UFC President Dana White recently took to social media to proudly claim that 2019 has been the biggest year ever for the company.

https://twitter.com/danawhite/status/1209275582627774464

“2019 was the biggest year in the company’s history. I wanna thank all the fighters, the fans, the media and my staff at UFC.”

When White made this claim, most fans assumed he was speaking in terms of revenue.

According to a recent report from Bloody Elbow, it would certainly make sense for the UFC boss to do so, as the company’s total revenue and EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) for the year could be nearing a hefty $1 Billion.

“I have no reason to doubt that Dana White is correct and this was indeed the ‘biggest year in the company’s history’ for revenue and EBITDA,” Bloody Elbow‘s business analyst John Nash explained. 

“According to the various projections made by the company back in 2016, the total revenue in 2019 would be anywhere from $980 million to $1.1 billion and their EBITDA margins would be 50%. While I do not think they did that well, the new ESPN deal had added hundreds of millions to their guaranteed contractual revenue. Add in new international tv deals and increased sponsorship revenue and it’s hard to see how they don’t break the record. At least $800 million in revenue seem almost guaranteed.”

As veteran MMA scribe Jesse Holland so eloquently pointed out in a piece for MMA Mania, of course, this massive revenue has not yet translated into bigger paydays for most fighters. UFC undercard fighters still routinely pocket less $20,000 per fight, and that’s before taxes and coaching and training expenses. Hopefully that changes soon.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 12/26/2019.