This archive report was first published on 31 August 2019.
Published on August 31, 2019, UFC fighter Paige VanZant revealed in an interview with Ariel Helwani's The MMA Show that she earns more income from her Instagram posts than from her professional fighting career.
VanZant stated, "With endorsements, I make way more money sitting at home posting pictures on Instagram than I do fighting. If I were to stop everything I do outside of fighting and just fight, I would be at a loss financially. By a long shot."
Since joining the UFC in 2014, VanZant has earned an estimated $475,000 from fighting, including win bonuses and sponsorships, averaging out to roughly $80,000 a year. She supplements this income with sponsored posts for brands like CBD company Sun Valley Science on her Instagram feed, which has more than 2.2 million followers.
VanZant has been vocal about the pay disparity between male and female fighters in the UFC, particularly after being sidelined with an arm injury since February. The league's highest-paid fighter, Stipen Miocic, earned $750,000 for a single fight in August, while the highest-paid woman, Hannah Cifers, earned just $28,000.
UFC president Dana White responded to VanZant's criticism with praise for her success on Instagram, saying, "Good for her, that's awesome. If a fighter can make more money doing other things, good for her."
