In a candid revelation, boxing legend Mike Tyson declared he would never have considered competing in the UFC due to the vast financial disparity between the two sports.
During a recent interview, the former heavyweight boxing champion made a striking statement about fighter compensation that underscores the historical pay gap between boxing’s elite and mixed martial arts competitors.
“The biggest UFC, five of the biggest UFC fighters combined can’t match my pay,” Tyson stated bluntly.
The interviewer then says: “It wasn’t worth the pay.”
Tyson’s comments reflect his career priorities beyond just competition. “I want to be the biggest fighter, the biggest purse. I want all that stuff,” he explained. “MikeTyson fight, he shuts everything down. The biggest purse.”
There is a significant economic advantage top boxers have traditionally held over their UFC counterparts. According to industry data, boxing’s pay structure has historically favored athletes more generously than the UFC’s model.
Boxing promoters typically allocate a much larger percentage of revenue to fighters. Golden Boy Promotions reportedly paid boxers 62.2% of its revenue from 2014-2016, while Top Rank distributed approximately 71% during 2013-2016. Warriors Boxing allocated 65.4% to its athletes in 2015-2016.
In contrast, UFC’s 2016 Company Overview revealed that from 2012 to 2016, the organization paid fighters between just 16-20% of company revenue, including bout pay, merchandise royalties, and sponsorships.
Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has highlighted this disparity, noting: “Imagine you said to a star in the UFC, ‘It’s your show, and you’re gonna take 80% of the profit, and we’ll take 20%.’ Imagine how much the UFC fighters would be making—five, six, seven times more than they’re making at the moment.”
During Tyson’s prime in the late 1980s and 1990s, his earning power was unprecedented. His purses for major bouts regularly reached into tens of millions of dollars, with his 2002 fight against Lennox Lewis reportedly earning him $17.5 million despite being past his prime.
