UFC vs. WWE: Ronda Rousey comments on athlete pay in both companies

17 April 2020

Ronda Rousey is someone that has excelled both in the UFC and the WWE. After enjoying a great career in MMA and UFC, Rousey moved to WWE a few years back and tasted success there as well.

As someone who has been there on both sides of the coin, Ronda is certainly eligible to comment on how WWE and UFC pay their athletes. The former UFC champion did just that during a recent appearance on Steve-O’s podcast “Wild Ride.”

In the interview, she noted that WWE’s idea of paying salary to every athlete is something that makes people feel secure.

“WWE’s even better, because everyone’s on salary. It’s not like you show up for a fight, you get paid, you show up for a fight, you get paid. They’re treated like employees. They actually are on a salary, it’s much more secure. If people get injured and they can’t perform months and months and months on end, they can actually continue to pay them and pay for their medical treatment and make sure they’re taking care of,” she noted. [via MMA fighting].

She lauded how WWE keeps everyone on salary as soon as they hire someone.

“They do their best not to leave people high and dry. They really invest in talent and spend time building and developing them. As soon as they hire people, they’re on salary right away, which is very, very different from having these lumps of prize money,” she added.

Ronda also went on to comment on the difference of pay in Boxing and MMA during the podcast.

“In boxing, the top guys get an incredible amount of money, but the bottom guys in boxing make way, way less than the bottom guys in the UFC. If you’re trying to develop a boxer regularly, you’re probably going to have to build their record to 20 and something and your manager’s probably going to be like $200,000 in the hole with a fighter that’s 20-0 at that point. In the UFC, it’s a lot nicer to be in that lower tier than it is to be a boxer, but at the top tier in boxing, those guys are making an incredible amount of money, because they are promoting as well. They are co-promoting their part of the promotion itself,” she said.

While concluding, Ronda also highlighted the importance of unionizing among athletes.