The year 2019 was a memorable one in the UFC for many reasons. Kamaru Usman ended Tyron Woodley’s lengthy reign to become welterweight champion. Usman’s future podcast co-host, Henry Cejudo, became the fourth simultaneous two-division champion in UFC history. Stipe Miočić became a two-time heavyweight champion. And, of course, the BMF title was established in the controversial Jorge Masvidal/Nate Diaz encounter at UFC 241.
But with all of those memorable fights, some fans might have forgotten a crucial change to the UFC that continues to be in place today. Starting with UFC 236 in April 2019, the UFC made ESPN+ its exclusive distributor of UFC PPVs.
It provided a stable financial model for the promotion. However, some analysts and journalists had suggested that this decreased the value of the ‘PPV Points’ model, where the top fighters earned a percentage of the PPV buys.
Heading into UFC 238 in June 2019, the positives and negatives of the ESPN deal were becoming more apparent. And with the likes of Conor McGregor and Brock Lesnar, two of the UFC’s major draws at the time, deciding to explore more lucrative ventures, it clearly hinted that their financial gain had been diminished by the new agreement.
Speaking to ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto back then, UFC boss Dana White was keen to praise the new partnership and its benefits for the UFC as a product. Interestingly, White was also more than happy to explain why McGregor and Lesnar were looking elsewhere for a big payday.
“What did I say leading up to the [Floyd] Mayweather/McGregor fight?” asked White, turning the microphone onto Okamoto.
“That he may never fight again,” responded Okamoto.
“Did I not say that? And, how many times has he fought since then? Once. Conor is in a very unique position as a fighter,” continued White.
“He has tons of money. His whisky business is off the charts. There are a lot of things. Conor now has the ability to be very calculated, sit back, and play the game he wants to. There’s so much more to this than what people speculate,” added White.
The 2017 fight with Mayweather Jr. had an incredible influence on McGregor’s financial situation. On top of his $30 million purse, additional revenue, such as the percentage of PPV buys, took the Dubliner’s earnings comfortably past the $100 million mark.
McGregor returned to the Octagon just over a year later to challenge Khabib Nurmagomedov in the promotion’s most bought PPV of all time at UFC 229. McGregor then fought three more times in the UFC, with his most recent scheduled return cancelled due to injury.
White: Lesnar stopped fighting in the UFC because he got a ‘better deal’
The PPV model established in 2019 didn’t just reportedly push McGregor away from the UFC. It affected former heavyweight champion Lesnar’s financial perception of the promotion.
Speaking about the consequences of the ESPN deal, White had said, “That’s not why Brock Lesnar didn’t fight. Brock Lesnar got a better deal.”
Lesnar hasn’t fought since his 2016 No Contest (NC) against Mark Hunt. Overturned from a Lesnar victory due to his positive test for clomiphene, he faced a subsequent one-year ban. As a result, he notified the UFC of his second retirement from MMA the following February.
However, following Daniel Cormier’s heavyweight title win at UFC 226, Lesnar stormed into the Octagon to challenge the newly crowned champion. The possibility of a title fight seemed strong, but it never came to fruition. That was after Lesnar told White that his MMA career was over and that he had no intention of returning.
Lesnar continues to be employed by WWE despite. His last match came at SummerSlam in 2023. He reportedly remains one of the highest-paid wrestlers on the company’s books despite his long-term hiatus.
