The UFC is still printing money. The price of the brick is going up after a successful 2021. The cost of purchasing a UFC pay-per-view event has increased. This new price increase is the third since MMA giant signed a lucrative 5-year contract with Disney. The price of a pay-per-view event was $59.99 at that time.
White said that the UFC had their best year ever in 2021, with an estimated $8.6 million pay-per-views purchased. UFC's parent company earned 63.6 million in income during the third quarter. It appears that the purchase of 100 percent of the UFC by Endeavor was a great investment, even if it was done after the first year of the COVID epidemic that hurt profits in all live entertainment industries.
Fight fans will have the first chance to pay that price in a few weeks. On January 22, Francis Ngannou will fight for the title against interim champ Ciryl Gane. The UFC will hold its first major event in 2022, and it will serve as a reminder that the pay for fighters is not happening at the same rate.
It is odd that there is an interim champ when there is an active champ. Ngannou won the belt in March, but terms couldn't be reached on a summer title defense in Houston, so in August, Gane defeated Lewis for the interim title, less than five months after Ngannou's win.
Why did the fight fail? It's hard to tell from the back and forth between Ngannou's manager and White on social media, but what's known is that Ngannou is not happy with his contract and pay. He has one fight left on his contract, but the UFC can keep him under contract even after the fight. Ngannou said on the MMA Hour that he still needs to borrow money because negotiations have not gone well.
