Jorge Masvidal’s Gamebred Boxing 4 took place on Saturday, April 1, 2023 at the Fiserv Form in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, featuring a card laden with high-profile talent.
The event featured notable names and former combat sports champions including Roy Jones Jr, Anthony Pettis, Jose Aldo, and Vitor Belfort, among others. The pay for all athletes contracted was revealed following the event, as MMA Junkie obtained the disclosed payouts directly from the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services.
Among the top earners, Jones took home $700,000, while Pettis pocketed $650,000 with no win bonus.
Now, Cageside Press has been given a look at what sort of numbers the promotion was working with, and the expectations presented to investors.
Despite being a boxing card, it’s clear that Gamebred Boxing 4 was geared towards MMA audiences— from the names involved, to UFC Fight Pass being one of the services airing the PPV, to MMA star Jorge Masvidal lending his name to the card as promoter. Many wondered how even as notable a name as Masvidal could bankroll such an event, and still turn a profit. Look no further than the aforementioned disclosed pay for the card, which came out to $2,827,700, — more than the reported $2.54 million that was disclosed by the Utah Athletic Commission for UFC 278 less than a year prior.
That potentially incomplete figure of nearly three million dollars is high already; the main event fighters took home $1.35 million dollars alone. The top three fights on the card — Jose Aldo vs Jeremy Stephens, Vitor Belfort vs Jacare Souza, and Roy Jones Jr. vs Anthony Pettis – were the main attractions and those fighters took home a combined $2.575 million per the aforementioned MMA Junkie report. As they also noted, “The amounts reflect the disclosed payouts only and do not include any off-contract bonuses, sponsor payments, or discretionary bonuses.”
Now, a PnL (Profit and Loss) document provided by a source familiar with Gamebred Boxing 4’s search for investors, obtained by Cageside Press, has added key context to the event’s financials from the promoter’s point of view. The documentation also provides figures for fighter pay which go beyond what was disclosed to MMA Junkie, perhaps indicating backroom bonuses for a handful of fighters.
The most significant figures come from Gamebred Boxing’s predicted revenue. The promotion’s own documentation predicted one million dollars from each of sponsorships and the live gate, as well as three-hundred thousand Pay-Per-View sales of the event. After taking out the 45% PPV fee for iNDemand, who distributed the event both through cable and digitally along with UFC Fight Pass, the projected PPV proceeds for Gamebred Boxing came to $8,248,350.
Before taking out that fee the total projected revenue for PPV sales was $14,997,000 – nearly 15 million dollars. The total cash revenue projections for the event came out to $10,248,350. There is no indication of whether these projections were met or what sort of metrics were used to reach them.
Per a source familiar with the situation, Gamebred Boxing 4 was looking for $1.5 million in funding as little as five weeks before the event from potential investors. That figure would have made up slightly over 40% of the projected $3,745,430 in expenses which the promotion would have had to cover for the event.
At the time the document was drafted, that $3.7 million included $3,122,500 for fighter pay, or 83% of the total expenses. The remaining expenses would be comprised of travel and other costs totalling $622,930, including $150,000 for marketing for the event, $45,000 for hotels, and $50,000 for the live press conference. The commentary team – made up of former IBF and WBC boxing welterweight world champion Shawn Porter, boxing referee Sean Wheelock, and freelance media figure Cyrus Fees – was listed at $50,000, with no breakdown of what each individual took home. A section of the document under expenses is titled “Jorge Masvidal Fee,” though no expense figure is listed in that row. Other categories – including sanctioning fees, a promotion fee, and a post-event tax on the gate – are listed, but similarly have no figure listed, so these documents should not be assumed to be the full, final expenses for the event.
The fighter pay numbers listed by Gamebred Boxing in the PnL document obtained by Cageside Press were broadly similar to the payouts obtained by MMA Junkie, but there are a few key differences:
Anthony Pettis was listed by the Wisconsin commission as having made $650,000, which these documents confirm. However his opponent, Roy Jones Jr., was said to have made $700,000 while the Gamebred Boxing internal documentation lists him at $900,000, perhaps indicating further backroom bonuses for the former boxing champion. Alternately, negotiations with the star in the months since the PnL numbers were produced may have culminated with a lower payout for the boxer.
Also of note is the difference in Markus Perez’s listed payout figure from the reported one. The former UFC fighter had previously made headlines by stating that he would be paid three times as much for his fight as he had been for his UFC fights. That statement was brought into question by MMA Junkie’s release of disclosed payouts, but the information obtained by Cageside Press show that Gamebred Boxing was anticipating paying Perez $40,000 for his fight, which he won against Joe Riggs.
Riggs was not listed by name in the document, which makes sense as he was not booked for the fight until the week of the event, when Paul Daley withdrew from the fight with Perez. Daley was listed in the documentation obtained as potentially earning $75,000 for the event. Theoretically, the apparent drop in pay might have come from re-negotiations after Daley dropped out, though that is speculation.
Neither Luis Feliciano nor opponent Clarence Booth were listed on the document despite being on the main card, fourth from the top. The fight was only announced on March 2, thirty days before the event; the PnL doc obtained by Cageside Press predates that.
Former UFC fighter Emily Whitmire was listed on the document as being paid $7,500 but she did not compete on the card and Andy Nguyen took her spot against Bi Ngyuyen at late notice. Bi is mentioned on the document by name and the payout listed is the same as the Wisconsin commission’s disclosed figure.
Several other fighters were notably not listed by name under the “Fighters Pay” section of the document but are presumably counted under the blanket term of “Undercard Bouts,” which Gamebred Boxing lists as totaling $50,000 dollars in expenses. That description seemingly includes fighters like Cade Howell, Mandeep Jangra, and more who are not listed on the document and fought on the prelim portion of the card.
Cageside Press reached out to a representative for Gamebred Boxing regarding these figures, but did not receive a reply prior to publication.
