Shocking stat reveals boxer Jack Dempsey made more money from a single fight in the 1920s than Francis Ngannou did at UFC 270

Jack Dempsey made more money fighting Gene Tunney in the 1920s than Francis Ngannou did in 2022 at UFC 270.

In a recent tweet, Jim Karas made a shocking revelation about the 1920s being a better era for combat sports in terms of fighter pay. The boxing match between Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney earned a whopping $1,895,733 according to the tweet. Dempsey's purse after the fight was $770,000, while Tunney's was $200,000.

You can check out the tweet below:

In contrast, UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou had to settle for $600,000 after the main event at UFC 270, while Ciryl Gane received $500,000 after the fight.

The $600,000 was due to Ngannou's contract with the UFC. The champion would have received a share of the pay-per-view purchases but that amount has not been released.

Many people believe that the numbers do not accurately represent what UFC fighters sacrifice on a daily basis. Furthermore, the comparison with professional boxing is striking.

Andreas Hale of The Sporting News brought up the disparity in more detail via a tweet:

"The TOTAL combined payout for every fighter #UFC270 was $1.8 million. Fury made $30 million in his third fight against Wilder. Wilder made $20 million. Fury and Wilder made 25x more than all the UFC 270 fighters COMBINED. Tell me that UFC fighter pay isn’t an issue."

---

Mark Hunt lauds Francis Ngannou for speaking up against UFC

Former MMA fighter Mark Hunt, who is fighting the UFC in court, praised heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou for speaking out against the world's largest MMA promotion.

Ngannou defeated Gane last weekend at UFC 270 to make his first successful title defense. However, the champion has refused to sign a contract extension with the organization unless he is given a pay raise and is allowed to venture into boxing at the same time.

"Congratulations, @francisngannou! It's about time some fighters grew some b***s and it's good to see you speaking the truth about how this grubby company operates. They have been doing this for such a long time and all these brown nosing rodents. They all work for ufc in the media section. Hahahahahaa, fake a** accounts [Laughing emojis]," said Hunt.

Mark Hunt's comment on the MMA Fighting Instagram post

See the Instagram post about Francis Ngannou's statements from The MMA Hour below:

While Hunt filed a lawsuit against the UFC in 2017, the matter is far from settled. Hunt sued the UFC by claiming they knew about Brock Lesnar's positive drug test before UFC 200.

Hunt lost that bout against Lesnar. However, the result was overturned into a no contest after Lesnar test positive for a banned substance.