Georges St-Pierre believes UFC’s deal with Paramount will be ‘terrible for the fighters’

Georges St-Pierre isn’t a fan of the UFC’s broadcast deal with Paramount and CBS.

The UFC and Paramount agreed to a deal, making them its new broadcast partner on a seven-year, $7.7 billion deal. The  43 deal includes 43 shows, including 13 numbered events, as pay-per-view will no longer be a thing in the States.

Although the UFC got a massive broadcast deal, Georges St-Pierre doesn’t think that deal is good. Instead, he believes it’s a bad thing for fighters and their pay.

“It could be good for the UFC, as a promoter, terrible for the fighters because when I was competing, I was able to have a great argument to negotiate on my contract,” St-Pierre said to Covers. “I could tell the UFC, ‘Hey, if you want me to do all the promotion, I want to become a partner. I want a piece of the pie to negotiate a part of the pay-per-view revenue. Because if I’m doing all the promotion, I’m helping you, but you need to help me. You need to make me a partner.’ So it might be a bad thing for the fighters in a way that they have less leverage.”

St-Pierre makes a fair point, as without the pay-per-view sales, some fighters will lose the leverage to see what their worth is to the UFC to negotiate a better deal.

Georges St-Pierre says fighters lost leverage in UFC-Paramount deal

Georges St-Pierre believes fighters could make less money, despite the UFC making $1.1 billion a year in their media rights deal in the United States.

“That’s what I think,” St-Pierre said. “I think it’s going to take off some leverage for the big names to have an argument to negotiate more money.”

Currently, the UFC execs have yet to comment on whether fighter pay will go up in this deal. But, if it doesn’t, St-Pierre believes the deal is terrible for fighters.

Georges St-Pierre is a former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2020.