Why is everybody complaining that UFC fighters are underpaid ?

Peanuts compared to who? Compared to other sports? That's apples and oranges.

Show me where UFC fighters are paid less than other MMA fighters... That's the only comparison that has any bearing. What boxers or NBA players make has ZERO relevance to MMA.

 

I think it's more a matter of what UFC fighters are making in relation to the total amount of profit the UFC is making per card. Some fighters are paid quite well when it's all tallied up (gate, PPV buys, etc). It's normally those outside of the main event who aren't making anywhere near what the top flight guys are making. But overall, it's about how much money in total the fighters are seeing compared to the entire sum of cash generated.
That's something nobody will ever know I guess.
What I do know though and was reported in MMA sites, was that Randy Couture was being paid $250K guaranteed per fight when he was heavyweight champion and the hottest fighter on the circut 2 1/2 years ago or so. But somehow, Dana White apparently found $2 million to offer Fedor.:dunno:
So really it's about how much money the UFC is hiding from its fighters.
You're giving your own champion, a well established and insanely popular champion mind you, 250K per fight. But somehow you've got $2 million on the table for a russian guy whom most MMA fans in the United States have never heard of?

 

Couture made over a million dollars each for the Sylvia and Gonzaga fights. Plus he was given a $500,000 signing bonus when he signed that deal. Couture also has an 'employment agreement' with the UFC that pays him $200,000 a year.

TFK