Mark Shapiro Acknowledges That WWE & UFC Talent Pay Was ‘Resized’ Following TV Deals

Mark Shapiro has acknowledged that pay for WWE and UFC talent was “resized” after the company’s deals with Netflix, ESPN, Paramount and more. It was reported in May that the company had asked several talents on the roster to take hefty pay cuts, which ultimately led to Kofi and Austin Creed’s exits from the company. The two confirmed in an interview with Ariel Helwani that the cuts were over 50% for them.

Shapiro, the COO of TKO, was asked during his appearance at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference on Tuesday about balancing the expenses for talent as wall as marketing support in both WWE and UFC. He said that they “resized” pay for their UFC fighters and WWE talent after their deals with ESPN and Netflix for WWE and with Paramount+, CBS, Peacock, and Sky with UFC.

“Let’s talk about the pay for the superstars and our fighters first,” Shapiro said (per Investing.com). “What I would tell you is post our new deals with ESPN on WWE and with Paramount+, CBS, Peacock, Sky with UFC, and even a little bit post Raw with Netflix, we did resize our fighter and superstar pay composition. That is baked into our numbers. So there will be no further adverse impact with regard to how that plays out or divvies out. We’re confident with where we sit. We have 600 fighters as an example in our stable at the UFC. We do, to your point, really rely on development. Keep in mind that when you look at the WWE, 75% of the superstars come from NXT. So they’re starting in our development league and going all the way up. So pipeline is very important to our strategy.”

He continued, “On the UFC front, we’ve really capitalized on the investments of our performance centers in Mexico City and Vegas, and particularly China. We’re really getting real traction. So that’s a big part of our strategy. It will continue to be a big part of our strategy, and we will continue to be aggressive in other monetization opportunities for both our superstars and our UFC fighters with regard to advertiser deals, marketing partnerships, bonuses through the fight card in terms of finishes and fight of the night. What you see is you see the best of the best signing up and lining up to be a part of the UFC and to be a part of WWE. So that’s something we always watch out for and we want to make sure that we’re really spreading the opportunities, but the strategy’s working. Our margins will continue to expand.”

Sheamus also left WWE in July, reportedly over a requested pay cut.