Georges St-Pierre believes the UFC’s new $7.7 billion broadcasting deal with Paramount will be beneficial for the promotion, but detrimental to its fighters.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s broadcasting deal will end at the end of the year. Starting in 2026, Paramount+ will be the exclusive home for all UFC events, including premium numbered fight cards typically reserved for pay-per-view.

It was an exciting bit of news for fans tired of shelling out over $1,000 per month on top of an ESPN+ subscription. However, while the new deal may be a huge plus for fans and the UFC itself, it could prove to be problematic for fighters.

“I think it’s going to take off some leverage for the big names to have an argument to negotiate more money,” former welterweight champion, Georges St-Pierre, told Covers. “It could be good for the UFC, as a promoter, terrible for the fighters because when I was competing I was able to have a great argument to negotiate on my contract. I could tell the UFC, ‘Hey, if you want me to do all the promotion, I want to become a partner. I want a piece of the pie to negotiate a part of the pay-per-view revenue.

“Because if I’m doing all the promotion, I’m helping you, but you need to help me. You need to make me a partner.’ So it might be a bad thing for the fighters in a way that they have less leverage.”

UFC Vet Matt Brown Echoes Georges St-Pierre’s Warning

Typically, UFC champions and top stars with the promotion would receive pay-per-view points based on how many PPVs a particular event sold.

According to a report from Sportskeeda, fighters would receive $1 for every PPV ticket sold between 200,000 and 400,000. It would then jump up to $2 per ticket from 400,000 to 600,000 and finally $2.50 per ticket for all sold beyond 600k.

It remains to be seen how or if the promotion will replace PPV points in 2026, but UFC vet Matt Brown warns fighters not to get their hopes up.

“They don’t have to pay fighters more,” Brown told MMA Fighting. “They do not. I promise you that. They will get away with it. So just recognizing that, you can make your own decision if you want to call your Congressman or whatever to try and fix this. But that is what the facts of the case are. There’s no counterbalance. The UFC does what they want, when they want, how they want, as big as they want and nobody is saying ‘hey motherf*cker what about us?’

“It just the facts of the matter. It just needs to happen. There needs to be a counterbalance. There’s no historical stats saying anything is going to change. If you’re a fighter, don’t get your hopes up.”

Craig Pekios

Craig Pekios is a freelance writer born and raised in Bettendorf, IA. Joining LowKick MMA in May 2022, Craig has more than 4,000 articles published that focus on the world of MMA and boxing, including news, event previews, results, analysis, and op-eds.