UFC owners announce $150 million dividend payouts to investors for first quarter of 2026
MMA Fighting
March 5, 2026
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JUNE 29: UFC CEO Dana White poses for a photo with TKO and Endeavor CEO Ari Emmanuel during the UFC 303 event at T-Mobile Arena on June 29, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images) | Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
The UFC’s owners at TKO Group Holdings announced dividend payouts to stockholders for the first quarter of 2026 that should total approximately $150 million.
The dividend payouts are made to Class A stockholders in the company following another successful year for the company after reporting over $4.7 billion in revenue in 2025. As a result, TKO’s board of directors approved a dividend payout for the first quarter in 2026 with Class A stockholders earning $0.78 per share.
The payouts will go out to shareholders on March 31.
TKO has continued to report record revenue year after year with both the UFC and WWE producing solid returns for 2025. The company is poised for an even bigger 2026, especially after the UFC inked a massive seven year, $7.7 billion deal to move to Paramount.
That broadcast deal was worth more than double the previous partnership at ESPN. TKO is also benefitting from the launch of Zuffa Boxing, which also has a broadcast deal at Paramount with the company allocating no funding whatsoever for the promotion with SELA — an arm of the Saudi Arabian government — financially backing the entity.
But TKO receives a per event fee for promoting, marketing and running Zuffa Boxing, which is another profit earner for the company.
As a result, TKO is targeting revenue for 2026 at $5.675 billion to $5.775 billion.
Of course the continued success of TKO, especially in the wake of the deal with Paramount, has brought fighter pay back to the forefront of the conversation after UFC CEO Dana White as well as TKO president and chief operating officer Mark Shapiro have commented that athletes are going to benefit financially from these massive increases in revenue.
Numerous fighters have complained that pay in the UFC hasn’t changed much since the Paramount deal kicked off in January, although the promotion did double the post-fight bonuses from $50,000 to $100,000 and also introduced a $25,000 finish bonus.
Verticals
sportsmma
Originally published on MMA Fighting on 3/5/2026