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Former UFC champion predicts ‘bigger guaranteed payouts’ for fighters following $7.7 billion deal

Originally posted on Bloody Elbow | By Jamie Theodosi | Last updated Aug 12, 2025 3:01 PM ET

After once reigning as a UFC champion, Chris Weidman believes fighters are going to massively benefit from the UFC’s staggering new broadcast deal.

After months of talks and negotiations with several different broadcasting powerhouses, it was announced by UFC boss Dana White this past Monday that the promotion has signed a $7.7 billion deal with Paramount.

The staggering deal that will begin at the start of 2026 will see the end of the PPV format in the United States, making the product far more accessible for everyone.

And with it being such a huge deal, questions have arisen over whether fighters will see any part of the $7.7 billion, and Jake Paul has implored that fighters re-negotiate their deals to receive a piece of the pie.

Chris Weidman believes fighters will now be paid more

One thing that initially seems like it could be an issue for fighters is the fact that there will no longer be PPV points for champions headlining events.

And although the margins may have dropped over the last few years with the decline of the PPV product, it was still a big bargaining power for some top fighters.

One fighter who experienced PPV points at one of its highest was former middleweight champion Chris Weidman. ‘The All-American’ competed in five championship fights throughout his career in the UFC, winning in four of them.

Weidman’s second fight against Anderson Silva was extremely lucrative, and he claimed it did one million PPV buys, which he would’ve earned a percentage of.

However, he believes the PPV model has been dying for some time now, and with the change, he has claimed fighters will be much better off financially.

“When I was champion, which is now 2013 when I won my belt, my second Anderson Silva fight did one million PPV buys. I can’t tell you the last time I’ve seen anything close to one million PPV buys and we’re more than 12 years later,” Weidman told MMAJunkie.

“It is probably a good thing. It’s going to give the opportunity to fighters to make more money. The PPV has been going down, probably with all the illegal streams.

“The managers, the people in charge of the MMA fighters’ careers are going to have to evolve with this and try to figure out the best ways to negotiate and find leverage… You’re going to see some bigger guaranteed payouts to the fighters,” Weidman continued.