Paulo Costa challenged Israel Adesanya after Izzy defeated Yoel Romero

Ariel Helwani highlighted one massive hurdle in setting up huge fights such as Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa.

Helwani and Daniel Cormier were speaking about the possible Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones fight.

Cormier was speaking about how much Jones could make from this, around $7m-$8m, and claimed that the fighters would receive other bonuses too.

However, Helwani interrupted by saying that the UFC has been hit hard financially due to the lack of fans.

The UFC is holding live events but in empty arenas due to the coronavirus. Only a handful of officials and broadcast crew are allowed inside an arena.

“No gates for the UFC now so they’re taking a hit now but the fighters still get a percentage of the gate.

“This is going to come up and I’ve heard it come up already in talks with other people in the sport.

“UFC saying like, ‘We’ll pay you what’s on the contract, I don’t know about these big bonuses you are looking for.’

Helwani also said that fighters could ask for more since they were fighting in a pandemic. However, the UFC could also say that they aren’t making a lot of money from gates. Helwani also went on to say some of the big fights that are still on hold:

“It’s going to be interesting to see how they figure these things out. Same with Israel [Adesanya] vs Paulo Costa.

“There are big fights that are close to happening but none of them have been signed yet because of these hurdles that have to be overcome.”

UFC getting back to action

Dana White has ensured the UFC returns to action despite being away for a month due to the coronavirus.

However, the lack of fans is a big hit that the UFC finances are talking. For all the talk of PPV events, fans also provide the UFC with a lot of money.

A few big fights have already happened without the fans in the arena, and it will be interesting to see what happens next.

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