In UFC, fighters’ pay has remained one of the long-standing debates that continues to turn heads. However, amid rising concerns over athletes getting fair pay, the promotion’s CEO, Dana White‘s boss, reportedly saw an astronomical jump in his income, receiving a whopping 272% increase.

According to recent proxy filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reports, Dana White’s boss, Ari Emanuel, CEO of TKO Group Holdings, received a massive bump in his payouts last year. In 2024, Emanuel took a minuscule $18M in total payouts, which was a significant decrease from 2023 when he earned over $64M. However, the 2025 filing showed that Emanuel got $67 million, making it a hefty year for the TKO executive.

Ari Emanuel’s $67 million payout included his base salary of $3 million, total bonus rewards of $11 million, and the biggest chunk of his 2025 financial payout came from the company’s stock, receiving $43.8 million. In addition, the TKO boss received $8.12 million in non-equity compensation, which generally means cash-based rewards and other bonuses not linked to the actual shares of the company. Moreover, he also got paid $379,103 in other expenses.

Well, that’s definitely a substantial year for Emanuel in terms of finance because he got a 272% increase in 2025 in comparison to 2024. So, he can definitely rejoice in the increase in value. However, when it comes to the pay disparity within TKO, The Wrap’s report showed that average employees earned a median of $82,428 in annual compensation, which puts Emanuel’s payout ratio at a staggering 813 to 1. Also, MMA Fighting further revealed Emanuel received $173.8 million in additional payout as the Chairman of WME Group, which has a 61.7% share in TKO.

Now, the TKO executives are definitely reaping the fruits of putting all the investment into UFC, WWE, and other promotions. It won’t be a stretch to say the bosses’ personal growth in revenue would eventually bring up the fighters’ pay debate. Recently, the discussion around the UFC not paying their fighters came to light when former champ Ronda Rousey went off on the company for not paying their fighters a living wage.

‘Rowdy’ went scorched earth, mentioning that the executives are getting rich, particularly referencing the $7.7 billion Paramount+ deal, while sharing only a small percentage (reportedly 18–20%) of total revenue with their fighters, with a $12,000 show and win money for newcomers. Agreeing with her, UFC commentator Joe Rogan also shared that UFC fighters should make way more money than they are making right now.

So, amid the rising concerns about fighters’ pay, Dana White’s boss is definitely getting richer. But it’s not just Ari Emanuel; another TKO executive also reportedly got a meteoric rise in 2025.

UFC-TKO executive Mark Shapiro shows 33% financial growth in 2025

Alongside Ari Emanuel, Mark Shapiro is also an important figure in the TKO group. He’s the Chief Operating Officer of the company and played a key role in striking the $7.7 billion deal with Paramount+. Though Shapiro didn’t receive that astronomical 272% pay increase, he definitely saw substantial growth.

In 2024, Mark Shapiro received $31.96 million as his total payout from the company. But he breezed past that number, according to the 2025 SEC filings, receiving $42.64 million in 2025, a 33% increase. Shapiro received $4 million in base salary, compared to Emanuel’s $3 million.

However, he falls behind the CEO in terms of bonus pay and stock rewards, where Shapiro received $12 million and $25.85 million, respectively. Furthermore, the COO of TKO also got an additional $281,603 in other expenses that included his use of company-provided aircraft.

That said, it seems that TKO had an amazing financial year in 2025, and they would be looking forward to an even more lucrative 2026 after the UFC struck the Paramount+ deal. But would this growth bring some change in fighters’ pay?