TKO Group’s third-quarter financial report shows the UFC brought in more than $500 million in revenue in one quarter. MMA Mania flagged the number in its Midnight Mania roundup for Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, and Yardbarker and Yahoo Sports ran the same headline within hours.
The explanation for the jump is fairly simple, at least according to Full Mount MMA, which broke down the report on X. The account credited two drivers: Conor McGregor’s return at UFC 329 and the promotion’s new media rights deal with Paramount. The same post noted that WWE, the other half of the TKO house, saw a slight decline over the quarter. The post was cut off before it explained that dip, so I won’t guess at the cause.
The Paramount money is the more interesting piece for anyone thinking past this quarter. A McGregor fight is an event. A media rights deal pays out every quarter whether the card is stacked or a Fight Night full of debutants. On the same night, MMA Mania also reported that the UFC could be headed to HBO in the near future. The roundup didn’t go into detail, so that one stays in the maybe file.
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Some of the revenue is already showing up in fighter contracts. Carlos Prates said his new UFC deal pays him seven figures per fight. “It’s more than $1M per fight. I’m really happy. I’m really happy,” he told Fighters Weekly. That’s a number worth remembering the next time someone insists the purse structure never moves.
The schedule keeps rolling. Dana White was on stage at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 22 for the UFC 333 press conference. Next weekend’s UFC 334 includes Stephen Thompson against Charles Radtke, and Thompson confirmed it will be his MMA retirement bout, per Lynch On Sports. White also revealed an expected return date for former champion Ilia Topuria, although the MMA Mania roundup didn’t include the date. In the meantime, people are still dissecting Colby Covington’s submission loss to Raul Rosas Jr. Kamaru Usman called the result inexcusable and pointed out that the grappling exchange where Rosas caught him was outside Covington’s specialty. “Listen, I don’t excuse it by no means because you knew what you signed up for, but that’s not your world,” Usman said.
My take is that Q3 is the outlier and Q4 will show the real baseline. McGregor fights don’t come on a schedule, and he’s the kind of revenue spike that makes everyone’s spreadsheet look brilliant for exactly one quarter. If the Paramount deal keeps the number anywhere near $500 million without him, that’s the actual story. Either way, Prates getting paid more than $1M per fight tells you the money is moving toward fighters, at least at the top. I’d like to see it reach the flyweights before Wonderboy’s farewell check clears.
