It isn’t an easy job getting up every day and going to the gym and putting in the long hours of work knowing that at the end of the day, the average fighter is making, well, a pretty average amount of money when all is said and done. Tim Kennedy is one of those fighters who is unhappy with how fighters within the Zuffa family are paid, claiming that if he worked as a garbageman he’d be making more money than he makes as a UFC fighter.
When you look at the raw numbers it might seem a little odd, as within the last two years alone Kennedy has made over $234,000. But when you start breaking down the costs that are associated with being a fighter, it can get to be a bit depressing.
Kennedy revealed that he was due around $55,000 to show up at UFC 162, with the purse potentially increasing to $70,000 with a win bonus – but that after the expenses of his camp, medicals and fight team, he would only pocket around $20,000, even before taxes. After the interview, Kennedy sent a detailed breakdown of how his fight purse would be divided up: 13% on gym fees, 12% for nutrition, 10% to his manager, 10% to his coach, 8% on his camp lodging, 3% for fight medicals and 3% on equipment. In total, that’s 59% of his fight purse before tax is deducted.
This left Kennedy making about 95,000 over the span of two years, or $47,500 per year, which is of course before taxes. Assuming that he writes off the expenses above and isn’t paying the astronomical taxes on his base pay and pays the 25% for $47,500, that leaves him with a take home of $35,625.