Mark Shapiro weighs in on TKO fighter and superstar pay.
Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Conference, TKO COO Mark Shapiro was asked about balancing talent expenses with the marketing support that goes into talent in WWE and UFC.
In answering the question, Shapiro addressed the pay of UFC fighters and WWE superstars.
“Let’s talk about the pay for the superstars and our fighters first. 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.
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.”
WWE has asked some talents, including the former New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods), to take pay cuts in the last year.
WWE entered into an agreement with Netflix beginning in January 2025, and started a deal with ESPN in September 2025.
Elsewhere during the conference, Shapiro discussed TKO’s dealings with the Middle East. You can find his full comments here.
