Daniel Cormier believes UFC fighters are about to benefit financially in a major way as the promotion prepares to launch its new era on Paramount. According to the former two-division champion, the money boost has already started.
The UFC’s massive seven-year streaming deal with Paramount, reportedly worth $7.7 billion, officially begins with UFC 324 on January 24. The agreement eliminates the traditional pay-per-view model, creating a single platform for all UFC events. While fans continue to debate what this means for the sport, Daniel Cormier insists fighters are coming out ahead.
Speaking on the Weighing In podcast with longtime teammate Josh Thomson, Daniel Cormier said the shift away from pay-per-view has quietly increased fighter pay across the roster.
“They’re already getting more money, that’s the difference,” Cormier said. “People always talk about, ‘What’s the UFC going to do for the fighter?’ I know guys now that are making more money than they did even when they were making pay-per-view, because pay-per-views just maybe weren’t selling as much as they used to.”
Cormier pointed to his own peak years as an example of how different the landscape is today. During his rivalry with Jon Jones and title fights featuring stars like Anthony “Rumble” Johnson, Nick Diaz, and Nate Diaz, pay-per-view points drove massive payouts. According to Cormier, that era no longer reflects current buying habits.
“When I was fighting Jon Jones and Rumble, and we had Nick Diaz and Nate Diaz on the card, I was making a boatload of money in pay-per-view,” he said. “That’s not the reality of today.”
With piracy, streaming, and declining pay-per-view buys, Daniel Cormier believes the old system stopped making sense. In his view, the new model replaces uncertain backend earnings with guaranteed money, benefiting fighters at every level.
“Today, a big pay-per-view number was 500,000 or 600,000,” Cormier explained. “People are stealing it on streams. The numbers just weren’t great. I know guys who went to the UFC and said, ‘Can we restructure now that pay-per-view is gone?’ And the UFC said yes.”
Cormier added that the new structure removes pressure from champions to sell massive numbers just to earn their worth.
“The guy at the beginning of the card is going to do better, and the guy at the very top is going to do better,” Cormier said. “They’re giving these guys more money.”
As the UFC enters the Paramount era, questions remain about promotion, event presentation, and fan experience. But from Daniel Cormier’s perspective, one thing is already clear: fighters are seeing real financial gains, and the shift away from pay-per-view may finally level the playing field across the roster.
