TUF 20 Strawweights Set To Make A Minimum Of $32,000 Before Even Fighting In The UFC
MMA fans everywhere were surprised when news broke last night the UFC had signed 11 female strawweight fighters from Invicta FC in order to create a new 115 lb. division. Fomrer Invicta champ Carla esparza will be part of the group making the transition to the Octagon.
The female fighters are set to throw down on an all-female season of The Ultimate Fighter. TUF 20 will begin filming next May and air on Fox Sports 1 starting next September. The winner of the show will be rewarded the inaugural UFC women’s strawweight championship.
And it appears that the promotion is wasting no time in making sure their new employees are paid handsomely. It was revealed on last night’s late edition of Fox Sports Live that the new female fighters would be making at least $32,000 apiece even before they officially set foot in the Octagon:
BREAKING: Per @arielhelwani new @UFC Strawweight Fighters will get paid at least $32K each before entering octagon, the champ will get $40K.
— FOX Sports Live (@FOXSportsLive) December 12, 2013
That should be quite the pay raise from whatever they were making over at fledgling promotion Invicta. TUF 20 took this new and interesting direction on the heels of the success of TUF 18, which featured both male and female fighters with UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and her archrival Miesha Tate as coaches.
Now they’re looking to take the popularity of women’s MMA to a new level and are willing to spend a good amount of money in order to do so. Will the move pay off big for Dana White and company? Or will it end up being just an overhyped division that rarely receives any publicity? It could go either way, so we’ll just have to wait and see how this massive operation plays out.
