WHICH FIGHTING ORGS ACTUALLY PAY?
22 underground, backyard, and bare-knuckle organizations, compared side by side. 10 pay their fighters. 9 pay nothing at all. 3 have never said.
Every figure carries a source note. No number is invented. Where pay has never been disclosed, we say so.
22
Orgs tracked
10
Pay fighters
9
Unpaid
3
Undisclosed
DISCLAIMER: Underground promotions self-report earnings; figures are unaudited and for reference only. Professional purses vary by athletic commission and event.
Showing 22 / 22
| Expand row for sources | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backyard Squabbles | USA | UNPAID | $0 (unpaid) | $0 | estimated | |
| Bad to the Bone (BTTB) | UK | PROFESSIONAL | Undisclosed | Undisclosed | estimated | |
| Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) | USA | PROFESSIONAL | $2,000–$5,000 (undercard, est.) | Undisclosed (headliner deals far higher) | estimated | |
| BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing (formerly BYB Extreme) | USA / UK | PROFESSIONAL | Undisclosed | Undisclosed | estimated | |
| BKFC Thailand / BKFC Asia | Thailand (defunct) | PROFESSIONAL | Undisclosed | Undisclosed | estimated | |
| Calcio Storico Fiorentino | Italy | UNPAID | $0 (play for honor) | — | reported | |
| East Bay Rats Fight Night | USA | UNPAID | $0 (unpaid) | $0 | estimated | |
| Felony Fights | USA (defunct) | UNKNOWN | Undisclosed | Undisclosed | unknown | |
| FPVS | France | UNPAID | $0 (unpaid) | $0 | estimated | |
| Holmgang Fighting | Germany | UNPAID | $0 (fighters self-fund armor) | $0 | estimated | |
| King of the Ring (KOTR) | UK | UNPAID | £0 (community event) | £0 | estimated | |
| King of the Streets (KOTS) | Sweden | PRIZE POOL | Undisclosed | Undisclosed | estimated | |
| Mahatch FC | Ukraine | PROFESSIONAL | Undisclosed | Undisclosed (e.g. Lobov headliner, terms not public) | estimated | |
| Rough N' Rowdy | USA | AMATEUR · PAID | Nominal / small purse | ~$1,000 (winner) | reported | |
| Spartan BK Fight Club | UK | UNKNOWN | Undisclosed | Undisclosed | unknown | |
| Streetbeefs | USA | UNPAID | $0 (unpaid) | $0 | founder-stated | |
| Strelka Street Fight Championship | Russia | UNKNOWN | Undisclosed | Undisclosed | unknown | |
| Top Dog Fighting Championship | Russia | PROFESSIONAL | Undisclosed | Undisclosed | estimated | |
| Ultimate Bare Knuckle Boxing (UBKB) | UK | PROFESSIONAL | Undisclosed | Undisclosed | estimated | |
| Ultimate Underground Fights (UUF) | Denmark | UNPAID | $0 (unpaid) | $0 | estimated | |
| Underground Combat League (UCL) | USA (defunct) | UNPAID | $0 (unpaid) | $0 | estimated | |
| Valor Bare Knuckle | USA | PROFESSIONAL | Undisclosed | Undisclosed | estimated |
Click any row to reveal the source basis for that org's figures. “Undisclosed” means pay has never been publicly reported.
FIGHTER PAY — COMMON QUESTIONS
How many underground fighting organizations actually pay their fighters?
Of the 22 organizations tracked in this database, 10 pay their fighters in some form, 9 pay nothing at all, and 3 have never publicly disclosed whether they pay. Paying nothing is not an edge case in unsanctioned fighting — it is close to half the field, and it is the single biggest difference between a sanctioned promotion and a backyard one.
Which underground org pays the most?
Among the organizations tracked here, sanctioned professional bare-knuckle promotions pay the most, led by BKFC — its headliner purses exceed every other org in this database, though the exact top figures are undisclosed. Of the tracked orgs, only the professional promotions pay anything approaching a living wage; the rest range from small cash prizes to nothing.
Which fighting organizations don't pay fighters at all?
9 tracked orgs are unpaid: Streetbeefs, Backyard Squabbles, King of the Ring, East Bay Rats, UUF, FPVS, Holmgang, Calcio Storico, and the defunct Underground Combat League. Most are community, anti-violence, or traditional events where fighters compete for reputation rather than money.
Why do so many underground fighting organizations pay nothing?
Two reasons dominate. The first is legal: paying a fighter turns an unsanctioned bout into a commercial prizefight, which in most US states requires an athletic-commission licence the organiser does not have. Staying unpaid is what keeps many backyard events on the legal side of the line. The second is structural — orgs built on YouTube ad revenue or on dispute resolution have no gate, no purse pool, and no promoter margin to pay from.
How is underground fighter pay verified?
Three ways, in descending order of reliability: athletic-commission purse disclosures (public record, but only for sanctioned events in states that publish them), contemporaneous media reporting, and on-the-record statements from an org's founder or fighters. Everything in this database carries a confidence label naming which of the three it came from. Where none exists, the figure is marked Undisclosed rather than estimated — a large share of unsanctioned fighting pay has simply never been reported.
PAY FOR ONE ORGANIZATION
This database compares organizations against each other. For the full purse breakdown of a single promotion — card position, win bonuses, bonuses and sponsorship — go to its own page.
- BKFC fighter pay
Purse tables by card position, win bonuses, the equity program
- King of the Streets prize money
What KOTS actually pays its winners
- Do underground fighters get paid?
Streetbeefs, backyard and unsanctioned circuits
- BKB fighter pay
Britain's bare-knuckle promotion, purse by purse
- Highest-paid underground fighters
The individual earners, ranked
- Power Slap fighter pay
What competitors earn per slap
HOW WE SOURCE PAY DATA
Every figure in this database is either attributed to public reporting, athletic-commission disclosures, or on-the-record statements from fighters and organization founders — otherwise it is marked Undisclosed. We never estimate a dollar amount we cannot source, and fewer confident rows beat many fabricated ones. Underground and amateur promotions self-report earnings; those figures are unaudited and provided for reference only, and where an organization has never publicly disclosed pay we say so rather than guess.
- Confidence: reported
- Figure is attributed to public media reporting or the athletic commission record.
- Confidence: founder-stated
- Based on an on-the-record statement from the org's founder or operator.
- Confidence: estimated
- A conservative range inferred from partial disclosures; treat as a ballpark, not an exact figure.
- Confidence: unknown
- No pay has been publicly reported. Marked Undisclosed rather than guessed.
LAST UPDATED: 2026-07 · See our editorial methodology for the full sourcing policy.