to fight Mike Perry
Ahead of the May 16 Netflix card, Joe Rogan rumored that Jake Paul’s MVP paid Nate Diaz $10 million to fight Mike Perry. The UFC color commentator’s revelation immediately raised questions about the pay disparity between the UFC and MVP’s payouts. However, Paul later addressed the speculation and suggested the figure was highly inflated.
“I think that a lot of the numbers in combat sports are often inflated,” Paul told New York Post Sports. “There are so many rumors out there, and at the end of the day, there is a lot of money in combat sports. I don’t think anyone besides me, Nakisa [Bidarian, MVP co-founder] and Nate Diaz’s team right now know how much they are getting paid. At the end of the day, we want fighters to make the most amount of money when they come and work with MVP and fight with us.”
With that statement, Paul seemingly indicated that the actual figure was far lower than the rumored $10 million. Interestingly, Diaz had previously revealed that the UFC offered him more money than what he would earn at MVP to fight Perry, though he ultimately rejected the offer from Dana White and Co.
That said, with so many marquee names involved, plenty of rumors continue to circulate regarding fighter payouts. Still, the growing competition between the UFC and MVP could ultimately benefit athletes in the long run when it comes to fighter pay.
